General Eric Shinseki Signs Annapolis Summit Letter

On the eve of the Annapolis Summit, former U.S. Army Chief of Staff General ERIC SHINSEKI has asked that his name be added to a letter to the President and Secretary of State about the fundamental requirements for a successful Israel-Palestine outcome.

Former New Jersey Governor and Bush Administration EPA Administrator CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN and Rice University James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy Director and former U.S. Ambassador EDWARD DJEREJIAN has also agreed to sign the letter.

The New America Foundation, International Crisis Group, and US/Middle East Project helped draft and promulgate a letter to President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice regarding the Annapolis Peace Summit several weeks ago.

The letter, as first drafted, calls for a process that is inclusive of all parties in the region, a process that has impact on the daily lives of Palestinians and Israelis, and is not a one-shot deal that ends with this Summit.

There are many signers of the letter now, but initial signatories included BRENT SCOWCROFT, ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI, CARLA HILLS, NANCY KASSEBAUM BAKER, LEE HAMILTON, THOMAS PICKERING, THEODORE SORENSEN, and PAUL VOLCKER.

Other signatories in the subsequent weeks have "included" but are not limited to:

US AID Deputy Administrator HARRIET "HATTIE" BABBITT, former USIA Chief JOSEPH DUFFEY, former US Senator GARY HART, former US Senator LINCOLN CHAFEE, RAND Corporation Board Member and New America Foundation/American Strategy Program Chair RITA HAUSER, former Assistant Secretary of State JAMES DOBBINS, former State Department Policy Planning Director MORTON HALPERIN, former Deputy Ambassador to the UN WILLIAM VAN DEN HEUVEL, former Israel Foreign Minister SCHLOMO BEN-AMI. . .

former US Senator BIRCH BAYH, former Congressman and Corning CEO AMO HOUGHTON Jr., former National Intelligence Council Chairman ROBERT HUTCHINGS, Fletcher School Dean and former U.S. Ambassador STEPHEN BOSWORTH, former Assistant Secretary of Defense LAWRENCE KORB, former American Political Science Association President and Columbia University professor ROBERT JERVIS, Kings College Terrorism Chair and New America Foundation Senior Fellow ANATOL LIEVEN, former National Security Agency Director Lt. General WILLIAM ODOM. . .

Committee for the Republic President WILLIAM NITZE, Brookings Visiting Senior Fellow DIANA VILLIERS NEGROPONTE, Former CIA Deputy Director JOHN McLAUGHLIN, former US Ambassador JOHN MALOTT, former EU Commissioner for Foreign Relations CHRISTOPHER PATTEN, former National Intelligence Officer for the Near East PAUL PILLAR, former US Senator LARRY PRESSLER, former US Ambassador FELIX ROHATYN. . .

MIT Center for International Studies Director RICHARD SAMUELS, retired Marine Corps General JOHN J. "JACK" SHEEHAN, Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School Dean ANNE-MARIE SLAUGHTER, Former Congressman STEPHEN SOLARZ, former First USA Bank CEO and Adagio Partners CEO RICHARD VAGUE, Former US Senator and UN Foundation President TIMOTHY WIRTH, and former US Ambassador and AIG Vice Chairman FRANK WISNER. . .

former New Jersey Governor and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN, Nixon Center President and National Interest Publisher DIMITRI SIMES, former National Security Advisor to Vice President Al Gore LEON FUERTH, Brookings Senior Fellow PHILIP GORDON, former US Ambassador to NATO ROBERT HUNTER, former Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister ANWAR IBRAHIM, former CIA Deputy Director JOHN McLAUGHLIN. . .

former State Department Chief of Staff LAWRENCE WILKERSON, Lehman Brothers Managing Director THEODORE ROOSEVELT IV, former US Ambassador JOSEPH WILSON, former Chief Monitor of the Middle East Roadmap at the Department of State JOHN S. WOLF -- among others.

The Annapolis Summit is actually an extraordinary meeting of global players -- including the foreign ministers of all P-5 nations not to mention a vast number of Arab states -- but more needs to be known on whether something tangible and transmittable to the next U.S. president will emerge from this meeting.

While I have heard through the D.C. grapevine that the Palestinians are depressed after being cajoled into signing a joint declaration, they are hopeful and semi-confident that Bush's speech on Tuesday at the session will offer some greater specificity on his vision of various "final status" issues.

As one friend of mine close to the process told me today, it is vital that the White House understand that it is not only Ehud Ohlmert who needs to give a victory speech when he goes home -- but also Palestinian Authority President Abbas. If Palestinians on the street don't feel bolstered by the outcome tomorrow, Abbas will be politically crushed -- and Hamas, which is not included in this process, will emerge a victor.

-- Steve Clemons is Senior Fellow and Director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation and publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note

Comments

[straightshooter]

Let's cut to the chase:

I know of no other instance in modern history when a people living under a brutal, illegal military occupation (and in this case, land and water grab) have been expected (indeed, forced) by other states to negotiate an end to the occupation with their occupiers. France was not expected to negotiate an end to occupation with Germany during WWII and occupied Kuwait was not forced to bargain with Saddam Hussein.

