Blogs > POWELL DEFLECT AT THE PEACE INSTITUTE

Jul 21, 2004

POWELL DEFLECT AT THE PEACE INSTITUTE



Its raining so I ate my lunch in front of the TV watching Powell field questions about American foreign policy. All the questioners were Middle Easterners. The first was a Kurd worrying about Iraqis electing Ayatollas. The second was a Libyan American who worried that the US will let Qaddafi off the hook and not force him to democratize and the Third was a media person wondering why the US does not have a few words with the Emir who funds (130,000) Al Jazeera which he defines as is a terrorist cheer leading channel. Tellingly, in one way or another, all the questions had to do with reform and democracy in the Middle East and that Israel was not raised by any of the three. In response, Powell assured his audience that elections or not, the US remains committed to working with the quartet to further the Sharon plan. In other words, when in trouble throw them some red meat - Israel.

In reviewing Rashid Khalidi's new book Michael Rubin correctly notes that"Khalidi demonstrates little understanding of Iraqi history, failing to mention Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons on the Kurds and the draining of the marshes. Rather, he implies that Arabs think with one mind and hold the Israeli-Palestinian dispute central to their identity. But, after 35 years of Ba'athist dictatorship, Iraqis have a sense of historical exceptionalism". AS do other Arab populations for whom their own tyrants are the real WMD.



comments powered by Disqus