Punching through violence

Yesterday evening Secretary Powell gave the keynote address to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. The committee specializes in fomenting hatred of Israel and disabling the United States from defending itself in the war against terrrorism. Click here to take a look at the home page of its Web site featuring the committee’s twin objects.
Hussein Ibish is the communications director of the committtee and makes frequent television appearances in that capacity. Daniel Pipes has a good column on Ibish that is worth reviewing in this context, “U.S. Arabs’ firebrand,” as does Erick Stakelbeck, “The insane rubbish of Hussein Ibish.” Someone should ask Secretary Powell what he is doing hanging out with this crowd.
Secretary Powell prefaced his remarks by reassuring those in attendance, “I am your friend.” His speech seems to have consisted mostly of the dangerous vacuities and circumlocutions that mask the nature of the obstacles to “peace” between Israel and Arafatistan: “If we don’t move forward, if we don’t take this opportunity, if we don’t punch through this current wave of violence, then where are we? We’re nowhere — with two peoples killing one another day after day after day.” The AP story on the speech is “Powell says United States ‘will not waver’ in push for peace.”