Let us be very clear: Palestinians are the occupied, Israel is the occupier; Palestinians are the oppressed, Israel is the oppressor; Palestinians are the dispossessed, Israel is the ethnic-cleanser.

No real peace can be achieved that does not require Israel to obey international humanitarian law (e.g., the UN Charter, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Fourth Geneva Convention), which came about in large measure due to the horrors of WWII, including Hitler's slaughter of six million Jews.

I am certain that if somehow those Jews who perished at the hands of the nazis could rise up, they would forthrightly and unequivocally condemn Israel for its more than sixty years of war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated against the Palestinians and other Arabs. Indeed, Israel has become a desecration of the memory of those six million Jewish victims of fascism, racism, militarism and territorial expansion.

Palestinians have long since agreed to settle for a sovereign state consisting of a mere 22% of their original homeland (i.e., the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) and have also agreed to share East Jerusalem/the Old City with Israel. Israel's leaders would do well to realize that now knowing full well who the victims are, the world is rapidly loosing patience with expansionist Israel. It is only a matter of time (sooner rather than later) before the U.S. will also realize it must act in its own best interests and end its "passionate attachment" or "special relationship" with Israel.

[outnow]

Even a broken clock shows the right time twice a day. Bush "inadvertently" mentioned making a deal (he tells so many tales that he can't even keep them straight)so maybe he could assist with a workable solution, even if his intentions are not good, the real parties in interest are tired of the "game."

Israelis are beginning to see that the protection of the United States military and their own arsenal of nuclear weapons does not provide the security that resolving this conflict would provide. Can Israel nuke Palestine? No. The fallout would be fatal. Can they get rid of their neighbors? No. They really don't want to.

The United States had the most awesome military in the history of the world yet 19 men with nothing more than box cutters managed to slip by security, as the story goes. So Israel could be the target of the growing hatred and it pays to use diplomacy. This is the lesson of Iraq.

With ever-increasing technology of destruction, terrorists try to even the score since they are weak, not strong. As strange as it seems to some, the story of David and Goliath is instructive.

It is time that the United States allows the parties to come together and solve their own problems. The US does not need the Israelis to be foot soldiers in the Middle East for fighting communism, Arab Nationalism, or terrorism. More harm could come to Israel by not creating peace. The ideologues in the United Sates have to allow local solutions to local problems. The Zionist Christians might have to find somewhere else to fight their bloody crusades. What would they do then? They'd have to look themselves in the mirror.

[swift goat pet for truth]

Sometimes summits like this can result in surprising postive results.

But even moderate nominal success is really a lot to hope for by anything hosted by the "Failure President".

[mgloraine]

There is no possibility of a favorable outcome for the Palestinians, since the Israelis are not compelled to make any concessions. This is just another BushCo publicity stunt to keep people distracted while they prepare to launch their next war of conquest against Iran. The Israelis will continue their genocide against the Palestinians, and BushCo will continue its campaign of murder, rape, and pillage across the Middle East. And the United States will have proved to the world once again that our "leaders" stand AGAINST democracy, human rights, peace, prosperity, freedom and justice.

[vippy]

What I don't understand is that Rumsfeld was on the board of directors of a company that sold
nuclear components to North Korea in 2000.
Then turns around and all of a sudden it is a
bad thing, I cannot fathom that.
I doubt the powers will let peace come between
Israel and Palestinians - just follow the money!
Probably same people who financed Arafat.

[hquain]

Second time, as farce. But the tenth time???

Who is buying into this charade? It will be forgotten in a week.

[23000Days]

I hold little hope that the Israelis will ever treat the Palestinians fairly. History is instructive here.
The Palestinian people will not buy more talk without action. Israel is really on the spot here, it's important that they make tne needed concessions. If they fail, the opportunity may never come again. Palestine's population is increasingly Arab, and will have the support of the entire Arab world. The heat is on!

[NoPCZone]

The country owes an apology to General Shinseki, God knows the Bushies do. An honorable soldier who served his country well in peace and in war, was treated very shabbily by Rumsfeld and company.

If our nation's leaders would have listened to his advice, his primary role as Army CoS, the situation in Iraq would have been very different. I have no doubt that many people filled with sorrow at the loss of life and limb, Iraqi and American, would not be in such a condition.

[realpolitic]

Are you sure Bush doesn't think everyone's gathered together for a ping pong tournament? Someone clue him in.

[oldpotsmuggler]

Upon further reflection, I'm looking at how badly GWB has singelyhandedly screwed up things with Russia, and I'm depressed again. I'm pretty sure that North Korea and Khadaffi were just concidence.

[oldpotsmuggler]

It's certainly easy enough to understand how anything that is not win-win will be a clear loss. Which got me thinking about anything I've ever seen with BUSHCO that ended up a win-win. The made me a tad depressed and then I thought about Lybia and North Korea.

Maybe anything is possible after all.