World
,
ANALYSIS
President Bush gestures at Israeli President Shimon Peres'
"Facing Tomorrow" conference in Jerusalem on May 14.
Failed Mission?
Bush falls short in advancing policy
or bolstering Arab moderates.
Leslie Susser
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jerusalem/JTA
A
fter major speeches in the
Knesset and at Sharm el-
Sheik, President Bush left
the Middle East Sunday with little to
show for advancing America's strate-
gic goals in the region.
Israeli and Arab pundits alike point-
ed to a large gap between America's
words and deeds, which they say is
exacerbating a growing U.S. credibility
problem.
During Bush's visit, which was
timed for Israel's 60th anniversary
celebrations, the president failed to
strengthen or reassure the moderate
Arab affiance against Iran, made little
headway on Israeli-Palestinian peace
and failed to offer an American plan
for countering Iran's growing influ-
ence in Lebanon.
By expressing unprecedented sup-
port for Israel and lecturing the Arabs
on democracy, Bush antagonized Arab
moderates. And by hedging on Iran's
nuclear weapons program, he left
Israelis wondering about American
resolve.
Indeed, if Bush's main policy goal is
to curb Iranian power, it seems to be
eluding him. The regional consensus,
from Doha to Jerusalem to Cairo, is
that Iran's influence is spreading.
"If we look at the situation Bush
leaves behind him, the dangers and
the threats and the problems are
far greater than they were when he
entered office said Eitan Gilboa, an
expert on U.S. policy at the Bar-Ilan
University's BESA Center for Strategic
Studies.
The latest area to highlight the
shortcomings of U.S. policy in the
Middle East is Lebanon, where the
Iranian-backed Shiite Hezbollah has
virtually seized control of the country.
After it was instrumental in helping
to force the Syrians out of Lebanon
in 2005, the Bush administration had
hoped a free Lebanon would become a
model for the White House's regional
democratization policy. Bush often has
expressed support for the moderate,
pro-Western Beirut government of the
Sunni prime minister, Fuad Siniora.
But Hezbollah, prompted by Iran,
was able to impose a set of conditions
on the moderates that left the pro-
Iranian Shiite militia in virtual control
of the country earlier this month. And
America did nothing to stop this dra-
matic spread of Iranian influence.
Israeli analysts highlighted the
discrepancy between Bush's conten-
tion in the Knesset that Israel in the
fight against terror will have "300
million Americans" behind it and
Washington's inaction in the face of
the Shiite takeover of Lebanon.
"In other times, the U.S. would
have sent in gunboats and bombed
Hezbollah positions from the see
veteran political analyst Nahum
Barnea wrote in the Israeli daily Yediot
Mission on page A32
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