Apr. 19, 2004 - 11:11 PST

THE WONDERING JEW

It's About Time

Our son is having the Gamma Kniife procedure this morning, three hours worth. I am not sure of the time he will be in recovery but will hear from our Denver daughter. We pray.

A short editorial in this mornings Register-Guard - in part.

Driven To Pragmatism

Sub, "Bush Embraces U.N. Plan For Transition"

"After a year of occupation, U.S. troops find themselves fighting not only the minority Sunnis, who loathed the United States from the start, but also a well armed militia of Shiites, who had been brutally repressed by Saddam Hussein's regime and who until recently seemed willing to give Americans a grudging chance to succeed."

"At home polls show increasing numbers of Americans disapproving of Bush's handling of Iraq and worried that it is turning into, as Sen. Edward Kennedy calls it, "George Bush's Vietnam."

"Little wonder, then , that the Bush administration is looking for help -- even if it comes from the same United Nations that the president denounced as irrelevant two years ago because of its refusal to rubber-stamp a U.S. resolution authorizing an invasion of Iraq."

"THe frighteningly rapid deterioration of the situation in Iraq has even prompted U.S. officials to negotiate an end to the rebellion of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr by working with diplomats from -- the same Iran that Bush denounced ar part of the 'axis of evil."

"Although driven by a growing sense of desperation, both developments are positive, and offer hope that the White House may finally be taking a more pragmatic approach in dealing with the occupation of Iraq."

"The Bush's administration's embrace of assistance from the U.N. is particularly positive. The U.N.'s special envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi has proposed a transitional Iraqi government that differs radically from previous plans outlined by U.S. occupation authorities."

"Brahimi even proposes dissolving the 25-member Governing Council that U.S. authorities appointed, which has becomer a lightning rod for Iraqi resentment of the U.S. occupation. He wants to replace it with a new transition government, the leaders of which would be appointed by the United Nations."

"Such concessions are no doubt wrenching for a White House that is used to having -- and imposing -- its way. But they're also the best, and perhaps last, hope for building a peaceful and stable Iraq."

++++++++++

Good old cowboy "shoot from the lip" Bush apparently is beginning to see the ins and outs of things others have seen long before he did. I sincerely hope it is not too late.

It's obvious to me that a country that has different warlike religions and ethnic differences has little chance of remaining at peace. Seems like peace is not what they want. Perhaps they want a Hitlerian "final solution," or some group to torment and bring into utter submission and slavery. It's as bad it seems to me as the uproar in Israel vs. the Palestinians.

Pragmatic ? Practicality from our administration ? It's About Time . . . . . . . . . .

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