No matter what one may think of Condoleezza Rice's diplomatic record -- which I think is better than many liberal critics gauge -- the fact that Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave her a kick in the teeth as she departs her office is obnoxious and harmful all around.
Olmert also seemed to convey that he had George W. Bush on a little puppet string -- that he could pull the United States President out of a meeting and compel Bush to veto the course that Secretary Rice was going and had been empowered to do by that same President. True or not, Olmert crossed a real line in his statement.
This kind of arrogance from Israel's leadership only erodes enthusiasm for Israel's posture in the Middle East.
Perhaps Israel's so-called defensive efforts that have killed nearly 1,000 people -- and many innocents among them -- and this high-ended, stridently unfriendly treatment of Condoleezza Rice will help to decrease the emotional enthusiasm for Israel's Gaza raids.
It is certainly sending a signal to many in the incoming Obama administration that while there are convergent American and Israeli interests -- friendship and trust are eroding whether one wants to admit publicly or not.
Shaming a US President and Secretary of State may not change the course in policy and may not shift America's general approach to the region, at least for the time being, but it does take the fizz out of the unique relationship.
From an AFP story today:
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was left shame-faced after President George W. Bush ordered her to abstain in a key UN vote on the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday."She was left shamed. A resolution that she prepared and arranged, and in the end she did not vote in favour," Olmert said in a speech in the southern town of Ashkelon.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution last Thursday calling for an immediate ceasefire in the three-week-old conflict in the Gaza Strip and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza where hundreds have been killed.
Fourteen of the council's 15 members voted in favour of the resolution, which was later rejected by both Israel and Hamas.
The United States, Israel's main ally, had initially been expected to vote in line with the other 14 but Rice later became the sole abstention.
"In the night between Thursday and Friday, when the secretary of state wanted to lead the vote on a ceasefire at the Security Council, we did not want her to vote in favour," Olmert said.
Condoleezza Rice has worked hard on the Israel-Palestine peace process -- and her efforts failed. But I had the privilege of sitting in with her in a meeting that she held in her office with former Israel Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami and was impressed by her retention of and facility with the details of the Arab-Israel morass.
She was optimistic when we met -- and very committed to what she thought was a sensible track that would offer a "mature" course of action for all of the parties involved.
Olmert is the one who should be shame-faced.
Lots of people want to take pot shots at the outgoing foreign policy and national security team -- but in this case -- it is Israel's leadership that has misbehaved and overshot. . .again.
The appropriate thing for Condoleezza Rice to do right now is return the favor to Olmert by actually working in her final days on the job to implement immediately that UN Cease Fire Resolution.
And maybe George W. Bush can pull Olmert out of a speech to let him know what's going down.
-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note
|
|
Israel Invades Gaza: Info, Updates, Video
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO ***UPDATE*** January 4th, 9:38PM The Times of London reports that Israel's rain of fire on Gaza is thought to be caused...
|
|
|
Israeli troops and tanks slice deep into Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships surrounded Gaza's largest city and fought militants at close range...
|
|
|
Diplomats Converge On Israel In Push For Truce
Scroll down for video GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israel seized control of high-rise buildings and attacked houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels as it pressed...
|
|
|
Diplomatic Pressure On Israel, Hamas Intensifies
UPDATE 6 pm Heavy fighting broke out in Gaza's populated streets Monday night as Israel dismissed calls for a truce, reports the Telegraph. Explosions were...
|
|
|
Gaza truce proposed after Israeli shell kills 30
GAZA CITY, Gaza — France and Egypt announced an initiative to stop the fighting in Gaza late Tuesday, hours after Israeli mortar shells exploded near...
|
|
|
UN Security Council calls for immediate Gaza truce
JERUSALEM — The U.N. Security Council called for an "immediate" and "durable" cease-fire in Gaza in a resolution Thursday night even as fighting between Israel...
|
|
|
UN Security Council calls for Gaza cease-fire
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Thursday night calling for an immediate and durable cease-fire between Hamas militants and Israeli forces...
|
|
|
Red Cross Accuses Israel Of 'Unacceptable' Delays In Providing Access To Wounded
GENEVA — The international Red Cross accused Israel on Thursday of "unacceptable" delays in letting rescue workers reach three Gaza City homes hit by shelling...
|
|
|
Israeli forces advance deep into Gaza urban areas
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli ground forces made their deepest foray yet Sunday into Gaza's most populated area, with tanks rolling into residential neighborhoods...
