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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| How Bush Plans to Build an Arab "Umbrella" Against Hizballah |
| 2006-07-22 |
| Has Time finally decided to do a straight news story? Although some conservatives have been fretting that Lebanese rocket fire and Israeli warplanes are making President Bush look helpless, administration officials revealed to TIME today that they have plans to harness the chaos as a "leadership moment" for Bush that could wind up helping his flagging goal of transforming the Middle East. These officials said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will leave Sunday night for a week of diplomacy in the region and will go with the modest goal of forming an "umbrella of Arab allies" in opposition to the militant group Hizballah that incited the conflagration by kidnapping two Israeli soldiers. "She's not going to come home with a ceasefire, but stronger ties to the Arab world," an administration official said. "It's going to allow us to say that America isn't going to put up with this and we have Arab friends that are against you terrorists. What we want is our Arab allies standing against Hizballah and against Iran, since there is no one who doesn't think Iran is behind this. We're going to say to Hizballah and the terrorist groups, 'This will not stand.' That is the way to bring real change to the Middle East. If you just have a ceasefire, then soon or later, they go back to fighting." Rice was to announce her plans at a briefing this afternoon, officials said. Officials were using the word "umbrella" instead of "coalition" to avoid reminders of the struggling coalition the U.S. led into Iraq. Administration officials said the plans Rice will discuss include security, humanitarian relief and reconstruction in Lebanon. "We do not want Hizballah to get the opportunity to rearm and rebuild," a Bush aide said. Another administration official told TIME this morning that the diplomacy "is going remarkably well," pointing to phone calls the President has had with Middle Eastern leaders, the journey by two envoys to the region, and frequent conversations between National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and his counterparts. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow appeared on network morning shows to urge patience with the administration approach and to point out how active the Bush team has been. "The president never said this would be easy," Snow said on NBC's "Today" show, speaking of the wider war on terror. "Everybody who wants this kind of egg timer diplomacy, who thinks, okay, these things ought to happen quickly -- you don't understand human nature. Terrorists are not going to say, 'You know what? That's right. I'm going to pick another career.' Many times, they're going to fight to the death. We hope that is not the case in Lebanon." |
| Posted by:Shinegum Thraiger5571 |
| #13 Huh, will that "arab umbrella" include France? |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-07-22 17:01 |
| #12 The best point is that it is a very good idea. The Sunni nations all realize that the Iranians are behind this, and in the long run, want to stick it big time to the Sunnis. I think that Condi has really helped convince them of this. So by filling the below-the-river gap with an "umbrella" of Sunni soldiers from Egypt and Jordan, it will solve a lot of the problem. That is, any Hezbollah who goes down there will be quickly snuffed by unsympathetic Sunnis whose nations are relatively at peace with Israel. Everybody in the region knows that Sunnis are used to managing Shiites, usually without slaughtering them, so the southern Lebanon Shiites won't get too excited about having Sunni soldiers watching over them. They will probably be relieved that Hezbollah isn't going to be strong-arming them anymore. The best part is that it will change the balance of power in Beirut. Whereas the native Christians and Sunni are timid, Egyptian and Jordanian military can be their backbone, so they don't have to fret as much that the Shiites will again start up the civil war. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-07-22 13:24 |
| #11 As usual, RB's Amazons are making very good points. |
| Posted by: Snise Grogum7151 2006-07-22 10:10 |
| #10 administration officials revealed to TIME Why would anyone in the administration, other than the janitor, even be talking to these clowns after the hacket job they've been doing? |
| Posted by: Slavising Sholuting4450 2006-07-22 09:25 |
| #9 That whole "violence doesn't solve anything" idea is, at best, half right. Mindless, stupid acts of violence can lead to more violence. Carefully planned and professionally executed violence rarely does. It's the difference between a street thug and a, um, "problem solver". If those idiots who blabber that phrase ever stopped to think about the men and women who dabble in the darker side of human nature to ensure they sleep soundly at night, their heads would REALLY explode. |
