Posted on 05/04/2004 12:43:51 AM PDT by fdsa2
Around 50 retired US diplomats have written to US President George Bush to complain about America's policy towards the Middle East. The letter is similar to one written by 52 former British diplomats to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair last week.
The former US diplomats complained that President Bush's approach is losing the US "credibility, prestige and friends".
They criticised what they say is Washington's unabashed support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The American diplomats said they were deeply concerned by Mr Bush's endorsement last month of Mr Sharon's plan to withdraw unilaterally from Gaza.
'Great danger'
They were planning a press conference on Tuesday to go public with their opposition, according to the American Educational Trust (AET), a foundation where some of the former diplomats are based.
"Early responses are staggering," the AET said on Monday, adding "signatories are united by their belief that the US government is heading toward great danger."
"Our hope is that both political parties will take heed and listen to the voices of experienced diplomats," it said.
"Your unabashed support of Sharon's extra-judicial assassinations, Israel's Berlin-Wall-like barrier, its harsh military measures in occupied territories and now your endorsement of Sharon's unilateral plans are costing our country its credibility, prestige and friends," the letter warned.
We're not the good guys any more... We are viewed as hypocritical.
Former diplomat William Rogers
Israel says it has no choice but to kill militants planning to carry out suicide attacks, and that its West Bank barrier is for security only.
The signatories praised their British counterparts who went public over their concerns last month.
"We former diplomats applaud our 52 British colleagues who recently sent a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair criticising his Middle East policy and calling on Britain to exert more influence over the United States," the US letter begins.
The organiser of the American missive, Andrew Killgore, who served as US ambassador to Qatar from 1977 to 1980, told the BBC: "We thought American diplomats were as unhappy as British diplomats were over what the president did."
He called for President Bush to withdraw his support for the disengagement plan, which Mr Sharon may have to modify after failing to gain the support of his Likud party.
He said Mr Bush should not "take away the right of the Palestinians to return, or give Sharon the right to take settlement blocks in the West Bank which will hardly leave the Palestinians any contiguous territory".
'Torpedo'
"It seems to torpedo the idea of a separate Palestinian state," he added.
Mr Killgore said the letter was mainly about policy towards Israel and the Palestinians, but it touched on Iraq too.
"If anything Iraq is worse," he said.
William Rogers, who was under-secretary of state for economic affairs in the mid-1970s, has not decided whether to sign the letter yet, but said: "We're not the good guys any more and our foreign relations have been and are being damaged. We are viewed as hypocritical."
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Washington said those in the Bush administration who do support Mr Sharon might well point out that the state department has always been a sceptical supporter of Israel.
Mr Sharon himself has always made a point of dealing directly with the White House.
There has been no response yet from the White House, our correspondent says, though in the past, the administration has been quick to savage its critics.
I didn't think you put them in there. People like to make statements by adding keywords; I guess it amuses them. For whatever reason, this thread has achieved the highest keyword count I've ever seen.
Washington Report on Mideast Affairs, put out by the American Educational Trust, a group of former foreign service officers known for vehement opposition to Israel.
---------------------------------------Rachel Corrie
University administrators, sensitive to the personal nature of the Corrie family's cause and protest, were considerate and receptive. The Brodersens were able to meet briefly with ISU president Gregory Geoffroy as he left the event honoring Caterpillar.
"President Goeffroy was very cordial. He accepted a letter from our family [and] a group of Rachel's e-mails sent from Rafa. We gave him those, and a book, Remember These Children, published by American Educational Trust, Americans for Middle East Understanding, Black Voices for Peace and Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel. he said he would read them," said Bonnie Brodersen, Rachel Corrie's aunt, of Ashland, Oregon.
---------------------------------------Palestine Unabridged
Betsy Mayfield, executive director of Axiom Foundation and producer of "Palestine Unabridged," credited many people with the film festival's success. "Many individuals have made 'Palestine Unabridged' possible," she noted. "Some gave financial assistance through The Axiom Foundation, others helped us find and select the best films available, and a special few encouraged us with kind words and provided cookies to sustain us during long meetings. In addition," she said, "staff members of several organizations worked on book lists, and a group of Ames film aficionados are conducting a film viewing and award program for the Palestinian filmmakers who have shared their talents with us."
Mayfield cited the organizations providing assistance in the production of "Palestine Unabridged": American Educational Trust, Washington, DC; Borders Books, Ames and West Des Moines; Chicago Palestine Film Festival, 2003; churches and community groups in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Ames and the surrounding area; Columbia University, Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, New York, New York; Des Moines Area Community College; Grandview College Center for the Exploration and Practice of Nonviolence; Host Productions and North Park University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies; Partners for Peace, Washington, DC; Octagon Center for the Arts; Trans-Arab Research Institute, Inc., Dartmouth University; The Tribune, Ames; and Safford Productions, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Perhaps they are still waiting for people to sign up...
This from wrmea.com (Washington Report)
The American Educational Trust, publishers of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, will host a press conference in the Lisagor Room of the National Press Club, 529 14th St, NW, Washington, DC at 12:00 noon on Tuesday May 4, 2004, to announce and discuss the following letter to President Bush. If you are a former diplomat and would like to sign the letter, please call the Washington Report at 202-939-6050, extensions 104, 106, or 0, or email us at info@wrmea.com. If you are a non-diplomat, you may sign on in the supplementary list. Please include a title, and the place and position of your last post if you were an foreign service officer. Thank you.
No........ Bush is just cancelling all the hot checks they wrote to "their" friends. Power is the singular constant in world politics. Reagan proved it with Russia and now Bush is proving it with all the other little Sino Soviet-ChiCom-Terrorist Dick-Tator whining SOB's and the Happy Hour Diplomatic Dipshits don't like it.
We'll they can kiss old brown spot right on his nose as far as I'm concerned.
Stay Safe Piasa !
Putting in only 'Iraq' is almost pointless since you will get so many returns- thousands- that you still won't know which article, or in this case an entire thread, to read for data you want. What if you are looking for references to diplomats? It won't turn up unless the word 'diplomats' is entered. What if you are looking for Fulbright? If it isn't in the thread's keywords, you will miss the info contained in the thread on Fulbright.
The former US diplomats complained that President Bush's approach is losing the US "credibility, prestige and friends".
So, their teaparties have been disrupted?
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