Bush Doctrine Resonates
A
t this time of
great chal-
lenge and
change, one thing
will always remain
constant: our com-
mitment to a safe
and secure Jewish
SENATOR
state of Israel.
JOHN
Particularly in
KERRY
uncertain times like
Special
these, we must reaf-
Commentary firm and indeed
strengthen our spe-
cial relationship with Istael, our most
steadfast friend and ally in the region.
Israel's cause must be. America's cause.
May you and your families here, in
Israel and in Jewish communities
throughout the world be inscribed in
the Book of Life for peace and pros-
perity.
Teresa joins me in sending our best
wishes for a sweet and healthy new
year.
has caused in a griever's life)?
After talking with our clergy, we have
decided that a big part of bereavement
is to help the living feel better and move
on with life. Therefore, for the girls'
sake, we would probably sit shivah if
anything happened to either of us.
Fortunately for us, my minister and
Bonnie's rabbi are very open to dis-
cussing our conundrum. Their experi-
ence with interfaith couples has given us
many valuable ideas.
Although we are still working on the
details, Bonnie and I feel that we now
have a general conception of what we
would do in the case of one of us pass-
ing.
As the kids get older, I'm sure they'll
be asking for more derails about how
our interfaith family works. And, as
Bonnie and I grow older in our mar-
riage, we know that we'll be hit with
additional interfaith issues.
Will we be surprised when these top-
ics stumble their way into our lives?
Probably. You always think that you've
thought of everything.
However, with a consistent game plan
and plenty of communication, I'm sure
these problems won't be anything we
can't handle. E1
never passed lightly. The U.S.
uch has been writ-
occupied Germany for five
ten on the subject
years,
Japan for seven. Some
of which presiden-
claim
that
our efforts in
tial nominee would be best
Afghanistan and Iraq have
for Israel and our war on
made matters worse. Similar
Islamic terror. These back-
claims were made in the past.
and-forth missives ignore the
In 1946, the Saturday
most significant point differ-
Evening
Post wrote, "We have
MARC
S.
entiating the two candidates,
got
into
this [German] job
WEINBAUM
and the one that convinced
without understanding what
Community
me to chair the Michigan
we were tackling or why. Not
Perspective
Jewish Coalition for the Bush
one American political leader
campaign.
fully realized at the outset
I am no ideologue. I consider
how
formidable
our [German] corn-
myself neither a Republican nor a
mitments would prove to be."
Democrat. I voted for Bill Clinton in
In that same year, Life magazine
1996 and Al Gore in 2000. In fact, I
wrote,
"Never has American prestige
disagree with President Bush on
been
lower
[in Europe]...a great many
many issues. But on the issues that
feel
that
the
cure has been worse than
matter most, there is no doubt in my
the
disease."
mind that George Bush is the right
leader for this time.,
The primary reason I support
Price Of Peace
President Bush, and what Israelis
understand better than most, is that a To be sure, our efforts in the Middle
East have cost a tremendous amount
war against terrorism that rejects the
in both blood and treasure. But what
doctrine of preemption or avoids the
price do you place on 8 million
issue of regime change in countries
Afghanis, including more than 3 mil-
like Iraq, Afghanistan or Iran cannot
lion women, who have registered to
be won, because it has never been
vote
in their country's first election in
joined.
history.
It matters little how "engaged" the
In Iraq, for the first time in more
U.S. is in a peace process. If certain
than 30 years, the school curriculum
Arab regimes remain the most cor-
is free from institutionalized hatred
rupt, repressive and economically and
toward the West and Israel — a poi-
educationally stagnant in the world,
son that has infected generations of
the situation is destined not only to
Arabs.
remain, but also worsen as their pop-
Consider that as Iraqi political can-
ulations explode (no pun intended).
didates now begin their media buys
President Bush's policy of preemp-
on pan-Arab satellite channels such as
tion, coupled with a forward strategy
Al
Jazeera and Al Arabiya — the Arab
of promoting democracy in the
equivalent
of CNN — Iraqis along
Middle East, is the most compelling,
with
the
entire
Arab world will be
long-term policy formulation in the
watching.
They
will see campaign
post 9-11 world.
commercials, debates, press confer-
For those who suggest that Arab
ences and town hall meetings. They
democracy is a fanciful delusion and
will
watch Arabs participating in an
cannot succeed, study the history of
Arab
democracy and holding an Arab
Imperial Japan, the forerunner to
government
accountable to its people
today's great Asian democracy. It was
for the first time in history.
a racist, religiously fanatical regime
When they see options other than
based upon emperor worship, with
repression
and corruption, premised
suicidal proclivities.
upon
some
external Zionist threat,
If you are_troubled by the slew of
isn't
it
reasonable
to expect that they
beheadings in the Middle East, ask
will
ask,
"Why
can't
we?
those who flew in the Pacific during
Seeds of freedom are strange and
World War II what fate awaited them
if captured by the Japanese. Japan was powerful things, whether they .germi-
nate in the gulags of the former
hardly fertile ground for a fledgling
Soviet Union, or the ruins of
democracy. Today, it serves as a bea-
Saddam's torture chambers.
con of democracy and our steadfast
This potential to stimulate reform
ally.
from the bottom up is enormous, and
The birth pangs of democracy have
at the end of the day, it is this oppor-
tunity for a true and lasting transfor-
Marc S. Weinbaum is a Bloomfield
mation of the region — not a paper
Township resident and a pro-Israel
titled "Oslo Accords" or "Road Map"
activist.
M
— that will provide Israel, the U.S.
and the world with the kind of long-
term prospect for peace that we all
hope and pray for.
This is President Bush's vision for
the Middle East and the centerpiece
of his foreign policy.
A Worthy Vision
Will this be easy? No. Throughout
history, great strides on the path to
freedom have been marked by great
turbulence. The spread of democracy
and freedom is the noblest enterprise
in our arsenal, and today, millions of
people are free, peaceful and prosper-
ous because the United States sup-
ported their quest for freedom.
Will these policies work? We will
never know unless we try. But I do
know that the policies of the past
quarter-century, the objectives of "sta-
bility" and a foreign policy deter-
mined by the lowest common
denominator among allies with diver-
gent interests, are ineffective in a post
9-11 world.
President Bush believes that we
must take a proactive stand against
terror and states that sponsor it —
united if we can, alone if we must.
He believes that lasting peace for
Israel and its neighbors will come
when freedom reigns throughout the
region, not by well-intentioned peace
agreements foisted upon Israel by
nations interested in expediency,
rather than lasting results.
George Bush has been labeled arro-
gant and a warmonger, words once
used to describe Winston Churchill
as he was shouted down while warn-
ing a misguided parliament of Hitler's
looming threat to Europe.
So too, I am confident that history
will judge favorably George Bush's
vision, a vision that, like Ronald
Reagan's confrontation with Soviet
tyranny, may only bear fruit years
from now.
This is a policy that decisively con-
fronts the world's preeminent threat
— militant Islam. It is a vision to
which I, and many like-minded
members of our community, have
committed our names, time and
resources.
When our grandchildren ask how
we defeated the Hitler of our time,
we will reply that we learned from
history and relied upon our two most
powerful weapons — the universal
desire for freedom and our resolve to
make it a reality. ❑
*TN
9/17
2004
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