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The
Domineering White House: Re-examining
US And Its World |
Posted By George S.
Hishmeh
Many, many years ago when I was a cub
reporter for The Daily Star in Beirut,
I was assigned to cover the visit of a
prominent British parliamentarian, who
was arriving at Beirut's airport late
one evening.
The parliamentarian, if I recall well,
was Edith Summerskill, who had been
loudly critical of British policy on
the Middle East and concerned about
the plight of the Palestinians.
As soon as she landed, I was able to
talk to her about her trip to the
region and she was very accommodating
until I tried get her to elaborate on
her views or criticism of the British
policy. She immediately stopped
talking and said: "We have a
saying back home that once you cross
the rocks of Dover, we do not
criticise our government."
Her comment impressed me and I thought
it was quite honourable of her to
adhere to this laudable understanding.
But, on reflection, this was not the
case with Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of
the US House of Representatives and
the third in line to the presidency,
during her just-concluded five-nation
Mideast tour, much as President George
W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney
and their followers would like all to
believe.
For one, Pelosi did not publicly
criticise US policy during her talks
with the leaders of Israel, Palestine,
Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia. In
fact, she was implementing what a
bipartisan commission had urged the US
to do: open contacts with both Syria
and Iran.
She was also pursuing what many
American congressmen do during a
Congressional recess, that is, visit
areas of their interest or concern.
And she very wisely hand-picked her
delegation to represent, so to speak,
both sides of the question, including
Representative Tom Lantos, Democrat,
California, chairman of House
Committee on Foreign Affairs and a
survivor of the Holocaust and the
Democrat closest to the Israeli lobby,
and Henry Waxman Democrat, California,
an "advocate" of Israel;
Keith Ellison Democrat, Minnesota, the
first Muslim-American in Congress, and
Nick J. Rahall, the senior
Arab-American in Congress among
others.
Despite the unfair criticism levelled
at her by Bush or Cheney for her
praiseworthy trip to Damascus and
talks with President Bashar Al Assad,
the public spat underlined two
important facts: The close
relationship between Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert and the White
House, and the willingness of the
Israeli leader to jump whenever he is
told to do just that by Washington.
The "clarification" that he
was prompted to issue over what he had
asked Pelosi to tell the Syrian leader
was nothing more than a repetition of
the American position, leading some to
wonder whether Olmert has become a
full-fledged American lackey.
In part, the absurd
"clarification" declared
that "in order to conduct serious
and genuine peace negotiations, Syria
must cease its support of terror,
cease its sponsorship of the Hamas and
Islamic Jihad organisations, refrain
from providing weapons to Hezbollah
and bring about the destabilising of
Lebanon, cease its support of terror
in Iraq, and relinquish the strategic
ties it is building with the extremist
regime in Iran".
Surely Syria, as well, could have its
own preconditions and, won't it be
better for the two sides to leave
these issues to when they both sit at
the negotiating table?
This "clarification,"
according to the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency (JTA) baffled the Pelosi
delegation. "The speaker conveyed
precisely what the prime minister and
the acting [Israeli] president
asked," Lantos told JTA.
Lantos believes that Olmert's routine
message was prompted "by Israeli
press reports that Olmert was
concerned that Assad was gearing up
for a summer war based on the
misconception that Israel was ready to
attack in concert with a US strike on
Iran".
In other words, the Israeli leader
just sought to reassure the Syrians
that "Israel was not in an
aggressive posture" hence his
willingness to talk peace.
Lantos suggested, the JTA reported,
that there was pressure from the White
House. The news agency recalled a
similar incident during the war with
Hezbollah when Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice talked Olmert into a
48-hour ceasefire to allow
humanitarian relief, but within hours
Israeli planes were bombing again, to
Rice's surprise and anger.
It concluded that "Olmert had
received a call, apparently from
Cheney's office, telling him to ignore
Rice".
A day after Pelosi's controversial
visit, the Syrian president received
Republican Congressman Darrell Issa,
an Arab American, and other Republican
Congressmen earlier, without any
raucous reaction from the domineering
White House that is losing control at
home.
* An Arab American columnist based
in Washington. |
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