Democrats call for Powell mission to Mideast

http://www.cnn.com/ ^ | March 31, 2002 Posted: | CNN

[The Vast Right Wing]

This is a Demo setup. They know that at present, there is nothing anyone can do to stop the violence in the mideast. Biden wants Powell to fail and will then blame the Bush admin.

[Drumbo]

"Laurie Dhue asked Henry Kissinger about this today on Fox .. it was a great question and Kissinger had a great answer.

"He said Powell shouldn't go over there unless there were concrete results that could be obtained and that it wouldn't do American prestige any good to have the Secretary of State travel to the Middle East and spin his wheels. In short, it made a lot of sense."

I'm glad I found your post Colonel, before repeating it. I think I'll repeat it anyway! lol!

Kissinger did make a LOT of sense. If Powell goes without having a concrete objective that he knows has been worked out ahead of time, he'll only look weak and ineffective.

It's obvious that the time for talking is passed, imho.

[the_Watchman]

I can't remember who it was, but someone once dubbed the middle-east "the graveyard of American Secretaries of State".

All you guys have found the truth about this! The Democrats know that this is just a quagmire. They want to damage Colin Powell because they see him as an able adversary on the nationaly political scene. [ Even if we are not too fond of him! :) ]

The Democrats would also like to damage Bush.

The U.S. may send diplomats over, but it should be done only at the behest of Israel at this time. Israel has made the call that diplomacy is OVER, at least with this clown, Arafat. It is their call.

It's interesting to watch the talk shows on this. Everyone knew that Arafat was a front man for the terrorists. Everyone knew that Israel accepted him only because (1) he was the only one talking rather than chucking bombs [supposedly], (2) they had no idea who is replacement might be, (3) they had a knife in their back from the liberals in the international community [yes, it was more than just Clinton] who kept telling them to negotiate.

Israel has now said: "Enough of the charade". Arafat has clearly not negotiated in good faith. He has not given reasonable consideration to mammoth concessions regarding ceding land to the Palestinians. He has not made a good faith effort to bring known terrorists to justice.

Everybody knew it was a charade, except possibly our media!

Anyone who believes that Arafat is not part of the problem [by that I mean OUR problem as well as Isreal] should remember that they had just opened a museum to the terrorists in the Palestinian controlled area. It depicted a very recent suicide bombing in a very positive light. It was designed to glorify this activity. After Sept 11, and after Bush came out so strongly against terrorism, the museum was quietly closed.

Folks, it's all a game of charades.

[lowbridge]

[Sandmansleeper]

Excellent! Well stated!

[LarryLied]

Exactly. Watch some of the posters on FR too. They are test marketing the "Blame Bush" attack the Democrats are about to launch. The scripts are all the same and they spam threads with them.

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

"I think there needs to be something dramatic done, and that means the president has to step up his involvement," said U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Delaware

I Couldn't agree more. Declaring Arafat a terroist and putting reward on his head would be a good start.

[My Favorite Headache]

[the_Watchman]

Bush is walking a tightrope. He knows he needs to clean out certain hot-beads of Islamic fundamentalism, but he isn't really interested in taking on the entire Muslim world. This is not a wonderful time in the life of the U.S. to blatantly side with Israel. It could clearly hamper our ability to get the moderate Arab states to sit on their hands while we deal with Iraq, Iran, and whoever else is openly at the bottom of this "stuff".

Egypt, for instance, clearly does not have a really great civil rights history towards Christians and Jews. However, they have been keeping the pressure on the radical Muslim groups internally in order to preserve order. These same moderates recognize the external threat posed by the likes of Al-queda.

However, if Bin Laden can characterize the struggle as an Isreali issue, then these same moderates will not be able to retain power unless they vigorously side against U.S. actions.

This is why domestically, arguments to the effect that the U.S. brought Sept 11 on itself by its support of Israel, is such a dangerous argument. It attempts to paint those terrorist attacks as merely an extension of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Bush, on the other hand, needs to be able to portray the events of Sept. 11 by Al-Queda, and those like it, as being a direct attack against the West in a bold attempt to destroy the West. This is fairly easy to do, since that is the Muslim rhetoric.

What will make Bush's life so difficult is these people are masters of holding the olive branch in one hand and the bomb in the other behind their backs. This is the model which has worked for years with Arafat as the front man. Unfortunately, we have a media filled to the gills with Quislings and Chamberlains who gobble it up. Sharon was being grilled today on American TV as if he were persecuting the "peace-loving" Arafat. [ and what is to become of "negotiation"??? sob, sob ]

[RJayneJ]

I find your comments interesting. I really think this entire upheaval has been very calculated on Arafat's part. He knows that the USA was in the midst of trying to get a coalition of Arab states together so we could go in and take Saddam out. To do that we need cooperation to keep our casualties down and our efforts effective. Everyone knows that Saddam is Arafat's benefactor, and it's pay-back time. The timing is no accident and Arafat is raising the stakes by making the point that because we are siding with Israel no self-respecting Arab state should become allied with us. And it's working.

[Cachelot]

Democrats call for Powell mission to Mideast

Psst, Colin... your owners are calling you...

[AIBC]

Very witty! How do I paste an image in my comments on this forum? Could anybody email me some instructions to aibc_98@yahoo.com, please?

[AIBC]

MY opinion is :We should back out completely and let them take care of it themselves and force the un to back out as well let the israelies take care of their own buisness and obliterate the palistinians wherever they are period .
Three problems: Bush, Powell, CNN; not necessarily in this order.

[whadizit]

That's cool! He would have them both begging for peace!! Send Al Gore and bore them to death.

[a_witness]

Joe made such an Issue of being Jewish during the 2000 election. That must be a memory of convenience.

He is an American. Most Americans no longer know what it means to serve in the military to defend their nation and neighbors. As a result of the September 11th attacks on our nation we need a new generation of patriotism in the war on terrorists, similar to World War II.

[Pagey]

I think Biden and LIE-berman are 2 Long-Time blowhards and "are cut from the same cloth".I believe they enjoy publicly criticizing George 'W' Bush.I think since they're so high up in the Gov't chain, they should be forced to tell the President to his face, what they're going to say in public.

[Robert_Paulson2]

All questions make MUCH better sense with laurie dhue asking them. EVERY single one.

Having said that... YOU have violated a freerepublic protocol here. No use of Laurie's name, without PICTURES. GET IT?

DON'T let it happen again.

That's all.

[American in Israel]

? This is not a wonderful time in the life of the U.S. to blatantly side with Israel. It could clearly hamper our ability to get the moderate Arab states to sit on their hands while we deal with Iraq, Iran, and whoever else is openly at the bottom of this "stuff".

Well with half of the Moslem states voting that Palestinians blowing up supermarkets and pizza parlors is not terrorism I do not think that there is much "moderation" in the Islamic world. They can't even agree what terrorism is, how can we make them "partners". Trying to make a coalition with Islam is like inviting enemy into your backyard as you fight out the front. Stupid.

[pepperhead]

It's a setup by the Dims. Lieberman wants Powell to go to Israel so he can fail. The Dims want Bush to get involved more so he can get egg in his face. Message to Bush, Democrats are not your friends. They don't want to help you. There not going to give you good advice, ignore them on foreign policy matters.

[Colonel_Flagg]

No use of Laurie's name, without PICTURES. GET IT?

Naah .. my pictures are boring. :)