Maureen Dowd, "Mighty Morphin Hillary": Frankly, My Dear, I Don't Give a Damn

I was never a fan of horror movies. Having witnessed wars and a plethora of terrorist attacks from up close, I avoid Hollywood renditions of blood and guts, and as for LA characterizations of Satan and his minions, I think there is little that can surpass the evil which rears its ugly face on almost a daily basis in the Middle East and its environs. In recent days:

• Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad gave orders to ready his stockpile of chemical weapons against those rebelling against his regime.

• In a grisly video circulated over the Internet, Syrian rebels executed ten bound captives with close range automatic fire.

• Lebanon is a powder keg after 20 Salafist volunteers crossed the border into Syria to join the rebels, but were cut down in an ambush. Syria has yet to return the bodies, and there is fighting between Sunnis and Shiites in Tripoli.

• In Egypt, rioting has forced Morsi out of his presidential palace after he attempted to seize dictatorial powers (http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=294627).

• In Yemen, Amnesty International issued a report (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE31/010/2012/en/5c85d728-a9ab-4693-afe9-edecc2b8670e/mde310102012en.pdf) documenting amputations and a crucifixion by al-Qaeda rebels in the south as punishment for spying, "sorcery" and theft. Government forces, backed by American drones, responded with indiscriminate fire against civilians in order to dislodge the rebels.

• The government of Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan, Obama's best buddy, has fined a TV channel the equivalent of $30,000 for broadcasting a "blasphemous" scene from "The Simpsons" (see: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/03/entertainment-us-turkey-simpsons-blasphe-idUSBRE8B20MG20121203). "Blasphemy"? "Yes indeedy," as Ned Flanders might say. The scene - avert your eyes - actually has the devil asking God for a cup of coffee. But I suppose this amounts to a hill of beans when you consider how Turkey leads the world in jailing journalists.

• Further afield in Afghnanistan, a 14-year-old girl was beheaded after refusing a marriage proposal (see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20532037).

Which brings me to Maureen Dowd's New York Times op-ed "Mighty Morphin Hillary" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/opinion/dowd-mighty-morphin-hillary.html). God bless her, Maureen knows absolutely nothing about the Middle East, but that has never stopped her from writing about it. In her latest pièce de résistance, Dowd observes that Hillary, whom she has always hated, recently spoke at the Saban Forum at the Willard Hotel, but failed to lambaste Netanyahu for - take a deep breath - planning new housing east of Jerusalem:

"She said the Palestinians could have a state 'as old as I am' if in 1947 they had made 'the right decision' or if they had 'worked with my husband' in 2000. And she urged Israel to be 'generous' toward the Palestinians. But she didn’t whack Bibi, as he deserved. Many there came away assuming that it was the beginning of Hillary’s 2016 campaign, that she was thinking about her future rather than her present. Her reasoning, they reckoned, was this: If Obama doesn’t want to have anything to do with the settlement issue, if he’d rather spend his time in Myanmar than Israel, then why should she stir up trouble with Israel and her pro-Israel supporters on her way out the door?"

Maureen, allow me to place some of this in context for you.

Mahmoud Abbas, whose term as President of the Palestinian National Authority ended in 2009, has refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Moreover, after Netanyahu acceded to Obama's demand for a 10-month settlement construction moratorium in late 2009 in order to promote peace talks, Abbas ignored the gesture.

The firing of more than 1,500 rockets at Israeli civilians in November enhanced the popularity of Hamas among Palestinians - both in Gaza and the West Bank - and Abbas, who also heads Fatah, found it necessary to turn to the UN to seek recognition of statehood in order to restore his own flagging popularity.

Annoyed by this unilateral move by Abbas, Netanyahu announced plans for the construction of 3,000 housing units in east Jerusalem and east of Israel's capital. These "plans" were also intended to boost Netanyahu's standing among right wing and religious voters as parliamentary elections draw near in Israel.

Am I pleased by Netanyahu's behavior? No. I think it's childish. Israel emerged from Operation Pillar of Defense with little damage to its international reputation after demonstrating considerable restraint with respect to the extent of its operations. Israeli ground forces did not enter Gaza, and civilian casualties among Gazans were kept to a minimum. However, any international goodwill gained by Netanyahu in November has now been lost in December with this foolish announcement. Surely, there were other ways for Netanyahu to let Abbas know of his displeasure.

But bottom line, Israeli settlements comprise less than two percent of the total territory of the West Bank. If and when Abbas is ready to negotiate, I am confident that Netanyahu, like his predecessors Barak and Olmert, will be willing to swap land in order to reach a peace agreement.

Hillary, who is the focus of the Dowd opinion piece? Amazing how we are still facing four more impotent years of Obama, yet Maureen already has fixed her crosshairs on America's outgoing secretary of state.

My feelings this morning about Hillary in 2016? Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.