It's just not possible that the leader of the free world could be
this clueless.
US President George W. Bush said on Monday that he could not envisage the Middle East evolving "without a Palestinian state that's free and democratic."
Bush, who flies to Israel on Tuesday, told The Jerusalem Post that he remains convinced that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is a partner for peace. And he went on to say, at a briefing with the Post and three other Israeli journalists in the Oval Office, that he was still convinced that an accord on Palestinian statehood was attainable this year.
Just. not. possible.
He noted that during his presidency he had witnessed "the emergence of thought in Israel that the only way to exist in the long-term is for there to be a Palestinian state. And it's a powerful idea. I believe in powerful ideas. I believe that with US help, the negotiators can come up with the definition of a state."
From his own point of view, the president said, "All I've tried to do is wade in and add some legitimacy to the two-state solution. I've been the first president to articulate it. To me it's the only solution. I just don't see how the Middle East evolves without a Palestinian state that's free and democratic."
Because it's not as if Bill Clinton spent the last year of his presidency trying so desparately to sell the exact same snake oil. Oh, wait.
Yes,
it is.
Bush insisted he was not looking to his legacy. "I'm not running for the Nobel Peace Prize. I'm just trying to be a guy to use the influence of the United States to move the process along," he said.
Yikes. Go ahead. Pull the other one.
