Now, almost two years later, the U.S. may have lost a window of opportunity to improve relations with Iran, and currently faces resentment throughout the Islamic world.
Regions / Middle East & North Africa
Contemporary leaders, like those of yore, ought to heed warnings to discount heady advice brought by people with their own agendas.
Just as in the war on terrorism, the struggle for peace in the Middle East must include a concomitant effort to change the hearts and minds of people involved.
That is a lesson the government of Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon might heed as it continues to occupy the West Bank and Gaza at a cost that threatens to destroy the Israeli economy, impoverishing both occupiers and occupied.
Two recent polls show signs of a sharp decline in popular support for the Bush administration's policies in Iraq.
The focus of the occupation regime is more on emergency repairs than on a major rehabilitation of Iraq's dilapidated and war-destroyed public infrastructure.
In the glow of the Iraq war's initial military success, most American peace activists felt profoundly demoralized.
How is it possible to promote human rights and democracy in Iran without strengthening Washington's drive to dominate the world in general and the Middle East in particular?
Iraq demonstrates that the new U.S. approach to humanitarian action is unsustainable.
One thing to keep in mind about the current push for peace between Israelis and Palestinians is that Ariel Sharon is one of the most consistent political figures in the Middle East, and he keeps his word.