Wolfram
08-01-2006, 12:47 AM
<DIV =msgarea>"By refusing to call for an immediate cease-fire, even in the face
of the Qana bombing, Ms. Rice was teetering on the edge of a public
relations disaster, particularly in the Arab world."
Yes, bad karma, and the Smirking Chimp and his Angry Puppy are
piling it up by the shipload full.</DIV>
<DIV =msgarea></DIV>
<DIV =msgarea>I think Condi is in over her head as Secretary of State. She can't dare offend the Jewish power structure by calling for a cease-fire or criticizing Israel in any way, andby failing to take any action in this mess she is alienating everybody else, worldwide.</DIV>
<DIV =msgarea></DIV>
<DIV =msgarea>I'd guess any presidential aspirations she may now have will be just about zero long before the conventions of 2008.
JERUSALEM, Monday, July 31 — Taken aback by the carnage from the
Israeli bombing of Qana, Lebanon, Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice wrung the first significant concession from Israel late on
Sunday in its nearly three-week-old war against the Hezbollah
militia: an immediate 48-hour suspension of aerial strikes.
Especially notable about the suspension was that Ms. Rice's deputy,
Adam Ereli, and not the Israelis, announced it after she held
intensive talks with both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Israeli
foreign minister, Tzipi Livni.
The American decision to break the news on what was essentially an
Israeli tactical change reflected the increased concern in the Bush
administration about the rising civilian death toll in Lebanon and
the havoc it is wreaking with America's already shaky relations with
the Arab world.
Indeed, while Mr. Ereli took pains to assure reporters that American
officials had confirmation of the temporary suspension directly from
Mr. Olmert's office, Israeli officials had said nothing publicly
about the suspension as of early Monday.
Ms. Rice, who had been making little progress in her talks with the
Israelis this weekend, clearly needed to come away with something in
response to the Qana bombing, which killed dozens of people, many of
them children, and incited a new level of world anger against the
Israeli military campaign in southern Lebanon.
Even so, one fact is unchanged: the United States is still not
calling for an immediate cease-fire.
Ms. Rice's maneuvering highlights the deepening crisis in which she
now finds herself — by far the biggest in her tenure as America's
top diplomat.
By refusing to call for an immediate cease-fire, even in the face of
the Qana bombing, Ms. Rice was teetering on the edge of a public
relations disaster, particularly in the Arab world. All day on
Sunday, scenes of dead children being pulled out of the wreckage at
Qana dominated the airwaves.
But American officials continued to say that, despite the civilian
death toll, an immediate cease-fire would do little good unless
underlying issues were first addressed, including the ultimate
disarmament of Hezbollah.
In the meantime, Israeli officials continued to say, publicly, that
they needed more time to diminish Hezbollah's military abilities,
and America's insistence on reaching agreement on a political
package before calling for a cease-fire worked to give Israel that
time.
But that left the impression that Ms. Rice and the Bush
administration were willing to stomach the killing of innocent
children to reach their larger aims.
After learning about the Qana bombing, Ms. Rice canceled her planned
trip to Beirut on Sunday, and instead is heading back to the United
States on Monday. A State Department official said Ms. Rice would
travel to New York on Wednesday or Thursday to push for a Security
Council resolution that would include a cease-fire as one of its
components.
The contents of the diplomatic package are basically set, and Bush
officials said Ms. Rice would lay out its terms on Monday. Under the
proposal, Israel and Lebanon would agree to a cease-fire as part of
a larger pact that would include installing 15,000 to 20,000
international peacekeepers throughout southern Lebanon, American and
Israeli officials said. The Lebanese government would work to
disband Hezbollah, and the United States and other countries would
funnel money and send military officials to help train the Lebanese
Army, so that it could work to prevent future attacks on Israel.
Israel would agree to talks on whether it would withdraw from a
disputed border area known as Shabaa Farms, a Hezbollah demand.
"We want the Security Council to take it up soon, and we want the
Security Council to take it up with as much concrete progress toward
a real cease-fire as is humanly possible by the time that that
meeting takes place," Ms. Rice said. She spoke at a hastily called
news conference on Sunday, just two hours after learning of the
bombing at Qana. She appeared shaken, and said she learned of the
bombing while she was meeting with the Israeli defense minister,
Amir Peretz.