|
|
|
Israel's Gaza Offensive: Updated Information
The IDF claims that rocket attacks have dropped 50% since their Gaza operation began over two weeks ago, reports Haaretz: Sixteen days into Operation Cast...
|
|
Photos From Israel That You Won't See on the News
Israel is not media savvy -- we have installed warning systems and bomb shelters. No casualties means no photos, which means that many incidents aren't even covered by the media.
|
|
The CNN-NPR-NYT Middle East Conspiracy
When people complain about bias in the media, it's always bias against their own point of view, and never in favor of their side. Nowhere is this more true than in coverage of the Middle East.
|
|
No Exit for Civilians in Gaza in the Midst of War
In similar situations around the world, civilians caught in the midst of conflict would have the option of seeking safety in neighboring countries as refugees. Gazans have no such option.
|
|
Evidence Grows That Israel is Using White Phosphorus in Gaza
Today, at least two UN officials have flatly declared that three or more white phosphorous shells were part of the attack today that set a UN building and compound ablaze in Gaza City.
|
|
Changing the Reality in Gaza
Counting on international pressure to bring a quick end to the Israeli onslaught may prove to be misplaced as Israel is now determined to never allow a return to the status quo ante.
|
|
Hamas and the Death of a Better Future
To me, Gaza is personal. As an Israeli infantry officer, I served in Gaza before, during, and after the 2005 Disengagement.
|
|
Al Jazeera English Beats Israel's Ban on Reporters in Gaza with Exclusive Coverage
Some may call it propaganda but I call it hardcore reporting. If you are not watching Al Jazeera English's coverage of the War on Gaza, you are missing much, if not, most of the story.
|
|
Why Aren't More Americans Dancing To Israel's Tune?
The surprising trend in American opinion on Gaza may be because the same pundits who are cheerleading Israel's assault once sold the occupation of Iraq, and with a nearly identical set of arguments.
|
|
Maybe Hamas is Not so Stupid
Judged as a piece of political theater, Hamas has succeeded in presenting Israel as the golem on the block.
|
|
Israel as Mini-Me
We are both settler states -- the Puritans, who escaped oppression in the Old World only to mete out oppression in the New, unfolded their Zionist project in the 17th century with their "city built upon a hill" as the New Jerusalem.
|
|
Gaza: The War On Children
Israel has accused Hamas of intentionally attacking from civilian-populated areas, driving up casualties among non-combatants to provoke anger against Israel. But do children have to pay the price?
|
|
What Was Israel Supposed to Do?
Every day now, I hear someone saying, "What was Israel supposed to do? Hamas keeps firing rockets into their country." So, here is a quick list of the things they were supposed to do.
|
|
Israel's Extensive PR Campaign
Last Friday, at the height of the attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced without a hint of irony: "We are peace seekers."
|
|
Accused of Funding Hamas, Controversial Charity Collects Money in Lebanon for Palestinians in Gaza (VIDEO)
On Beirut's waterfront road, young men dressed in green jackets with the Etelaf Al-Khair logo on their backs are handing out fliers with images of bloodied Palestinian children and holding donation boxes.
|
|
Georgetown Newspaper Editor Reports on Sderot-Gaza, and Recording With Rockets
In a recording studio in Sderot, a few miles east of Israel's Gaza strip, Sergio Arditi felt the steady pulse of Rock and Roll give way to the sporadic vibration of bombs.
|
|
Israel: There Has To Be A Better Way
The war between Israel and Hamas is not as two-dimensional as the United States Senate would like to believe. This is a complex and asymmetric war that will not end favorably for either side.
|
|
The Phony War Crimes Accusation Against Israel
If Israel were ever to be charged with "war crimes," that would mark the end of international human rights law as a neutral arbitrator of conduct.
|
|
Fanaticism and Contempt
Once the master of revolutionary war, Israel cannot seem to grasp the essential nature of asymmetrical warfare.
|
|
Bomb A Ghetto, Raise A Cheer -- The Video
On January 11, an estimated 10,000 people rallied in front of the Israeli consulate in New York in support of Israel's attack on Gaza. The event was a festive affair that began and ended with singing and joyous dancing.
|
|
Gaza on YouTube: Film at 11!
