BUSH GETS IT!!!!

Bush Discusses Palestinian Democracy
President Bush responded to a question at a press conference Monday: "I gave the speech June 24, 2002, in the Rose Garden that laid out the vision about how to achieve...a peaceful solution, and something that I hope happens. But I'm realistic about how to achieve peace. And it starts with my understanding that there will never be peace until a true democratic state emerges in the Palestinian territory....The Palestinians...will have elections, which is the beginning of the process toward the development of a state. It is not the sign that democracy has arrived."

"I subscribe to this theory that the only way to achieve peace is for there to be democracies living side-by-side. Democracies don't fight each other. And the last system didn't work, which was the hope that a Palestinian authority, run by a singular head, who on some days would say we're for peace and some days would say now is the time to attack; hope that everything would be fine. It just didn't work." (White House)

Make No Mistake - David Brooks
Bush understands the situation better than the lot of them. His judgments now look correct. Bush deduced that Sharon could grasp the demographic reality and lead Israel toward a two-state solution; that Arafat would never make peace, but was a retardant to peace; that Israel has a right to fight terrorism; and that Sharon would never feel safe enough to take risks unless the U.S. supported him when he fought back. Bush concluded that peace would never come as long as Palestine was an undemocratic tyranny, and that the Palestinians needed to see their intifada would never bring triumph.