Posted on 04/17/2002 5:24:32 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
President Bush said Wednesday that Secretary of State Colin Powell made progress during his mission to broker an Arab-Israeli cease-fire. He stressed that Middle East nations all had responsibilities in fighting the war on terrorism and bringing peace to the region.
"I want to thank Secretary Powell for his hard work at a difficult task. He returns home having made progress towards peace. We're confronting hatred that is centuries old, disputes that have lingered for decades. But I want you to know, I will continue to lead toward a vision of peace," Bush said.
"We will continue to remind folks they have responsibilities in the short run to defuse the current crisis. The Palestinian Authority must act, must act, on its words of condemnation against terror. Israel must continue its withdrawals, and all Arab states must step up to their responsibilities."
The Bush White House made its best effort to put a positive face on what appears to be a dismal failure to bring about a cease-fire or troop withdrawal between the warring Palestinian and Israeli forces. Powell is scheduled to return to the United States after nearly two weeks of meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority officials, including Chairman Yasser Arafat.
A senior administration official aboard Air Force One told reporters that the president was pleased Powell was able to return to the region and will return to brief Bush on what has been done.
"If we go back to where we were just 10 days ago or so, we had suicide bombings practically every day, we had a situation in which the Israelis had really just begun a military operation, and it was unclear when that military operation was going to come to an end," the senior administration official said.
Sharon said Monday his forces would withdraw out of most occupied Palestinian towns and villages along the West Bank within a week. However, he said his troops would stay behind in Ramallah, the site of Arafat's headquarters, and in Bethlehem until the standoff at the Church of the Nativity was resolved. Sharon also said Israel would be willing to participate in a peace conference with Arab leaders. Arafat, on the other hand, under siege in his headquarters since March 29, called on the "international community" to help end the Israeli occupation.
Bush Urges Arabs to Act
Speaking at Virginia Military Institute, Bush urged the Egyptians, Jordanians and Saudis to help confront terrorism in the Middle East. All parties have a responsibility to stop funding or inciting terror, he said.
He also said they must denounce the "homicide bombers" as murderers and not martyrs.
Powell met with Arafat Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to persuade Arafat to accept some kind of cease-fire and get his people to end at least attacks on civilians. But Arafat, confined to a compound in Ramallah with five men who the Israelis say planned last year's assassination of its Tourism Minister Rechavam Zeevi, appears intransigent.
'Catastrophic' Meeting
Arafat's minister of information, Yasser Abed Rabbo, told Al-Jazeera Wednesday the meeting was "catastrophic."
One of Arafat's top aides, Saeb Erekat, said after the meeting that Powell was leaving the region in worse shape than when he arrived. He raised doubts about the secretary's efficacy to shape the State Department's policy.
In Afghanistan
On the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, Bush said the battles there were not over. American and allied troops continue to track al-Qaeda and Taliban forces, while coalition naval forces, which represent the largest combined flotilla since World War II, patrol escape routes, intercepting ships to search for terrorists and supplies, he said.
The U.S. government expects terrorist cells to try to regroup with the intent of undermining Afghanistan's interim government from building a lasting peace. Bush vowed that the struggling nation would not repeat its mistake of experiencing initial success followed by long years of "floundering and ultimate failure."
Bush made his remarks on Afghanistan as media accounts surfaced that the U.S. government has concluded Saudi exile and fugitive Osama bin Laden slipped away from military forces during the fight in cave complexes in the Tora Bora mountains.
The Washington Post reported that privately conducted reviews concluded he likely slipped away in the first 10 days of December. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters in a briefing that it was "entirely possible" that bin Laden was in Tora Bora, but his agency said the operation there was not a failure.
That's Pallie-speak for "We thought we could bully him into doing what we wanted him to do, but he refused, so obviously he is a failure."
Powell's mission was doomed from the get-go. Sharon may be withdrawing slowly, but if one more bomb goes off, he will be right back in there.
There are still a lot of vipers that need to be cleaned out of that pest-hole in Gaza.
Sharon also said Israel would be willing to participate in a peace conference with Arab leaders. Arafat, on the other hand,under siege in his headquarters since March 29, called on the "international community" to help end the Israeli occupation.
Time is NOT on Arafat's side.
Sure, the Arabs would have screamed bloody murder and the Euroweenies would have had crying hissy-fits, but so what?
There is never going to be peace in that region until/unless the Palli leadership is make to realize that THEIR assets are just as capable of "martyrdom" as the mixed-up kids they send out with the strap-ons.
Arab leaders are all cowards. Reagan bombed the shish-kabob out of Mohammar and surprize-surprize, his support for terrorism stopped.
Same thing should be done here. Go after the heavies and the terrorism will stop pdq.
I wouldn't be too sure of that, chastized yes, stopped? I find that hard to believe.
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