Posted on 03/09/2003 10:15:55 AM PST by SJackson
According to a report published in today’s “New York Times”, U.S. president George Bush has decided to freeze implementation of his mid-east peace plan calling for the creation of a Palestinian state, until the end of the crisis with Iraq.
Administration officials say that it makes no sense to publish the peace plan, known as a ‘road map’ and push the effort now with a war on the horizon, with anxiety in Israel deepening over being attacked during a war with Iraq and a multibillion-dollar Israeli request for American military aid on the table, explained the Times.
The Times reports that U.S. officials also say that publishing a document calling for the removal of [PLO terrorist chief Yasir] Arafat may upset recent progress among the Palestinians in choosing a prime minister as a step toward having him cede power. They say that more work also needs to be done to accommodate Israeli objections to the plan.
The Times adds that many administration officials charge that Mr. Bush, on the eve of a possible war, does not want to do anything to anger Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Among other reasons, they say that the United States does not want Sharon to intervene in the war even if Israel is attacked by Iraqi missiles, lest this direct Arab countries' anger at Israel.
"Let's face it, the road map is dead," a senior European diplomat said. "This administration will never do anything opposed by Sharon.
The decision to put off consideration of the plan is widely seen as a rebuff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who has backed the Europeans and urged Mr. Bush to intensify the American commitment to Middle East peace efforts, to placate both Arab countries and European allies being courted over Iraq, according to the Times.
Mr. Powell is described by aides as believing with the Europeans that the stalemate over the peace plan has hampered the American ability to get approval of a resolution on Iraq at the Security Council.
State Department officials say that management of Middle East policies has increasingly been taken over by the White House, where Elliott Abrams, a passionate advocate of Israel, has recently taken over the Middle East portfolio on the National Security Council staff, according to the Times. Three aides under him who were identified with the pro-peace-plan position have recently resigned leading to speculation in the administration that their departure had cemented Mr. Bush's basic pro-Israel position.
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State Department officials say that management of Middle East policies has increasingly been taken over by the White House...
Horrors!!! Elected officials setting policy!!!
Apparently a very, very bad thing in the view of State.
This made me think about having Arafat frozen, himself. Then, stream of consciousness being what it is, I then envisaged him being 'waxed'...you know..he'd be quite the draw for a haunted house's wax museum.
Memo to Times. Arafat picked a PM last week.
Left wing talk show host?
He hasn't picked one yet, but Yasser has his eye on a well know holocaust denier who thinks stoning the Jews is a better tactic than suicide bombers for the time being. Progress, I guess.
B S !
Excerpt:
Freedom and the Future
Speech at the American Enterprise Institute's annual dinner. By President George W. Bush
EDITORS'S NOTE: This is the text of a speech delivered by the president at the American Enterprise Insitute's annual dinner at the Washington Hilton on February 26, 2003.
...For its part, the new government of Israel — as the terror threat is removed and security improves — will be expected to support the creation of a viable Palestinian state — (applause) — and to work as quickly as possible toward a final status agreement. As progress is made toward peace, settlement activity in the occupied territories must end. And the Arab states will be expected to meet their responsibilities to oppose terrorism, to support the emergence of a peaceful and democratic Palestine, and state clearly they will live in peace with Israel.
The United States and other nations are working on a road map for peace. We are setting out the necessary conditions for progress toward the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. It is the commitment of our government — and my personal commitment — to implement the road map and to reach that goal. Old patterns of conflict in the Middle East can be broken, if all concerned will let go of bitterness, hatred, and violence, and get on with the serious work of economic development, and political reform, and reconciliation. America will seize every opportunity in pursuit of peace. And the end of the present regime in Iraq would create such an opportunity.
GWB
http://www.nationalreview.com/document/document022703.asp
...the new government of Israel — B S, B S, B S...— will be expected to support the creation of a viable Palestinian state...
More B S!
They can't handle the truth!
Jeremiah 50:43 The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,
and his hands hang limp.
Anguish has gripped him,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
50, 43, that's our Bush...
Jeremiah 50
33 This is what the LORD Almighty says:
"The people of Israel are oppressed,
and the people of Judah as well.
All their captors hold them fast,
refusing to let them go.
34 Yet their Redeemer is strong;
the LORD Almighty is his name.
He will vigorously defend their cause
so that he may bring rest to their land,
but unrest to those who live in Babylon.
35 "A sword against the Babylonians!"
declares the LORD -
"against those who live in Babylon
and against her officials and wise men!
36 A sword against her false prophets!
They will become fools.
A sword against her warriors!
They will be filled with terror.
37 A sword against her horses and chariots
and all the foreigners in her ranks!
They will become women.
A sword against her treasures!
They will be plundered.
38 A drought on her waters!
They will dry up.
For it is a land of idols,
idols that will go mad with terror.
39 "So desert creatures and hyenas will live there,
and there the owl will dwell.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
along with their neighboring towns,"
declares the LORD ,
"so no one will live there;
no man will dwell in it.
41 "Look! An army is coming from the north;
a great nation and many kings
are being stirred up from the ends of the earth.
42 They are armed with bows and spears;
they are cruel and without mercy.
They sound like the roaring sea
as they ride on their horses;
they come like men in battle formation
to attack you, O Daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,
and his hands hang limp.
Anguish has gripped him,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
44 Like a lion coming up from Jordan's thickets
to a rich pastureland,
I will chase Babylon from its land in an instant.
Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?
Who is like me and who can challenge me?
And what shepherd can stand against me?"
45 Therefore, hear what the LORD has planned against Babylon,
what he has purposed against the land of the Babylonians:
The young of the flock will be dragged away;
he will completely destroy their pasture because of them.
46 At the sound of Babylon's capture the earth will tremble;
its cry will resound among the nations.
...It takes nukes to make the earth tremble...
Vis-a-vis the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the King's most outstanding achievement is generally considered the “roadmap” for Mideast peace — a concept that the Monarch conceived and persuaded Bush to adopt.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/832531/posts
The roadmap to hell is paved with peace and security.
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