In lieu of actual reporting, all you have to do is log on to the Israel Defense Forces' YouTube Channel and you can see images of Israel pummeling Gaza, and sit in on "the first ever" Twitter press conference.
|
|
NY Times Responds Weakly Today to Israel's 'Incursion' -- As Shells Kill Dozens at U.N. School
It takes until paragraph #8 for the Times, to mention that, by the way, Israel "must" allow foreign journalists access to Gaza, especially since its highest court so ordered.
|
|
Gazans in Peril
The human tragedy that has befallen Gaza's Palestinians -- Hamas supporters or not -- warrants every American to take cognizance because of its consequences for a durable Middle East peace.
|
|
Hold Your Fire: Children and Civilians In Gaza
If the killing of unarmed civilians by terrorist groups is wrong, Israel's killing of unarmed Palestinian civilians and our defense of Israel's conduct cannot be right.
|
|
War Diary from Sderot
Not in my name and not for me did you go into this war. The bloodbath in Gaza is not in my name nor for my security. Behind this accursed leadership of Hamas live human beings.
|
|
Overwhelming Force Is the Only Way to Fight Terrorists
The destruction of Hamas benefits the Palestinians far more than the Israelis. It is they that must live under the cruelty of an organization that terrorizes its citizens even more than its enemies.
|
|
Gaza and the Obama Effect -- Ending the War
It might be pushing the envelope to call Obama the peacemaker here, but it's hard to deny that his impending entrance to the world stage has an effect.
|
|
How Propaganda Hijacked Israeli Strategy in Gaza
While Israel's explicit goal is to cease all attacks on southern Israel, senior IDF and intelligence officials have privately signaled that this is unrealistic, even with a ground invasion.
|
|
Obama's Silence
As January 20 approaches, Obama will have to make a lonely decision - to remember his 2007 words about Palestinian suffering and his campaign pledge to talk unconditionally with adversaries.
|
|
Video Reveals that a Lack of Moral Center Is Central to Hamas's War Strategy
The whole world is quick to condemn Israel for civilian deaths in Gaza, but there is utter silence over Hamas's blatant disregard for the lives of its own citizens.
|
|
Goodnight My Love, See You in Heaven -- Diary From an Aid Worker in Gaza
The situation has now reached such a critical point that doctors frequently confront dilemmas such as these -- to treat the child who is bleeding to death or the baby who has severe head injuries?
|
|
Israel in Gaza: Three Wrong Arguments
The Reid/McConnell resolution is a perfect articulation of one voice in the American debate over Israel's actions in Gaza. Here are a few objections that should be raised.
|
|
Israel, Gaza and Iran: Trapping Obama in Imagined Fault Lines
While there certainly is an underlying rivalry between Israel and Iran that has come to fuel many other otherwise unrelated conflicts in the region, not every war Israel fights is related to Iran.
|
|
Weighing Proportionality in Gaza
The losses on both sides will be all in vain if the final outcome of the war does not substantially improve both the prospects for an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace.
|
|
Reportage from Israel/Gaza
We can't ignore this fact: Gaza is becoming not the embryo of the so-desired Palestinian State, but the advance base of a total war against the Jewish State.
|
|
Proportionality and Disproportionality: A Guide to Arguments about Gaza
Even if the guns fall silent the charges and counter-charges of violations of international law will continue. Already the airwaves are full of talk that Israel's "disproportionate" response is a violation of international law.
|
|
Obama -- Please Say Something!
In just over two weeks Obama will be unable to avoid saying something and the world will be looking to him and demanding to hear his opinion on the crisis in Gaza.
|
|
Israel's Risk
What we're watching in Gaza is not so much low-intensity warfare as the continued fracture of the post-Soviet international order.
|
|
Why Do So Few Speak Up for Gaza?
Why is it that there is such widespread acceptance, beginning with the apologetic arguments of George Bush, that whatever Israel does is always justified as necessary to the survival of the Jewish state?
|
|
Why Israel Was Right to Invade Gaza
How should Israel attempt to protect its people, long-term, if it merely acts defensively in a tit-for-tat manner? That would be a horribly naïve response given its history.
|
|
Gaza, Qaddafi, And Starbucks
Along with the images of bloodied children, scenes of destruction and carnage in Gaza, debates on Arab disunity have increased in the Arab media.
|
|
Israel, Hamas, Gaza: Plenty of Us in America Just Need to Shut Up
Something labeled "Subject: Fwd: Some Differences Between Hamas and the Nazi Party" showed up in my inbox Monday night.
|
|
Obama Camp "Prepared To Talk To Hamas," Says the Guardian
The Obama administration's emphasis on "talk" with Hamas will bring a significant moral shift in U.S. policy -- but it will not do away with some of the core grievances vis-a-vis U.S.-Israel relations.
