Why Annapolis is happening
The Washington Post has an interesting article with some choice quotes about whether President Bush really has his heart in the AnnapolisSuch an active role is notable for a president who has never visited Israel while in office, who has made only one trip to Egypt and Jordan to promote peace efforts, and who has left the task of relaunching the peace process largely in the hands of his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.On Bush, I believe that the reason he has never visited here is that if he did, he would be expected to go to Ramallah to meet with Abu Mazen. I don't think he wanted to do to that, and I don't think his security people wanted him to do that. This isn't Iraq where he can sneak in and out in a day without telling anyone. I also believe that were Bush to come to Ramallah, the 'Palestinians' would insist on him laying a wreath at Arafat's mausoleum. I think Bush would rather die first.
Rice logged 100,000 miles shuttling back and forth to the Middle East eight times over the past year, telling Israeli and Arab officials that despair can lead to radicalism, and that a generation of Arab youth may be lost if there is no progress on a Palestinian state. "Failure is not an option," Rice has often declared.
Deep down in his heart, I believe that George Bush is still the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House. I think he's being pushed and pulled in the wrong direction by his father and his father's cabal in the State Department.
As to Condi, if she can't figure out that a "generation of Arab youth" is long since lost - at least in Judea, Samaria and Gaza - to the violence of the 'Palestinian' terror groups, then she's nowhere near as bright as we give her credit for being. If she's referring to 'Arab youth' in Arab countries, maybe it's time to finally level with them and tell them the truth.
But Arab officials are skeptical that the conference will amount to much, in part because Bush has remained relatively silent on the matter since he announced the peace talks this summer, said Daniel C. Kurtzer, who served as Bush's ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005. "You don't get a sense that he's invested in it," Kurtzer said. "Nobody associates President Bush with this policy."That's true. And that's why I still believe President Bush is the best friend Israel ever had in the White House (I believe Rudy Giuliani will be an ever better one). The sense I have is that President Bush is doing this half-heartedly. And if Olmert were saying no, President Bush would not be going ahead with this.
Now, on the eve of the conference, Rice's desire to show forward movement on the Israeli-Palestinian front may test her seven-year partnership with Bush, with many in the Middle East watching to see whether the president demonstrates that Rice's passion reflects his own.Do I need to underscore that last sentence any more?
...
But people who have spoken to Bush in recent weeks say he has made it clear that he has no intention of trying to force a peace settlement on the parties. The president's fight against terrorism has given him a sense of kinship with Israel over its need for security, and he remains skeptical that, in the end, the Palestinians will make the compromises necessary for a peace deal.
When Bush first asked Rice to take over the State Department after the 2004 elections, during a weekend at Camp David, she quizzed him on only one policy issue: Was he willing to support the creation of a Palestinian state? The president gave an affirmative answer, which was important to her, according to people familiar with the conversation.This fits right in with Condi thinking the 'Palestinians' are southern Blacks under Jim Crow. Somehow Condi seems to have forgotten that Rosa Parks didn't have any explosives in her handbag and Martin Luther King never resorted to violence and never threatened to throw all the Whites into the ocean.
Now here are some things I didn't know and I'll bet some of you didn't know it either:
During Bush's first term, when Rice was his national security adviser, she had a secret role as the White House's "back channel" to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, frequently bypassing the State Department. She even helped the Israelis draft Sharon's plan to withdraw settlers from the Gaza Strip.We always knew that Cheney and Rumsfeld (and Feith) are our friends. As to Flynt Leverett, this guy sounds like a younger version of James Baker:
Flynt Leverett, Rice's former top aide on Middle East issues, said she indicated to him that she wanted to be bolder in helping the Palestinian side of the equation but folded in the face of intense opposition from Vice President Cheney, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other conservatives. In fact, Leverett said that he and State Department officials pressed for a political horizon back in 2002, making the case internally for the policy she is now advocating. "She has had that option literally in front of her since the first part of 2002," he said.
Meanwhile, then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was usually on the losing end of the argument.
"Powell often pushed for a major U.S. diplomatic investment in Palestinian-Israeli diplomacy, but the president didn't approve," said Douglas J. Feith, a former defense undersecretary who was intimately involved in battles over Middle East policy during Bush's first term. "Now, apparently, the president considers the time right for an experiment, and he's letting Condi try things he was not willing to allow Powell to do."
Within the Arab world, Bush has been seen as fervently pro-Israeli. In 2004, to facilitate Israel's departure from Gaza, Bush gave Sharon letters that conceded key points on settlements and Palestinian refugees to the Israelis, without corresponding concessions for the Palestinians. Leverett recalled that, in 2002, Bush said in the White House situation room that once a Palestinian leadership was democratically elected, it would concentrate on providing services to its constituents and "you would get a Palestinian leadership less hung up" on such issues as borders and Jerusalem.It's not ignorant. In fact, it's the way the world ought to be. But unfortunately, the 'Palestinians' never behave like everyone else. They don't want their own state. They want to destroy ours, which is why Jerusalem and borders (and 'refugees') will always matter to them.
Leverett, who has become a fierce Bush critic, said he was shocked at Bush's comment at the time. "It was one of the most profoundly ignorant statements anyone has ever uttered on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he said.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:55 PM
4 Comments:
I guess the joke is true:
One day, a genie was in a remarkably good mood, so he decided to go
Around the world, granting people their fondest wishes.
