A marriage cemented by terror

Bush and Sharon's strong relationship was based on mutual self-interest -- and a shared good-and-evil ideology.

By Nathan Guttman

Read more: George W. Bush, Politics, Israel, Ariel Sharon, Relationships, News, Yasser Arafat, Colin Powell

Photos by AP/Wide World

Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush

Jan. 24, 2006 | WASHINGTON -- In April 2005, President George W. Bush gave Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the most precious gift an American president can give to a foreign leader -- a visit to his home, in this case his Crawford, Texas, ranch. Bush grants invitations to the ranch to only a handful of foreign leaders. They tend to be either friends of the president, like Britain's Tony Blair, or leaders he really needs to impress, like Saudi Arabia's Prince Abdullah or Mexico's Vicente Fox. Sharon fell into a third category: leaders who need to show their people at home that the leader of the free world is on their side.

Bush gave Sharon the whole Crawford routine: a ride on a pickup truck with the president of the U.S. serving as a tour guide, playing around with Barney the dog in front of the press, and an informal, easygoing discussion Texas-style, with a lot of joking around and no neckties. Hours later, briefing the Israeli press at the nearby airport, Sharon was glowing. "It was a great meeting, a really great meeting," he said again and again, stressing how important for Israel it was to have such a good friend in the White House. The Israeli press went wild, with huge front page pictures and detailed reports comparing Bush's Texas ranch to Sharon's ranch in Israel's southern Negev region.

The spin worked. The Israeli public, encouraged by the backing its prime minister was getting from the leader of the free world, supported Sharon's disengagement plan. His popularity in the polls skyrocketed.

Peeling off the layers of P.R. and looking at the real relationship between Bush and Sharon, who is now struggling for his life in a Jerusalem hospital, it is clear that though there was no real friendship between the two men, they still managed to forge a strong relationship, one that benefited both of them politically.

Bush and Sharon could not have come from more different backgrounds. One grew up in a wealthy and privileged family, a political dynasty; the other in near-poverty in a family of hardworking farmers who couldn't even get along with their own neighbors. One did all he could to get out of military service, while the other's whole career was in the military, always in the front lines, always carrying wounds from the last war.

But there are also threads of similarity between the two men. Most significantly, both came to power as outsiders, and neither ever trusted anyone or anything in the political system. Both are polarizing figures who had to fight hard to win the support and affection of their own people. (Sharon, who won over many of his Israeli critics at the end of his life, succeeded much better than Bush, who is admired and detested in equal measure by Americans.) And both Sharon and Bush are ranchers, though neither one of them has ever actually worked his ranch.

Bush's first encounter with Sharon was dramatic. It was in December 1998 and Bush was visiting Israel for the first time with a group of Republican governors, a trip organized by pro-Israel activists in the United States. After meetings with Israeli leaders, the group took an aerial tour of Israel by helicopter. The guide was Ariel Sharon. While flying over the Green Line, marking the pre-1967 borders of Israel, Sharon lectured to Bush and his colleagues, over the earphones in the noisy chopper, about Israel's "narrow waistline," telling them how dangerous going back to the old border would be for the tiny country. Bush, used to the vast plains of Texas, was impressed, and since then he has mentioned his little tour every time he has spoken in front of a Jewish audience. The incident may have had momentous consequences: Bush signed off on Sharon's policy of "thickening" Israeli settlements in the West Bank, a major point of contention between Israel and the Palestinians.

Bush and Sharon took office at the same time, and their relationship got off to a good start. Israel was already deep into the second intifada and terror was raging, but the new boss in the White House provided Israel with at least one reason to be optimistic. In his first meeting with the National Security Council, on Jan. 30, 2001, Bush surprised members of the NSC by declaring, "We're going to correct the imbalance of previous administrations on the Mideast conflict. We're going to tilt it back toward Israel." Author Ron Suskind, in "The Price of Loyalty," his book about Paul O'Neill, describes what followed this statement: Bush asked if anyone had ever met Sharon. Secretary of State Colin Powell was the only one who raised his hand. Bush went on: "I'm not going to go by past reputations when it comes to Sharon, I'm going to take him at face value." Then he described his helicopter ride with Sharon, saying that he had flown over the Palestinian camps and that it "looked real bad down there." "I think it's time to pull out of that situation," Bush said -- meaning the U.S. would cease its active role in trying to broker a peace deal and leave it to the two sides to work it out.

Powell, according to Suskind's book, based on notes Paul O'Neill made during the meeting, told Bush this would be a dangerous move that would give a free hand to Sharon and the Israeli army. "The consequences of that could be dire, especially for the Palestinians," Powell said. Bush shrugged. "Maybe that's the best way to get things back in balance," he said. "Sometimes a show of force by one side can really clarify things."

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