A good time may have been had by all in Annapolis, but there were no illusions. It's called maturity. Maturity meaning there are no illusions (as in Oslo), no quick fixes, no wishful thinking. And it's a holy place to be.
Joel Rosenberg has more from Washington:
"The very fact that the Israelis are talking about giving up land and dividing Jerusalem is a sign of blood in the water to her enemies, not a good thing when you're surrounded by sharks. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is already organizing a conference of terrorists as an "alternative" to Annapolis. He and his genocidal cronies will do everything they can to sabotage any prospect for peace, however slim, and then say, "See, we told you so! Now it's time for war." Ahmadinejad sees Olmert and his government as weak, exhausted, and doomed to collapsed. He said as much yesterday after a cabinet meeting in Tehran. "It is impossible that the Zionist regime will survive," Ahmadinejad insisted. "Collapse is in the nature of this regime because it has been created on aggression, lying, oppression and crime." Moreover, Ahmadinejad believes the winds of history are at his back. He believes he is doing Allah's will to obliterate Israel and annihilate Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it. Annapolis will very likely serve as a catalyst to him to get his nuclear weapons program complete, take care of Israel once and for all, to bring about the global carnage and chaos necessary to usher in the coming of the Mahdi."
Allison Kaplan Sommer has more from Tel Aviv. As she recounts, the Saudis simply are the most boorish people on Earth, and this conference bears that out. Here in the South, we call it poor breeding. On the other hand, for Israel's enemies to see her as fatigued and worn down is not a good thing.
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Bush's awkward cameo appearance at the Middle East Peace Summit in Annapolis, Maryland - looking confused and distracted, the president butchered the names of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and even needed guidance on where to stand with the two leaders for a photo op — which was apparently the only reason he attended at all.
After all the hype and spin about how much President Bush cares about bringing peace to the Middle East, and how he’s worked the phones and listened in preparation, our Commander in Chief took off after spending less than three hours at the summit.
I don't doubt for a minute that Bush sincerely wants peace in the Middle East. But am sure he knew in his heart that this conference was mostly a perfunctory exercise in posturing.
I fear that Rosenberg is correct.
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