[International Herald Tribune, 1May07] Roger Cohen - The Winograd Commission sketched a profound disconnect: between an Israel that over almost six decades has not managed to deliver itself from the threat to its existence and an Israel of sweeping highways, high-tech corporations, gleaming high-rises, and all the trappings of a stable, modern country. Security has on the whole been better since the fighting. Palestinians, behind walls and fences, pursued their steady retreat to the fringe of most Israelis' consciousness, and a patina of calm has returned. Accountability is central to Israel's enduring vigor. How about a Saudi commission on how 15 of its citizens came to be among the 9/11 hijackers? Or a Lebanese commission on how Hizbullah has been able to operate as a quasi-independent armed entity within the state? Or an Iranian commission on how the hopes of its 1979 revolution led only to another form of dictatorship? When those commissions convene, the Middle East will move forward.
2007-05-02 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive