The Reactionary Utopian
                     January 5, 2006


BUSH'S ALPHA MALE
by Joe Sobran

     What's the proper form of address for a terrorist 
with a long record of mass murder? Emily Post doesn't 
cover this one, but in the state of Israel his title may 
be "Mr. Prime Minister."

     The political career of Ariel Sharon, successor of 
such democratic leaders as Menachem Begin and Yitzhak 
Shamir, appears to have ended at last. As he lies in a 
Jerusalem hospital after a possibly fatal stroke, the 
future of his country, the Middle East, and much more may 
depend on his fate.

     Not since Joseph Stalin have American politicians 
and opinion leaders fawned so revoltingly over a foreign 
ruler. President George W. Bush calls Sharon "a man of 
courage and peace." Neoconservatives regard him as a 
hero, almost beyond criticism -- except when he makes 
concessions to Palestinians. The New York DAILY NEWS 
hails him as "the world's best hope for peace in the 
Middle East," "a leader of unparalleled vision and 
courage," and "the personification of the nation's 
centrist aspirations." Like Stalin, who had his own Amen 
Corner, Sharon has many well-placed apologists in this 
country, ready to justify him at every turn. Rush 
Limbaugh has likened him to George Washington.

     Sharon achieved his greatest worldwide fame in 1982 
when he led the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and arranged 
the grisly slaughter of about 2,000 refugees, including 
women and children of all ages, in the Sabra and Shatila 
camps near Beirut. Hundreds of thousands of shocked 
Israelis protested in the streets, but after an official 
inquiry he got off with a reprimand.

     But his ruthlessness also added to his popularity, 
and he came back from apparent political ruin to become 
leader of the Likud Party and finally, five years ago, 
prime minister. He showed his courage and vision by 
adopting such policies as the "target assassinations" of 
Palestinian leaders (along with any unfortunate 
bystanders), including, last year, the killing of a blind 
quadriplegic in a wheelchair.

     Bush and Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, tried 
to terrify the world with the prospect that Saddam 
Hussein might acquire a single nuclear weapon. But 
neither of them has ever expressed the slightest anxiety 
that the fanatical Sharon should possess one of the 
greatest nuclear arsenals on Earth, enough to annihilate 
the Arab world -- as the Arabs are well aware. Is it any 
wonder that Anglo-American hypocrisy has become so 
notorious?

     There is grim comedy in the way Bush has praised 
Sharon as a great humanitarian, while at the same time 
trying to coax him to behave in a minimally civilized 
manner. Like a feckless parent trying to control a 
spoiled child by indulging him (to the disgust and 
annoyance of his company), Bush has too little 
self-respect to mind very much when his Israeli pal makes 
him look like a fool. He has tried to keep smiling 
through every indignity Sharon could inflict on him.

     In this respect, though Blair has nothing to be 
proud of, he has much less to be ashamed of. A residual 
sense of the absurd has prevented him from lauding Sharon 
with Bush's egregious extravagance. British public 
opinion is humane enough to sympathize with the 
Palestinians and to be embarrassed by its alliance with 
Israel, especially under a brute like Sharon. If British 
politics isn't exactly moral, it's at least restrained by 
some good taste.

     Besides, Bush is intimidated by Sharon, as Franklin 
Roosevelt was by Stalin. Ruthless men can have this 
daunting effect on weak men, causing them to say things 
they know to be the opposite of the truth; and Sharon has 
known what is only too obvious to everyone, that Bush 
can't stand up to him. He has been Bush's Alpha Male.

     We can hope that Bush will be at least a little less 
timid with Sharon's successor. He must sense that his 
timidity before a tiny country has earned him the world's 
contempt, and maybe a part of him will even feel relief 
if Sharon dies. He'll no longer have to be the 97-pound 
weakling in the relationship, hoping he won't be 
humiliated.

     America doesn't have much to show for its expensive 
entanglement with Israel, but it has given us a good look 
at the stuff our rulers are made of. No patriot can take 
much pride in it.

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