|
|
Protesters in Beirut Demand Action from Arab Leaders on Gaza, Focusing on Egypt as Demonstrations Rise (VIDEO)
Millions across the Arab world are demonstrating, demanding that Arab governments do more to support Palestinians trapped in Gaza.
|
|
Eyeless in Gaza
I wish I didn't believe that the events now unfolding in the Middle East are too complicated for unalloyed outrage. I wish the arguments of only one side rang wholly true to me.
|
|
AP Reporter Watches Own Home Destroyed, via YouTube, in Gaza
In one of the most moving accounts of the war in Gaza, Ibrahim Barzak, the AP's chief correspondent there for 17 years, today wrote of watching his own home destroyed on YouTube.
|
|
Mitchell Bard is Wrong On Israel
Hamas did not start this conflict. Here's an extensive time line of events, making clear that Israel broke the ceasefire, not Hamas.
|
|
Ceasefire
The first reason for a ceasefire now is to stop the killing. The second is to ensure that a year or two from now we are not all wishing that Hamas was still in charge.
|
|
Livni and Barak's Gaza Calculus
If hundreds of innocent deaths helps secure a real security mandate for the moderate-to-dovish Kadima/Labor and Israeli-Palestinian peace, that's political calculus Livni and Barak were willing to take.
|
|
Was Israel Punked by Hamas? Are Progressives Attacking Israel Being Punked too?
The only way the Israeli and Palestinian people have a shot at peace is for outsiders to put pressure on both sides to make it happen and to stop the violence. It can be done.
|
|
Israel and Hamas: Two to Tango
What is going on in Gaza is that it is not the result of a sudden decision or an immediate and intolerable provocation by one side or the other -- this thing has been in the planning by both sides for months.
|
|
Hamas Is Responsible for the Civilian Casualties in Gaza
By choosing tactical advantages over the safety of its citizens, the terrorist organization chose its military goals over the safety of its fellow Palestinians in Gaza.
|
|
Self-Deception and the Assault on Gaza
From the civilian deaths in Gaza will spring more hatred and terrorism. Yet no people are so prone as Americans and Israelis to think admiringly of our own good intentions.
|
|
How to Defeat Hamas -- Face Up to the Truth
Making Hamas into a unique demon is pure propaganda. But no form of Islamic extremism will end until moderate Muslims stand up for their religion.
|
|
Letter From Beersheva
I am here in Beersheva -- on the "almost" frontlines of the conflict with Hamas -- to tell you the first thing to go when missiles start to fall nearby, is your diet.
|
|
It's Time for a Sustained Focus on a Lasting Middle East Peace
What we continue to lack is the kind of real political solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that could finally make a "ceasefire" endure.
|
|
Gaza: Fight at the End of the Tunnel?
Any ceasefire must include an ironclad commitment by Egypt to cooperate fully with Israel to shut Hamas' tunnel network once and for all whatever Hamas' political or military wings decide tomorrow in Cairo.
|
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Friends don't let friends drive drunk, unless the friends are also drunk.
The real story behind this is quite different from the Liberal Consensus.
During the Lebanon War, Olmert's ineptitude and indecisiveness cost Israel a victory and frittered away Israel's valuable deterrent power. Olmert promised the Administration that the IAF could suppress Hezboallah. After three weeks, Rice realized that the Israelis didn't know what they were doing, and she pulled the plug on Olmert's War. The result was Resolution 1701.
Gaza is similar, yet different. The IDF, as a result of the withering critique from both the Winograd Commission and the American Army and Marine Corps, reformed Army training and ramped up for Real War. They took a lot of Urban Warfare pointers from our experiences in Anbar and Baghdad and started trainging up for Gaza City. This is a much better IDF.
Hamas, and the Iranians expected the IDF to screw things up. They didn't. However, Olmert has blundered in two ways: his Army has inflicted too many civilian casualties (sometimes this was unavoidable-Hamas fires from civilian areas in order to draw IDF fire directly at civilians). He also burned bridges with the Americans by this contretemps with Rice.
A wise path for Israel is to pocket their winnings, show receptivity towards Obama and Clinton while sounding out the Saudi plan. The IDF has given the Iranians and Hamas a really good bloody nose. Everyone knows it. Now is the time to use their winnings to make concessions at the peace table, and win friends with the new Administration.
