January 23, 2007	Tuesday	Muharram 03, 1428

WASHINGTON, Jan 22: US President George W. Bush has vowed to avoid a Vietnam like defeat in the Middle East, declaring in an interview published on Monday that he is determined to win the war against terror. “Yes, win. Win, when you’re in a battle for the security … if it has to do with the security of your country, you win,” said Mr Bush when asked what lesson he drew from America’s defeat in the Vietnam War.

And to achieve this target, Mr Bush has apparently set a tall agenda for his remaining two years in office. This includes resolving the Arab-Israel dispute, winning the war in Iraq and catching top Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

Mr Bush spent the weekend at the Camp David presidential resort consulting his two senior aides: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates on these issues.

Ms Rice has the task of resolving the Arab-Israel conflict while Mr Gates is expected to win the Iraq war and catch Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar.

Both are also expected to line up Arab allies behind Mr Bush’s new Iraq strategy.

Last week, Ms Rice visited Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Britain, and Germany, as part of an effort to accelerate the Middle East peace process.

Mr Gates met US commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan during a trip that also included stops in Britain, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar.

Ms Rice has made six visits to the Middle East recently and plans four more in the near future. So far she has achieved very little.

She did succeed, however, in persuading Israel to release the $100 million in taxes that have been long overdue to the Palestinians, but were withheld as punishment.

The Palestinians are no longer pleased by such small favours. They want talks on real issues such as defining the boundaries of the proposed Palestinian state that the Americans promised to help create but never delivered.

They also want talks on the future of millions of Palestinian refugees spread across the world and on their right to return to their homeland.

Mr Gates and Ms Rice also tried to make America’s Arab allies publicly support President Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq. This was one point on which they got broad support from Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

But in the same meetings, Arab leaders also expressed their concerns about the possibility of escalating the Iraq war.

Although the Americans are telling their Arab and other allies that their new strategy can stabilise Iraq, in his interview to the USA Today Mr Bush said he cannot guarantee that all US troops will be out of Iraq by the end of his presidency.

The war on terrorism, he said, will remain a “long struggle” for his successors.

Senior Bush officials also have acknowledged that the chances of a major breakthrough in resolving the Arab-Israel conflict in the near future were still very slim.

This leaves Mr Bush with only one place where he hopes he can have some success to show: Afghanistan. And this explains the sudden interest the US administration is showing in Afghanistan.

The strategy is to catch the so-called high value targets and win some major battles against the Taliban without a major increase in US or Nato troops.

US policy planners believe that they can achieve this target by bringing enough pressure on Pakistan to launch a major military campaign on its side of the border while the US and Afghan forces stand ready to catch those who enter Afghanistan.

If this happens, Mr Bush believes he can end his eight-year rule with something to show.

Others disagree. In a recent Washington Post forum, historian Eric Foner called Mr Bush “the worst president ever”.