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from: Chris Matthews
to: Margaret Carlson

Turning the Arab World to Our Side, or Else

Posted Monday, Feb. 25, 2002, at 2:27 PM ET

Who are these people?

Dear Margaret,

So, until tomorrow, here's what I think:

A) I have to get up earlier because I'm making a guest appearance at a Georgetown class at 10 a.m.

B) We have got to turn the Arab world to our side. Otherwise I foresee a century of hell facing us. We can't change a person's religion. We can change a person's politics. And we better get at it. If we don't have the ambitious and educated Arab on our side, we will face an Arab "street" led by the university graduates and that spells disaster.

C) "Getting tough" is an anachronistic notion in a war fought with people who desire to be killed. Watch the battle between Sharon and Arafat and learn. While the kill ratio favors Israel, the impact favors the PA. Sharon loses numbers in the polls as Arafat gains numbers. Sharon is down to bumping along at the 50 percent level, and Arafat has zoomed back up beyond it. To get through this, Israel needs to find something a strategic majority of the Palestinians wants bad enough to go for peace.

See you tomorrow, Margaret.

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516
from: Chris Matthews
to: Margaret Carlson

Turning the Arab World to Our Side, or Else

Posted Monday, Feb. 25, 2002, at 2:27 PM ET
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Margaret Carlson is a columnist for Time magazine. She also appears on Inside Politics and Capital Gang. Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's and CNBC's Hardball, is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of three books, including his Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think.
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