First, he came to London, where he saw a very sad-looking Englishman.
He said to the man, "I am a genie. Tell me what you want most, and I
Will grant it to you."
The Englishman said, "My cousin Nigel has the most beautiful mansion
You ever saw, but I don't even have a house at all. It's not fair!
I'm just as good as he is! Why should HE have such a beautiful house
And not me? Well, I want you to give me a house even bigger than
Nigel's."
The genie snapped his fingers, and the house appeared magically. The
Englishman was delighted.
Next, the genie went to Paris, where he saw a sad Frenchman. The
Genie asked the Frenchman what he wanted most. The Frenchman
Said, "My cousin Pierre has the most beautiful wife you ever saw, but
I don't have a wife at all. It's not fair! Why should HE have a
Beautiful wife and not me? I want you to give me a wife even more
Beautiful than Pierre's."
The genie snapped his fingers, and a beautiful woman appeared. The
Frenchman was delighted.
Next, the genie went to Chicago, where he saw a sad-eyed American.
The genie asked him what he wanted most in life. The American
Answered, "My cousin Marty has the most beautiful sports car you ever
Saw, but I don't have a car at all. It's not fair! I'm just as good
As he is! Why should HE have such a beautiful car and not me? I want
You to give me a sports car even nicer than Marty's."
The genie snapped his fingers, and a deluxe Maserati appeared. The
American was delighted.
Next, the genie went to Tokyo, where he saw a sad-looking Japanese
Man. He asked the man what he wanted most. The Japanese man said, "My
Cousin Kenji has a high- paying job with the biggest corporation in
Japan, and I can't find a job at all. It's not fair! I'm as good as
He is. Why should HE have such a great job and not me? I want you to
Give me a job even better than Kenji's."
The genie snapped his fingers, and it was done.
Finally, the genie went to the Middle East, where he saw a sad-
Looking Arab. He asked the Arab what he wanted most in life. The Arab
Answerd, "My cousin Abdul has the most beautiful flock of goats you
Ever saw, while I don't have any goats at all. It's not fair! I'm
Just as good as he is. Why should HE have such beautiful goats and
Not me?"
The genie smiled and said, "So, you want a beautiful flock of your
Own?"
The Arab snarled, "Of course not, you idiot! I want you to kill all
Of Abdul's fu**ing goats!"
Yes, Yitz, many a truth is said in jest. Sadly, that one is true.
Shalom Carl,
I can't agree with you that Dubbyah is `Israel's best friend ever in the White House.'
That distinction belongs to Richard Nixon, with Ronald Reagan as a close second IMO.
President Bush is severely conflicted on this issue as he is on so many others.
The decent part of him wants to be pro-Israel, but he's conflicted by his family's long time relationship with people like the Saudis and the UAE, his family history and most importantly, the relationship of people like the Saudis and the UAE to his family's money, i.e. the Carlyle Group.
That explains the Dubai Ports deal, why he campaigned in 2000 saying he would move the US Embassy to Jerusalm and has blocked it ever since, why the Saudis have been allowed carte blanche when it comes to exporting wahabi jihad to America and why he's now using the most corrupt and weak leader in Israel's history as a tool to try to renege on Sharon's reservations to the Road Map that Bush accepted back when Israel signed on.
The Road Map itself,BTW, was produced by with the help of several Arabs and Arab Americans but not a single Israeli or even a Jew.
Bush may not have his heart in it, but he will go along for the ride.
I'm not too worried about immediate consequences from Annapolis..no Israeli government would survive in power trying to implement the Saudi `peace' ultimatum,which is what the Arabs are insisting on anyway.
But the long term consequences are staggering. An `agreement' even if Israel doesn't ratify it provides a starting place for the next round of idiocy, and ammunition for the Arabs and Israel's enemies to portray Israel as th eobstacle to peace, and an excuse fo rthe Arabs to intensify their war against the Jews.
Of course, if Israel doesn't agree to its own national suicide, the results are exactly the same...a lose-lose situation for both America and Israel.
Take care...
So... Ms Rice goes out of her way to show an America "pulling for the Jordyptian refugees" ...
And Poker-playing GWB remains silent, knowing that there could be another 2 or even 3 hands played to THIS game before he is set aside...
Bush knows the Jews and Baha'is in Israel are decent, God-fearing folks, so he doesn't want to let them get nuked by Iran or swept into the ocean by the Murderous Scum at their doorstep...
Bush is reluctant to publicly proclaim "The Qaim and Mahdi have come, and all humankind has a right to learn what They brought and benefit from what The Mahdi (Baha'u'llah, the Glory of God) teaches," even though such a declaration could well catalyze the overnight, near-instantaneous conversion of 5- or 600 MILLION Muslims into Baha'is, so he sets up a two-stage effort, through Rice:
1/Focused as we are on Annapolis, we forget that GWB has method in his madness, and the meeting comes off with the Jordyptian Philistines making their usual demands and unsupportable claims and unreasonable requirements of the Israelis, and the Israelis politely demur;
2/GWB leverages THIS public display of Jordyptian recalcitrance and obstinacy to turn world opinion against the Philistines, if NOT TOWARD Israel, the Followers of the Glory of God (Baha'is) and the Jews in the Holy Land.
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