Know When To Hold'em

All I can gather from this San Jose Mercury News headline is that Israel needs more time to hunt down West Bank barbarians:

“Powell plots course for deeper involvement, more high-level visits”

From the story:

The new diplomatic formula that Powell and other U.S. officials laid out envisions precisely the kind of hands-on involvement in the Middle East that President Bush avoided for more than a year because he deemed it too risky and because President Clinton had tried it and failed.

The administration’s plan calls for frequent high-level visits by American mediators, intense diplomacy with moderate Arab states and, in all likelihood, lots of American cash to rebuild and reform Palestinian institutions destroyed by Israel’s military offensive.

Can you think of a better way to stall? Why, it even carries the implicit endorsement of the US Secretary of State.

I don’t claim Sharon or Bush has a master plan for dealing with the suicide bombers. But hey, you play the cards you’re dealt. And when you’re into the pot this deep, you raise on a middlin’ pair rather than fold.