SENATOR KERRY BLASTS BUSH ON WAR AND MIDEAST
msnbc.com
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, a contender for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, let loose a blistering critique of President Bush’s Middle East policy Sunday, saying the president had made “a catastrophic mistake” by not building on President Clinton’s Camp David negotiations and by sending confusing signals to Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
“THERE’S NO CONTINUITY,” Kerry complained to NBC’s Tim Russert on “Meet the Press.”
“There is no fundamental plan, and they have restrained the State Department and Colin Powell from effectively being the State Department and being the Secretary of State. I think they’ve got to announce a vision. They’ve got to put something on the table and take advantage of this new dynamic that exists in the Arab world.”
WHAT BUSH SHOULD DO
Kerry said Arab leaders are now willing to negotiate a settlement of Israeli-Palestinian disputes because they are under pressure from their own people. He said Bush should open intensive negotiations with Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak and Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Abdullah floated a proposal that would ensure normal relations between Israel and Arab states in return for the acceptance of a Palestinian state.
“There is a completely different dynamic in the Arab world ... because of what happened here on Sept. 11,” Kerry said. “They suddenly have a new urgency about making peace because they need to cope with their own set of problems. If you had an election tomorrow in Saudi Arabia or Egypt, Osama bin Laden would win. They know it. ... Therefore, they are prepared to be a different kind of partner in the peace process.”
Kerry dismissed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat: “Arafat is not a partner in this process. He cannot be a partner.”
He also criticized the Bush administration’s military operations in Afghanistan, implying that if he had been president, he would not have allowed al-Qaida forces to escape.
ALLOWING AL-QAIDA TO FLEE
“The prime target, al-Qaida, has dispersed and in many ways is more dangerous than it was when it was in the mountains of Tora Bora,” Kerry said. “The strategy failed at Tora Bora and (in Operation) Anaconda. I believe we didn’t complete the task of killing those 1,000 people or capturing them in that mountain. We didn’t shut off the back door.”
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