The Bush administration has argued that overturning the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein would accelerate the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. When both sides accepted President Bush-s -road map,- that claim seemed to be vindicated. Now, in the wake of suicide bombings in both Baghdad and Jerusalem, Iraq seems close to chaos, and the Middle East ceasefire has come to an end. Can Iraq become a beacon of democracy for the Arab world? Is Israel safer than it was before? Can US objectives still be achieved, or were they based on unrealistic assumptions? We hear more about the relationship between the downfall of Saddam Hussein and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process from journalists in the US and Israel, a defense policy expert from the American Enterprise Institute, and Middle East scholar Fawaz Gerges.
- Reporter's Notebook: The 'Myth' of Left-Leaning Hollywood
Everyone knows that Hollywood is a bastion of liberalism, led to the rhetorical barricades by Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, Ed Asner and Martin Sheen. Then, how is it that the actors who run for office are always Republicans? Tim Rutten, media columnist for the Los Angeles Times, recalls the political careers of Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood and Sony Bono, and deconstructs the myth of the -uniformly Democratic- Hollywood actor.
John Judis- American Prospect article on Iraq-Middle East relationship
Rutten's article on the myth of Hollywood liberalism