She said she reiterated to Mr. Peretz her "strong concern about the
impact of Israeli military operations on innocent civilians," and
added that she was "deeply saddened by the terrible loss of innocent
life." American officials scrambled to try to counter the wrenching
TV scenes of the devastation at Qana. Immediately after Ms. Rice's
news conference, State Department officials worked quickly to get
her statement broadcast on Arab TV stations, including Al Jazeera.
But that job was made harder when the Israeli prime minister, Ehud
Olmert, who met with Ms. Rice on Saturday night and again on Sunday,
released a statement saying he told Ms. Rice that Israel needed 10
to 14 more days to complete its war aims.
"Do you think that, with the close relationship he has with Bush and
Condi, he would go and say something like that without their
consent?" one senior Israeli official asked.
The official, who asked that his name not be used because he was not
authorized to speak publicly on the issue, said he believed that
American diplomats accepted that Israel's armed forces needed more
time to clear out a buffer zone in southern Lebanon before an
international peacekeeping force could enter.
Even if Ms. Rice does begin work on a Security Council resolution on
Thursday, he said, the resolution would probably take days to pass.
Ms. Rice was set to travel to Beirut on Sunday afternoon for talks
with Lebanese leaders when the Qana bombing curtailed her trip.
At 8:38 Sunday morning, as Ms. Rice and Mr. Peretz were meeting in a
suite at her hotel in Jerusalem, Assistant Secretary of State C.
David Welch received an e-mail message — on his Blackberry — from
Jeffrey D. Feldman, the United States ambassador to Lebanon,
alerting him to the bombing. In the message, Mr. Feldman described
some of the scenes broadcast on TV in Lebanon.
Mr. Welch, Blackberry in hand, went into the hotel suite to give Ms.
Rice the news, a senior American official said. It was unclear, the
official said, whether Mr. Peretz was already aware of it.
"She was sickened," said the official, who asked that his name not
be used because he was not authorized to speak about the meeting
between Ms. Rice and Mr. Peretz. After the meeting, the official
said, Ms. Rice told her staff, "We have to get it done." She was
referring to the 48-hour suspension of the aerial bombardment, he
said.
In the meeting with Mr. Olmert and a later meeting with Ms. Livni,
the foreign minister, Ms. Rice pushed for a temporary suspension of
Israel's airstrikes. Around 9:45 p.m. on Sunday, American officials
in Jerusalem received a call from Mr. Olmert's office that Israel
was willing to commit to the suspension, beginning immediately.
</DIV>
of the Qana bombing, Ms. Rice was teetering on the edge of a public
relations disaster, particularly in the Arab world."
Yes, bad karma, and the Smirking Chimp and his Angry Puppy are
piling it up by the shipload full.</DIV>
<DIV =msgarea></DIV>
<DIV =msgarea>I think Condi is in over her head as Secretary of State. She can't dare offend the Jewish power structure by calling for a cease-fire or criticizing Israel in any way, andby failing to take any action in this mess she is alienating everybody else, worldwide.</DIV>
<DIV =msgarea></DIV>
<DIV =msgarea>I'd guess any presidential aspirations she may now have will be just about zero long before the conventions of 2008.
JERUSALEM, Monday, July 31 — Taken aback by the carnage from the
Israeli bombing of Qana, Lebanon, Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice wrung the first significant concession from Israel late on
Sunday in its nearly three-week-old war against the Hezbollah
militia: an immediate 48-hour suspension of aerial strikes.
Especially notable about the suspension was that Ms. Rice's deputy,
Adam Ereli, and not the Israelis, announced it after she held
intensive talks with both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Israeli
foreign minister, Tzipi Livni.
The American decision to break the news on what was essentially an
Israeli tactical change reflected the increased concern in the Bush
administration about the rising civilian death toll in Lebanon and
the havoc it is wreaking with America's already shaky relations with
the Arab world.
Indeed, while Mr. Ereli took pains to assure reporters that American
officials had confirmation of the temporary suspension directly from
Mr. Olmert's office, Israeli officials had said nothing publicly
about the suspension as of early Monday.
Ms. Rice, who had been making little progress in her talks with the
Israelis this weekend, clearly needed to come away with something in
response to the Qana bombing, which killed dozens of people, many of
them children, and incited a new level of world anger against the
Israeli military campaign in southern Lebanon.
Even so, one fact is unchanged: the United States is still not
calling for an immediate cease-fire.
Ms. Rice's maneuvering highlights the deepening crisis in which she
now finds herself — by far the biggest in her tenure as America's
top diplomat.
