Obama officials lied about Pickering/Hamas meeting

The Obama Report ^ | 8/10/09

[Frankusa]

A recent meeting between two senior Hamas officials and former undersecretary of state Thomas R. Pickering was coordinated and promoted by the US State Department, according to the Arabic weekly, Al-Ahram.

Mr. Pickering met with senior Hamas officials, Mahmoud al-Zahar and Bassem Naim in Geneva in mid-June.

The Washington Post reported that the Hamas officials had said they believed the meeting "represented an opening in relations with the Obama administration."

However, US officials said they had only learned of the meeting afterward:

They said Pickering had not been asked to approach Hamas and had no official standing; U.S. officials learned of the meeting only afterward. Policy toward the Islamist group, they said, remains what it was under President George W. Bush: that Hamas is a terrorist organization with which the United States will not even sanction a meeting.

Before Hamas can participate in peace talks, "we have made it clear, both publicly and privately... that we would expect Hamas to... renounce violence and agree to abide by prior agreements," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said... in Washington....

But according to Al-Ahram, Mr. Pickering's participation at the meeting "was coordinated with and promoted by the US State Department.":

Participating in these meetings were Thomas Pickering... and Robert Malley [who served as Middle East policy adviser to Barack Obama during the presidential campaign]... in addition to researchers and European and US experts in contact with Hamas...

Although the Americans who participated in these meetings do not hold any official positions in the US administration, their participation in these meetings was coordinated with and promoted by the US State Department.

[Venturer]

Do you suppose Hillary has any authrity with the State Department at all?. She appears to be merely eyewash.

This is nothingnew forthe State Department,I have often suspected the politically appointed Secretary of State was merely a figurehead, and the Department actually runs itself.

[Eleutheria5]

Oops. It looks like we...uh...accidentally recognized Hamastan (Gaza) as a sovereign state. But it’s all the fault of the Bush administration. We’ll be giving them an embassy on the West Bank of the Potomac, equipped with a bomb factory and behead-a-torium, video and sound equipment included.

[NonValueAdded]

caustic eyewash. Stop, mommy, it burns!!!

[RGSpincich]

A pattern emerges. Bill Clinton and Pickering conducting missions where if they are captured in the press the Secretary will disavow all knowledge of their actions.