Posted on 08/10/2006 8:58:40 AM PDT by presidio9
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has flunked her first foreign policy crisis in the Middle East.
She went to the turbulent region last month in the early days of the war that began when Hezbollah forces in Lebanon crossed into Israel and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.
Rice had orders from President George W. Bush to oppose any immediate ceasefire, which was hardly the proper policy by the U.S. if it wanted to end the suffering among Israelis and Lebanese.
Rice apparently was dispatched to the Middle East to pass on to Israel the message that it has the green light from the White House to do whatever it wanted and could take more time to clobber the rocket-firing Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, despite Lebanese and international pleas for a truce.
Israel took that message to heart, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seems bent on proving that he can be as tough as his predecessors.
During her trip, Rice was snubbed by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who told her she was not welcome in Beirut if the U.S. did not support an immediate cessation of hostilities.
She was later blindsided in her personal visit with Olmert and other Israeli officials. During the meeting, the Israelis failed to alert Rice of their bombing massacre that day of Lebanese civilians in the village of Qana. The attack evoked worldwide indignation.
Rice was notified of the attack later by e-mail from a State Department staffer. After learning the news of Qana, Rice appeared shaken and stressed out. Perhaps the human dimension of a threadbare foreign policy finally hit home.
Rice is out of her league and seems to have little knowledge about the Middle East. Her expertise was always on the now-defunct Soviet Union and the Cold War.
Nor does she seek the advice of her former boss, Brent Scowcroft, who served as President George H. W. Bush's national security adviser. Scowcroft is a pro in Middle East diplomacy.
Her style is to lecture the leaders of sovereign countries as though they were school boys. When asked why the U.S. won't talk to the Syrians, who she blames for sponsoring Hezbollah, she said, "Syrians have known for a long time what they need to do."
Insiders claim that after her return from her Middle Eastern swing, Rice began pushing for a quick ceasefire but that Bush refused -- apparently to accommodate the wishes of the Israeli leaders, who wanted more time to rough up Hezbollah.
Former President Jimmy Carter has been critical of the Bush-Rice policies, which he said have fostered violence in the Middle East and "encourage the continuation of attacks on both sides."
Rice said she is working for a lasting and sustainable peace, but I'm sure the people in the war zone would be happy if the U.S. would just take steps now to stop the guns of August.
Retired Army Lt. Gen. William Odom recently zeroed in a fundamental truth about the Hezbollah-Israel war when he said U.S. policies in Iraq "opened the door for Iran and Syria to support Hezbollah." The U.S. presence in Iraq has had a "radicalizing impact" in the region, Odom recently wrote.
It will be a long time before America regains the great respect and reverence it once enjoyed among the peoples of the Middle East, before Bush's aggressive policies took hold, starting with his unprovoked invasion of Iraq.
The Iraqi war -- which Rice helped to pump up when she was Bush's national security adviser -- is one of her foreign policy failures. The failure of the U.S. to take steps to halt the current Israel-Hezbollah war is merely another sign that she's in over her head.
(Helen Thomas can be reached at the e-mail address hthomas@hearstdc.com).
I'm glad Helen wasn't around in WWII. She would have wanted us to let Hitler have Europe and Tojo to have the West Pacific in order to end the suffering.
I think you are a jackass for comparing Condi to Helen.
What do you mean? She was old and stupid during WW I.
Takes one to know one.
Oh goodie - so Sandy Burgler, Warren Christopher and Thunder Thighs Albright have all the answers!
This clown is the "go-to" doofus for the lefties. He has zero credibility on everything he says.
It's not Helen's fault - she was born that way!
Now, she's 85 years old or so. Isn't it time for her to retire? You know, she could sit around the house, pulling wings off of flies, or something like that.
Quote: "It will be a long time before America regains the great respect and reverence it once enjoyed among the peoples of the Middle East"
LOL when did anyone in the Middle East ever respect the USA?
The best and most truthful thing about this article is your comment after the author's name!
Helen wrote the article. It's about Rice.
I guess that's why Syria and Iran have been aiding Hiz since 2000.
There's a distinction between "compare" and "contrast."
The latter is what Presidio did in the picture post.
The former is what you did in Post 3.
Honestly, nobody cares what Helen thinks.
Amen.
I just thought the editor forgot to put it in there because it was superfluous.
"I'll live under that bridge when I get to it."
Former President Jimmy Carter has been critical of the Bush-Rice policies,
What more evidence do we need that bush-rice are on the right track?
"Rice apparently was dispatched to the Middle East to pass on to Israel the message that it has the green light from the White House to do whatever it wanted and could take more time to clobber the rocket-firing Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, despite Lebanese and international pleas for a truce."
And the problem is?
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