Why would Olmert go out and tell the press what he had done? Wouldn't the fact that Rice voted their way be enough? Why tell everybody how he achieved it, to prove Israel's toughness or publicly dress-down the SECSTATE? Very short-sighted move, demeaning the stature of the US to the level of Israeli puppet. True or not, that's the perception.
This Israeli settller is certainly enjoying America's $8 billion a year. Why do we give our hard earned dollars to religious fundamentalists so they can have a better standard of living than American Taxpayers?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVhFyIns81Q
While there is no doubt that there is hatred taught on both sides, it's clear that killing innocent women and children and destroying the infrastructure and schools of Gaza are truly heinous crimes. The rocket attacks must stop too but that requires a population to be given a chance, not penned up and treated like second class citizens in a ghetto reminiscent of Germany in the 30's
Time for America to start looking out for it's own interests. Countries have interests, not friends. Israel needs to be treated like any other country, our citizens deserve it.
Why is this topic undebatable in Congress?
I see that we American's do not like to see we are a puppet to Israel as so many comments noted. We really object when the Arabs say it and we expect the Israeli's to not mention it in public. This time the Israelis hurt some feelings but America will forget all about it in a day or two at most. And we will continue to do what the Israeli's tell us to. At least this time they didn't kill any American troops while running our foreign policy like they've done before. As for r everyone else, well they're just Arabs or even worse Palestinians or even worst than that their sympathizers!
And after all, those cities behind the barbwire make excellent places to really test the quality of our American bombs. You can bet somebody is already hard at work figuring out how to improve the destructive capacity, otherwise known as lethality, of, arguably, our finest export!
To think that we once referred to America as the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Now we do someone elses biding and, like Israel, we are building our own walls.
And some of us are happy with the change.
JVH
before going into a well deserved coma Sharon was quoted as saying "Israel doesn't take orders from The United States.The United States takes orders from Israel!".Sadly I believe this to be true.As Rachael Maddow pointed out last week democrats and republicans are on the same page when it comes to Israel.On the road to DC every politian must prostrait themselves before AIPAC(the only foreign lobbying group that doesn't have to register as a foreign lobbying group because its members are all US citizens).
Olmert just confirmed what has been the belief in the arab/muslim world for some time. I will not go as far as to say we are the puppets of Israel but we definitely have shown a favorable bias toward them in this conflict and as a consequence are not viewed as reliable peace brokers in this situation.
The positive result of his arrogant boast will be a new administration that will not be afraid to publicly stand up to the Israelis as well as openly admonish them for their over the top responses to Palestinian acts of violence...
Why is Olmert, a disgraced, corrupt leader and mere caretaker until the next president, able to grab Bush by the nuts and get what he wants? They pulled Bush out of a press conference for the call? INSANE. I never thought I]d say it, as a sympathized to Israel, but this throws a taint over what they are doing, and makes it look like we are the sole backers of their policy.
Guess those bombs are quite profitable, bought with US taxpayers money sent to Israel as "aid".
I have no love for Rice or Bush, but Olmert needs to go. I would hope that the Israeli people would realize by this statement he has put the next President in a bad position, and vote him out of office. By making the sitting President look weak and a puppet of Israel, it is incumbent on the next President to set an example with him. Obama can not afford to look weak when dealing with Israel.
The problem is not that Olmert has put the President in a bad position. The problem is that U.S. policy is not independent and in the interest of the United States. In a way, Olmert has done us a favor by saying what he really thinks and highlighting the issue. Unfortunately, the Lobby will no doubt survive as this will not be widely publicized. It's not that Obama can not afford to "look weak" when dealing with Israel. He can't afford to BE WEAK. And the U.S. can't afford that either.
I agree
THERE NEVER WAS A "PEACE PROCESS."
Clemons writes:
"Condoleezza Rice has worked hard on the Israel-Palestine peace process -- and her efforts failed."
How could Rice have worked hard on a "peace process" that never really existed? A real "peace process" between Israel and the Palestinians never existed because Isarel, which wants peace and reconciliation, never had a real peace partner on the Palestinian side-which wants war without end unto victory. Until the Palestinian equivalent of an Awar Sadat or a King Husssein comes along peace between these two warring peoples is nothing more than the audacity of illusion and blind hope triumphing over experience and reality and will only serve to prolong the conflict.
Israel is emboldened now... Dov Zakheim stole $2.3 TRILLION dollars from Pentagon coffers when he was comptroller there. He has dual Israeli/US citizneship and is a rabbi to boot. Where do you think that money went? That's right... to the Israelis.
