Pining for Containment

Here's a gem from anAP story on the President's speech tonight:

Neither he nor his advisers explained why the Middle East peace process made no major advances while Saddam was contained in the 1990s.

This is mentioned in part because the reporter and headline play up the President's remarks about Iraq forming a starting point for peace in the region.


Let's just think back and contemplate the "peace process" of the 1990s. Can we accept that maybe the fact that Arafat did not keep any of the promises he made in the Oslo agreement hindered progress? And can we also accept that perhaps Saddam was not entirely contained during the preceding 12 years? This very same story mentions Iraqi support for suicide (or homicide) bombers, with the disclaimer that Iraq denies that accusation. (Which is news to me, by the way. I thought it was official Iraq policy, but even so I suppose they could still deny it.) Of course there is also the matter of Iraqi assistance for Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the sundry other terrorist outfits, none of which was truly helpful to the peace process.


In short, what a stupid or disingenous little nugget to include in a straight news story about the speech.