The Roadmap to Peace does not have speed bumps; it has huge gaping craters. The Palestinians have made no attempt to quell the terrorist groups. Rather one suspects the "truce" has been nothing but a resupply time for these groups. How do you form a lasting peace between two groups who refer to each other as "Lower than apes"--Palestinian, and "Lice that should be exterminated"--Israeli?
On top of the various bomber groups, you have a public opinion among average Palestinians that favours the complete ethnic cleansing of all Jews from Israeli. Not neighbours I would relish having. Possibly, the Israelis will have to grant the Palestinians a state. If nothing more, when the suicide bombers come a-calling, Israelis can qualify these actions as all-out war actions from a hostile government. Then they can begin their campaign against "the lice" in earnest.
The National Post (August, 17, 2003) reported that the main Kampala mosque was filled to overflowing with worshippers asking Allah for leniency. It might be a noble gesture, if the recipient for their prayers was someone other than Idi Amin. Here is a man responsible for a quarter million Ugandan deaths. One personally remembered episode was the forcing of couples to make love in front of him; then he had them beaten to death with sledgehammers. The only analogy that comes to mind would be Christian memorial services for Hitler.
Not something that our fearless leader has cottoned onto yet, although we have have a few more months to witness the final freakout moment -- and the collapse of our country's economy will obscure that little episode. Ironically, as I write this, the headphones are bleeding out a Solomon Burke tune called Always Keep a Diamond in your Mind. An all time favourite of Chretien's?
I seem a tad harsh on our P.M.; should I say sorry? As a slew of Liberal backbenchers have openly stated, "He has got to go! His final stroke of judicial activism, which we have been trained to accept, was simply too much. For the first time, Islam, Christianity, and Orthodox Jews stood side by side. The pols went into panic mode. They saw their political hides being laid out to cure. Their loyalty is to themselves. A message that Jean must understand implicitly. Chretien's voyage through retirement will grant him a legacy that he never expected.
