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![]() Just Above Sunset
April 18, 2004: In-Your-Face Diplomacy
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In-Your-Face Diplomacy – Timed Just Right to Make Things Much Worse and Force Outstanding Issues to a Head ___________________ Things are quite terse
in Iraq. So, you want to things to get worse?
Why not? We’ve said that we will either capture or kill the nasty
Shiite cleric al-Sadr no matter where he’s hiding. We shut down his newspaper
and we’ll get him too. Who cares about his being a cleric? He’s a bad guy. WASHINGTON - In a historic policy shift, President Bush on Wednesday endorsed Israel's plan to
hold on to part of the West Bank in any final peace settlement with the Palestinians.
Bush also ruled out Palestinian refugees returning to Israel, bringing strong criticism from the Palestinians. But Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia — with whom the Bush administration deals while
boycotting leader Yasser Arafat — called Bush "the first president who has legitimized the (Israeli) settlements in
Palestinian territories." And that’s leaving
out detail. This is a shameful capitulation. … the statement
overturns in one stroke almost 40 years of official U.S. policy -- a policy Shrub's father actually showed a fair amount of
political courage in defending. For decades, Israeli leaders (Likud and Labor
alike) have worked to create those "new realities on the ground" -- as the statement, with the usual neocon arrogance, describes
them -- through illegal land expropriations, relentless discrimination against Palestinian landowners, and lavish government
subsidies for Jewish settlers. And for decades, the U.S. government has refused
to accept Israel's bullyboy tactics, despite the relentless, continuous efforts of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington. Maybe so, but we were (are)
getting pushed around in Iraq, so it seem to many of us just a message. Mess
with us Christians and our Jewish Likud friends, and you won’t get jack in the real world. To call this document the most craven, under-handed and one-sided agreement ever negotiated by
the U.S. government would be unfair. There are, after all, those 19th century
Indian treaties to take into account. But it's pretty clear that, rumors of their
demise notwithstanding, the neocons are alive and kicking, and still have a death grip on the U.S.-Israeli relationship. It seems almost inconceivable to me that having plunged America into the bloody quicksand
in Iraq, the neocons are now to receive as their reward an only modestly reduced version of their dream of a Greater Israel. Fuck up and move up indeed. Yeah, but we’ll have
made our point about being pushed around by thugs, I guess…. But
I always liked Henry Kissinger’s Short Definition of Diplomacy: Purposeful Ambiguity. Considering that President
Bush on Wednesday endorsed Israel's plan to hold on to part of the West Bank in any final peace settlement with the Palestinians,
I suggest even if this was, maybe, the right thing to do, which I doubt, this is not the time to do it. Bush supporters would argue that he has done no more than state the obvious: Some Israeli settlements
will remain in the West Bank after any "final status" agreement, and Israel will never absorb within its own borders the Palestinian
refugees who fled after 1948. Say what? The answer doesn't match the question! Has Bush finally started
drinking again? The Daily Mirror has it right. Their headline after Tuesday’s press conference? “The
President’s Brain Is Missing!” The full item is here. This distaste for subtleties is probably part of what many Americans like about Bush -- he's not some fancy-pants diplomat talking all the time about "nuances." But the public should understand that however satisfying Bush's plain talk may be, it can be harmful to the nation's security. Then Ignatius gives examples: The recent turmoil in Iraq offers two examples of how the Bush administration's rhetoric can put
the United States out on an awkward limb. U.S. officials decided to demonize
the troublesome Iraqi Shiite cleric, Moqtada Sadr, despite warnings from Iraqis and some U.S. officials that such "capture
or kill" tactics would only enhance Sadr's standing. Ignatius then makes the obvious point. Great powers need flexibility. They should avoid taking public steps that unnecessarily limit their ability to maneuver in private. They should be cautious about marching up hills without being sure how they will get back down. They should never (or almost never) say "never." They should be especially wary of using military force, because once the battle is joined, it can't be abandoned. To the Bush administration, these may seem like sissies' rules, but they've served successful U.S. presidents well for more than two centuries. Well, these guys aren’t
sissies. Bush's disdain for decades of diplomacy is costly for the United States. At a time when America needs allies in a real war in Iraq and against Islamic terrorists, Bush's polarizing style fends them off. Saddest of all, in his eagerness to help Israel, Bush may be undermining America's greatest gift to its friend and ally: the ability to help broker a deal with the Palestinians. We cannot be any kind of “honest broker” now. We chose sides. That’s what we do. We’re not sissies. And Tony Blair came over for talks. He worked long and hard to get us to commit to the “Roadmap for Peace” – if we did that he’d deliver Britain at our side in the new war to change the government in Iraq, in spite of his nation thinking it utter madness. Deal. Now Blair looks like a fool, and Bush smirks, the Arab world seethes, and Ariel Sharon grins – because he has just saved his butt in the upcoming elections in Israel. Is everybody happy now? |
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This issue updated and published on...
Paris readers add nine hours....
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