Various Israelis have constantly boasted about their control over US policy. Hopefully Obama will give us our country back by putting the needs of Americans over those of the Israeli war machine.
Clemons is confused.
Olmert's condemnation of Condi Rice has elevated her among all those who hate him for what he is doing to the civilians of Gaza. A little late, Condi Rice tried to stop his killing spree. She was not shamed. Olmert publicized her differences with Bush and Him and that makes her look very good.' Olmert is a shameless murderer of civilians. "Hamas need to learn a lesson" he expounds, yes Olmert, but at what cost?
I commend her for having to associate with people like Olmert and Bush, although until she recants her support of the invasion of Iraq and her support of torture, I can never really admire her.
Olmert's comments are the worst mistake an Israeli PM could make diplomatically. Not only has he insulted a sitting Secretary of State, he has belittled a sitting president and shown ingratitude for the billions in tax dollars we send his way each year. He has also provided fodder to the notion that Israel formulates US Mideast policy and that our top diplomat is impotent in the face of Israel's will. This is very damaging to US national interests.
It's a good thing it's happening one week before the end of a presidency, Obama has no doubt taken notice. He will simply order Clinton to do something tough and insist that she speaks for him when Israel protests.
No matter what you think of Bush and Rice, they speak for the United States until next Tuesday. Israel is not the United States and a little more respect and gratitude was required. Our flag means something and our institutions cannot be mocked by an arrogant ally who believes his influence exceeds our national interest. Olmert crossed the line. g
Israelis have always been accustomed of insulted US presidents,Olmert is no exception.Remember Nitinuaho's admonishment to President Clinton when he threatend to burn the White-House on his head if he decides to go against Israel...I honestly wish to see a President who could rein in Israel,but it would be hard to come through as long as we have people like Foxmen of AIPAC who brags about being able to secure 70 Congressmen's signitures on a piece of napkin.My only hope is that Obama's signiture is not one of the napkin's list.
It is too bad that Mr. Clemons is more concerned with insults to George Bush and Condi Rice than with the suffering of thousands in Gaza who lives has been shattered in the escalation of this conflict. Bush and Rice were no where to be seen in any Israeli-Palestinian peace process for the first seven years of this administration. Bush cowtowed to any hardline actions by Israel probably because the evangelical community is preparing for some armegadden. Bush took no action, despite adverse world opinion, when Israel bombed and detroyed much of southern Lebanon in the military action two years ago. If Olmert thinks he has Bush on a string, he is correct. I do not think Rice is taken seriously given her credentials as a warmonger. She did her best to undermine Colin Powell, who was the only moderate voice in the Bush White House during his first term.
Our ability to credibly broker solutions the Gaza crisis as an actor both sides can look up to is severely undermined by the very unfortunate comments Olmert made. Even if he felt that way, that's something he should never have uttered in public. The fact that he did so means one of two things; either he's diplomatically incompetent or he meant to insult the United States.
Obama, take note.
Yes, but the U.S. under the Bush regime has no credibility as an independent broker in Gaza. The last several years Bush has unfailingly and unquestionably been on the side of Israel. We were the only ones who do not call for a cease fire when Israel was attacking southern Lebanon when their two soldiers were taken prisoner. There has been no attempt at all to bring peace between the Israelis and Palestinians until the final year of the Bush presidency. If Olmert meant to insult the U.S. he may have lost respect for our role in world affairs as everyone else has under the Bush regime.
"It is too bad that Mr. Clemons is more concerned with insults to George Bush and Condi Rice than with the suffering of thousands in Gaza who lives has been shattered in the escalation of this conflict."
Politico had an article the other day saying the people Bush "hurt the most" were American conservatives.
Tell that to the people of Iraq.
People have weird ideas about what is truly offensive and hurtful. Olmert's comments, arrogant as they were, were among the least damaging things he's done in recent weeks (as reported in the media, anyway).
Politico says Bush "has hurt American conservatives," but yet the Republican Congress backed almost everything Bush did and called those who disagreed a traitor. Yes, it is too bad when pundits like Clemons worry about the personal feelings of Bush and Condi when so many are suffering as a direct result of their policies. If Clemons were to live ifor six months in the Gaza Strip I doubt he would be worried about the feelings of Bush and Rice. He would be concerned with day-to-day survival.
Olmert clearly forgot that both the next president and the next secretary of state will take note of his comments.
Olmert's on the way out, that is one of the reasons he can afford to shoot off his mouth.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with