| Posted by: Swamp Blondie 2006-07-22 09:18 |
| #8 Umbrella...Wasn't that what Star Wars was going to be? But that could never work. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-07-22 08:44 |
| #7 The mantra of the left and liberals is that violence never resolves anything. It is fairly clear to the average person in this situation that violence might actually accomplish what fifty years of talk have failed to do. The result is a level of cognitive dissonance in liberal minds. Of course, they are stuck with their other problem; if Bush does something it is wrong, if he does nothing, he is also wrong. Plays havoc with a progessive mind. |
| Posted by: john 2006-07-22 07:23 |
| #6 I hope diplomacy works, but I can't see it succeeding. How can Israel end the missile threat, without engaging both the Shiite suppliers of Hizbollah, and the Sunni armers of Hamas? |
| Posted by: Anginens Threreng8133 2006-07-22 07:06 |
| #5 I've noticed that in the last few days the media have gone from slanting the facts to outright making things up in the hope that by saying it loudly enough it will become true. That SecState Condoleeza Rice actually has to announce that she is not going to engage in shuttle diplomacy, that a ceasefire will not be imposed, that Press Secretary Tony Snow has to outright contradict reporter Helen Thomas's presentation of what it pleased her to refer to as facts that were no such thing... this goes beyond not being able to understand science enough to understand the reality (or not) of global warming. This is simply shameful. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-07-22 05:46 |
| #4 Time: Rice was to announce her plans at a briefing this afternoon, officials said. Officials were using the word "umbrella" instead of "coalition" to avoid reminders of the struggling coalition the U.S. led into Iraq. Uncle Sam doesn't need any damn umbrella. The whole concept, like the coalition, is just a fig leaf to reassure Americans that we are not shouldering the burden alone in the Mideast. The sad reality is, however, that we mostly are. But the umbrella concept as dreamed up by Time is moronic, of course. The friendly Arab countries in the region aren't providing an umbrella to Uncle Sam, we are providing an umbrella to them. What Time has failed to point out in its see-no-evil approach to analyzing Arab motives is that this "umbrella" is nothing like the Iraq coalition - it is aimed primarily at getting the Arab countries not to support Hezbollah with actual dollars. That is all it is - an attempt to get Arabs to not finance Hezbollah despite the fact that it is locked in combat with Israel, the little Satan. This has nothing at all to do with Time's view that Bush is looking weak by not screwing Israel. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-07-22 03:46 |
| #3 Article: Although some conservatives have been fretting that Lebanese rocket fire and Israeli warplanes are making President Bush look helpless, administration officials revealed to TIME today that they have plans to harness the chaos as a "leadership moment" for Bush that could wind up helping his flagging goal of transforming the Middle East. What conservatives? Conservatives are saying that this is Bush's chance to have Israel take out Hezbollah without GI's doing any of the heavy lifting. It's liberals who are saying that Bush looks helpless, which is simply a distortion. It is within Bush's (and any American president's) power to get Israel to stand down, in accordance with Time's terror-supporting agenda. The question however, is why Bush would do so - against American interests and in accordance with Time's pro-terrorist policy preferences. Once again, Time creates a skein of pro-terrorist goals directly contrary to American interests and suggests that Bush is a failure for not wanting to help the terrorists. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-07-22 03:37 |
| #2 WTF. We have been hand delivered a pretext to destroy Iran's capacity to develop an ICBM threat to the US Homeland. It is not a time for diplomacy. How on earth does securing - read: buying - a temporary Arab buffer against Iran, advance US security? Unless Condi hasn't been reading today's news reports, Shiites and Sunnis have been protesting jointly, against Israel. Iran has Shiite allies from its western border all the way to the Levant. That means it poses a permanent missile threat to Israel, that will be unleashed when Iran is indulged. The US doesn't need to make friends in the Middle East; it needs to destroy enemies. |
| Posted by: Anginens Threreng8133 2006-07-22 03:03 |
| #1 Officials were using the word "umbrella" instead of "coalition" to avoid reminders of the struggling coalition the U.S. led into Iraq Is that so? How do you, Reporter, know this? Umbrella is a good word. And not one that immediately brings to my mind, a reminder of the struggling coalitions the U.S. led into Iraq. Come on -- you're just kiddin' me! Right? Oh... well, I just happen to disagree with you. So there. |
| Posted by: Sherry 2006-07-22 01:08 |