In his ongoing peace talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed the possibility of U.S. troop involvement in a peacekeeping mission. This would be a mistake. While an American peacekeeping effort could possibly create a brief period of assumed peace, it would leave us with the certainty that many more Americans would die.

In addition to the potential for a dangerous failure in Afghanistan, it?s reasonable to assume that sending some troops to Israel could also hurt the war effort in Afghanistan. Does President Bush really want to be involved in two battles at the same time with less-than-full forces? This is exactly what splitting up U.S. troops would do. A choice must be made between the two battles and I believe it?s an easy one. Afghanistan is where the United States. has been for nearly eight months, and, as long as we are fighting there, nothing else should weaken the war effort.

The job of U.S. troops is clear in Afghanistan: Eliminate, or come close to eliminating terrorism, and all who create and fund it. If troops were sent to the West Bank, their mission would be quite complicated and absolutely unclear.

The potential confusion goes back to America?s staunch alliance with Israel. This makes the idea of the United States taking a stance against Israel quite strange and unheard of. Therefore, if U.S. troops were to be sent there, they would be in support of Israel, right? Well, no.

Israel is currently plunging through the homes and land of the Palestinians with stories of massacres coming out. As a result, Bush has, very surprisingly, told Isreali Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to immediately pull his military out of the West Bank and try to negotiate peace talks with Palestine. Therefore, if U.S. troops were sent there, they would be in support of Palestine, right? Well, no again.

You see, if a comparison can be made between this situation and the one between Afghanistan and the United States, Bush and his military would certainly side with Israel. The Palestinians are the ones without the structured forces and military, and therefore have resorted to suicide bombings to kill people in Israel. This has been their primary strategy, and the word “terrorists” has been attached to their names. Wherever the “T” word exists, Bush, as he has made clear, sends as many armed men as he can find in that direction. This would seem to put the United States back on the side of Israel, but that?s not the case either.

In short, putting U.S. troops in this bloody situation, with a mounting death toll, would put them in a situation where their mission would be a complete mystery. Therefore it should not be considered, especially while we are still fighting our own war elsewhere in the Middle East.

Disagree? E-mail Russ Edmondson at [email protected].

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