You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Middle East
Bush Going to Mideast to Advance Peace
2003-05-26
EFL.
President Bush is planning to travel to the Middle East early next month to advance the peace process amid fresh signs of progress in ending the violence between Israelis and Palestinians. A military support plane left Washington on Sunday morning, carrying personnel who will lay the groundwork for a summit in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt. Another possible site being explored was the royal retreat at Aqaba, Jordan. Bush tentatively plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in Egypt to prod them into putting the peace ``road map'' into effect. Administration officials were still weighing whether Bush would meet with the two leaders together or separately.
Doesn't mater, as long as Abbas is frisked.
It was possible Bush would make another stop in the region as well, the leading choice being Doha, Qatar, to visit troops.
No doubt Sen. Robert Byrd (D-KKK) will object to such a photo-op.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Bush's plans could change. Political events in the region Sunday gave the plan momentum, but future developments could just as easily derail it. The administration wanted the support team in position so Bush could make a last-minute decision.
Forecast: lots of splodydopes in the week before the trip.
But others said the plan was quickly firming up, with a strong focus on the Egypt summit. Before the Iraq war, Sen. Richard Lugar said he was told by the president that he was going to lead the road map process because of its importance to world peace. A leading Democrat in the Senate urged the administration to become more closely involved in the peace process and said the president should go ahead with the meeting. ``The Bush administration has effectively been disengaged from the ground in the Middle East what with winning two wars, and when that happens, nothing good will happen between the Israelis and the Palestinians as if anything good would happen anyway,'' Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., told ``Fox News Sunday.'' ``We're indispensable there. They need us because we're the only one they trust,'' said Lieberman, who is seeking his party's 2004 presidential nomination. ``There's a moment of opportunity here.''
What's the old saying about how the Paleostinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity?
Posted by:Steve White

#3  How about calling the new state "Byrdistan"?
Posted by: Matt   2003-05-26 10:55:46  

#2  Actually with all Senator Byrd's success in getting millions of dollars for roads named after himself, he might want it called the "Senator Robert Byrd road map to middle east peace"
Posted by: mhw   2003-05-26 10:23:18  

#1  Lieberman is often portrayed as a principled conscience of teh Dem hawk wing. He is neither. Judge for yourself after he became AlGore's running mate how he sucked up to Hollywood for $, and after Bush has done most everything Joe's asked (and Clinton didn't) he's had nothing good to say - everything was done too slow or too fast, with too little troops or too many, not enough supplies or too expensive, yadda yadda.
Typical whining
Posted by: Frank G   2003-05-26 10:06:12  

00:00