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War, War, War See other War, War, War Articles Title: THE ADMINISTRATION'S DIFFERENT APPROACH; 1998 visit sealed Bush's ties to Israel; After a trip to the Holy Land, the Texas governor "brought Israel back home with him in his heart." Washington, D.C. -- If there's a starting point for George W. Bush's attachment to Israel, it's the day in late 1998 when he stood on the hilltop where Jesus is thought to have delivered the Sermon on the Mount, and, eyes brimming with tears, read aloud from his favorite hymn, "Amazing Grace." "He was very emotional. It was a tear-filled experience," said Matthew Brooks, a prominent Jewish Republican who escorted Bush, then governor of Texas, and three other GOP governors on the Mideast visit. "He brought Israel back home with him in his heart. I think he came away profoundly moved." Eight years later, Bush is living up to his reputation as the most pro-Israel president ever. With Israel's military action in Lebanon in its fourth week, the president is standing firm against growing international pressure for an immediate cease-fire. His stance has alienated European allies and fueled anti-American sentiment in the Arab world, but Brooks and other pro-Israel activists couldn't be more pleased. "He is not only the most pro-Israel president, he's redefined what it means to be pro-Israel," said Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition. "People used to talk about `ending the cycle of violence.' He doesn't do that. He understands that it is not a cycle of violence when you defend yourself." Ex-White House aides and GOP insiders say the president's stalwart support for Israel is an alliance born of emotion, personal ties and the searing experience of Sept. 11, 2001. His tutorial on Mideast policy began with his 1998 trip, a whirlwind tour that established personal ties that would become far more significant later. He met Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, now Israel's prime minister, and he took a helicopter tour with then-Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon. "It's interesting how history works, isn't it?" Bush mused in a 2005 speech. "The future president of the United States and the future prime minister of Israel were flying across that country, with him describing to me how to keep Israel secure." It was a conversation that he and Sharon would have many times, often in the privacy of the Oval Office. Bush said he came away from the aerial tour struck by Israel's vulnerability. After flying over the narrowest part of the country, he joked, "We've got driveways in Texas bigger than that." Bush's views on Mideast policy were largely unknown when he launched his 2000 presidential campaign. Some pro-Israel activists feared he would follow his father's approach and temper support for Israel with sensitivity to Arab opinions. President George H.W. Bush angered pro-Israel activists in 1992 by threatening to withhold U.S. loan guarantees for Israel if its leaders continued to permit new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel responded by ordering a freeze on new settlements. The younger Bush signaled early on that he would take a different approach. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, who provided an insider's view of the Bush administration to journalist Ron Suskind, said Bush declared his intention to "correct the imbalances" in Mideast policy at his first National Security Council meeting. "We're going to tilt it back to Israel. And we're going to be consistent," Bush said, according to Suskind's "The Price of Loyalty," a book about O'Neill's experiences. Ex-White House aides say Bush's views hardened after the Sept. 11 attacks. More than ever, Bush saw Israel and the United States as allies in a life-or-death struggle with terrorism. "September 11 changed everything," former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "He knows what little Israel is going through. He views it as a democracy protecting its people against groups that have nothing but terrorism and destruction on their minds - just like us." White House speechwriter David Frum agreed with Fleischer that Bush's desire to combat terrorism is by far the most important factor behind his approach to Israel. "The reason he's been giving the green light to Israel in southern Lebanon is he's heading toward a confrontation with Iran," said Frum, who helped write the 2001 speech that branded Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil." "Hezbollah is Iran's strongest weapon. That's what this is about - the United States benefits from taking away Iran's weapon." Frum and Fleischer, both Jewish, discounted the role of religion in shaping Bush's views. Many evangelical Christians strongly support Israel and believe that God gave the Holy Land to the Jewish people. "I never saw any evidence, in public or in private, that the president's faith had anything to do with his pro-Israel positions," Fleischer said. "I would have been uncomfortable with that." Still, there's little doubt that Bush's stalwart support for Israel has helped him with Christian conservatives and Jewish voters. Bush got about 24 percent of the Jewish vote in 2004, up from 19 percent in 2000 and far better than other recent Republican presidential candidates. Bob Dole, for example, got 16 percent in 1996. His support also has earned Bush the gratitude of Israelis. "I think that we never had such relations with any president of the United States as we have with you," Sharon, now near death after a debilitating stroke, told Bush during a 2002 Oval Office visit. "We never had such cooperation in everything as we have with the current administration."
Poster Comment: His tutorial on Mideast policy began with his 1998 trip, a whirlwind tour that established personal ties that would become far more significant later. He met Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, now Israel's prime minister, and he took a helicopter tour with then-Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon. "It's interesting how history works, isn't it?" Bush mused in a 2005 speech. "The future president of the United States and the future prime minister of Israel were flying across that country, with him describing to me how to keep Israel secure."
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#1. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
A quarter to anyone who can read all that pap without feeling a strong urge to hurl.
You owe me two bits loddy. Oops, nevermind.
lol - that one should get the pantload of the day winner.
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