By refusing to call for an immediate cease-fire, even in the face of
the Qana bombing, Ms. Rice was teetering on the edge of a public
relations disaster, particularly in the Arab world. All day on
Sunday, scenes of dead children being pulled out of the wreckage at
Qana dominated the airwaves.
But American officials continued to say that, despite the civilian
death toll, an immediate cease-fire would do little good unless
underlying issues were first addressed, including the ultimate
disarmament of Hezbollah.
In the meantime, Israeli officials continued to say, publicly, that
they needed more time to diminish Hezbollah's military abilities,
and America's insistence on reaching agreement on a political
package before calling for a cease-fire worked to give Israel that
time.
But that left the impression that Ms. Rice and the Bush
administration were willing to stomach the killing of innocent
children to reach their larger aims.
After learning about the Qana bombing, Ms. Rice canceled her planned
trip to Beirut on Sunday, and instead is heading back to the United
States on Monday. A State Department official said Ms. Rice would
travel to New York on Wednesday or Thursday to push for a Security
Council resolution that would include a cease-fire as one of its
components.
The contents of the diplomatic package are basically set, and Bush
officials said Ms. Rice would lay out its terms on Monday. Under the
proposal, Israel and Lebanon would agree to a cease-fire as part of
a larger pact that would include installing 15,000 to 20,000
international peacekeepers throughout southern Lebanon, American and
Israeli officials said. The Lebanese government would work to
disband Hezbollah, and the United States and other countries would
funnel money and send military officials to help train the Lebanese
Army, so that it could work to prevent future attacks on Israel.
Israel would agree to talks on whether it would withdraw from a
disputed border area known as Shabaa Farms, a Hezbollah demand.
"We want the Security Council to take it up soon, and we want the
Security Council to take it up with as much concrete progress toward
a real cease-fire as is humanly possible by the time that that
meeting takes place," Ms. Rice said. She spoke at a hastily called
news conference on Sunday, just two hours after learning of the
bombing at Qana. She appeared shaken, and said she learned of the
bombing while she was meeting with the Israeli defense minister,
Amir Peretz.
She said she reiterated to Mr. Peretz her "strong concern about the
impact of Israeli military operations on innocent civilians," and
added that she was "deeply saddened by the terrible loss of innocent
life." American officials scrambled to try to counter the wrenching
TV scenes of the devastation at Qana. Immediately after Ms. Rice's
news conference, State Department officials worked quickly to get
her statement broadcast on Arab TV stations, including Al Jazeera.
But that job was made harder when the Israeli prime minister, Ehud
Olmert, who met with Ms. Rice on Saturday night and again on Sunday,
released a statement saying he told Ms. Rice that Israel needed 10
to 14 more days to complete its war aims.
"Do you think that, with the close relationship he has with Bush and
Condi, he would go and say something like that without their
consent?" one senior Israeli official asked.
The official, who asked that his name not be used because he was not
authorized to speak publicly on the issue, said he believed that
American diplomats accepted that Israel's armed forces needed more
time to clear out a buffer zone in southern Lebanon before an
international peacekeeping force could enter.
Even if Ms. Rice does begin work on a Security Council resolution on
Thursday, he said, the resolution would probably take days to pass.
Ms. Rice was set to travel to Beirut on Sunday afternoon for talks
with Lebanese leaders when the Qana bombing curtailed her trip.
At 8:38 Sunday morning, as Ms. Rice and Mr. Peretz were meeting in a
suite at her hotel in Jerusalem, Assistant Secretary of State C.
David Welch received an e-mail message — on his Blackberry — from
Jeffrey D. Feldman, the United States ambassador to Lebanon,
alerting him to the bombing. In the message, Mr. Feldman described
some of the scenes broadcast on TV in Lebanon.
Mr. Welch, Blackberry in hand, went into the hotel suite to give Ms.
Rice the news, a senior American official said. It was unclear, the
official said, whether Mr. Peretz was already aware of it.
"She was sickened," said the official, who asked that his name not
be used because he was not authorized to speak about the meeting
between Ms. Rice and Mr. Peretz. After the meeting, the official
said, Ms. Rice told her staff, "We have to get it done." She was
referring to the 48-hour suspension of the aerial bombardment, he
said.
In the meeting with Mr. Olmert and a later meeting with Ms. Livni,
the foreign minister, Ms. Rice pushed for a temporary suspension of
Israel's airstrikes. Around 9:45 p.m. on Sunday, American officials
in Jerusalem received a call from Mr. Olmert's office that Israel
was willing to commit to the suspension, beginning immediately.
</DIV>