Wednesday, January 14, 2009

US foreign policy is run by?

A rare moment of honesty in the world of politics.

The New York Times reports a speech made by Israeli PM Ehud Olmert :

In an unusually public rebuke, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel said Monday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been forced to abstain from a United Nations resolution on Gaza that she helped draft, after Mr. Olmert placed a phone call to President Bush.

“I said, ‘Get me President Bush on the phone,’ ” Mr. Olmert said in a speech in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, according to The Associated Press. “They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn’t care: ‘I need to talk to him now,’ ” Mr. Olmert continued. “He got off the podium and spoke to me.”


The only surprise is that the bragging about Israel's control over American policy in the region, obviously designed to gain votes in the upcoming election, publicly acknowledged what has long been known but officially denied.

The spin doctors must be in a panic on this one - the Israeli PM telling the US President to get off the podium to speak to him now, which he does.


The report is here.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It only confirms what ever always knew. Though I dont think Americans would be happy with news.

Anonymous said...

Some fools just dont learn.

Seabee said...

Anon@7.26, that's the way, news reports are only true if they agree with what you believe.

Anonymous said...

Seabee,

You condemn Israel yet say nothing about Hamas starting this mess by lobbing missiles at civilians. We are supporting a democratically elected government over a group of terrorist thugs who aim to kill as many civilians as possible. In your view that somehow makes us the bad guys. Israel isn't blameless. They certainly over compensate for attacks but they do have to respond militarily. Hamas, however, has no redeeming qualities as far as I'm concerned.

This may come as a shock but Mr. Olmert is a politician and politicians sometimes take liberties with the truth. (c.f. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman")

I happen to live just outside Philly and was watching the very speech mentioned. I can assure you that the President didn't interrupt his speech for any phone calls. Olmert is beating his chest for domestic consumption.

Seabee said...

Anon@9.22, I'll repeat a response I gave to a comment on an earlier post saying that the rocket firing is the beginning: I condemn the firing of rockets into Israel - but believing Israeli PR that the starting point is those rocket attacks is like starting a 100 metre race at the 90 metre mark.

Don't you think that maybe the start line might be the fact that Israel still occupies land beyond its borders? Or maybe it starts with the blockade Israel has clamped around Gaza for nearly two years? Maybe you're not aware of those facts, or that the rockets may be in retaliation for them?


Second point, you claim: We are supporting a democratically elected government over a group of terrorist thugs who aim to kill as many civilians as possible.

I assume your media hasn't informed you that Hamas was elected in what international observers declared a free and fair democratic election. Because the winner was not Fatah as demanded by the US and Israel, democracy was not acceptable.

If you're for democracy you must accept the election results, whether you like the winner or not.


You should also understand that being democratically elected does not automatically confer goodness and greatness.

I'm sure it will come as a shock to you to learn that many millions of people around the world have your phrase a group of terrorist thugs who aim to kill as many civilians as possible in mind when they think of the USA and Israel.

I suggest you open your eyes to what really happens by reading a column written this week by a highly qualified American Norman Olsen, who served for 26 years as a member of the US Foreign Service, including four years working in the Gaza Strip and four years as counselor for political affairs at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv and was recently associate coordinator for counterterrorism at the Department of State. It's here.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure it will come as a shock to you to learn that many millions of people around the world have your phrase a group of terrorist thugs who aim to kill as many civilians as possible in mind when they think of the USA and Israel.

Seebee - are you one of those millions? If not, I would be interested to read why not.

Seabee said...

Anon@6.56, a group of terrorist thugs who aim to kill as many civilians as possible
No I don't believe that of the two countries, it goes too far.

However, if you take just one definition of state terrorism, innocent civilians being killed by a country's armed forces, then various countries are guilty of terrorism because it's been well documented that they have done so. China in Tibet, Russia in Afghanistan and Chechnya, Israel in the Palestinian territories & Lebanon and the US in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.