This is a big "duh" moment. Happy hopes and broad smiles won't make it happen, folks.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday the Mideast peace effort begun by President Bush must carry over to his successor, a note of caution amid a dire political crisis in Israel.
Rice sounds less optimistic about peace deal
By ANNE GEARAN – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday the Mideast peace effort begun by President Bush must carry over to his successor, a note of caution amid a dire political crisis in Israel.
The top U.S. diplomat also accused Iran of continuing a covert nuclear weapons program, although a U.S. intelligence assessment has said Tehran quit its active warhead program years ago. Rice defended the Bush administration's carrot-and-stick approach to Iran and indirectly criticized Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama for his willingness to talk to the clerical regime.
Rice said there is still a chance to frame a deal between Israel and the Palestinians this year, although she said the goal is admittedly ambitious.
"The goal itself, though, will endure beyond the current U.S. leadership," Rice told a jammed ballroom at the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "I believe that the administration's approach to this problem will and must endure."
A more immediate concern involves the Israeli leadership, not the American. There was no mention of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's legal troubles, which threaten to bring down his government or force his own party to replace him. Olmert was in Washington as Rice spoke, and he was to address the same convention later Tuesday.
Olmert is the public face of Israeli peacemaking, and his exit will complicate already fragile negotiations. Olmert holds regular meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas including one before he left Jerusalem on Monday.
Rice did not say how detailed she thinks any agreement could be, suggesting that she shares widespread pessimism for much beyond an outline of a future deal this year.
"The present opportunity is not perfect by any means, but it better than any other in several years and we need to seize it," Rice said.
She drew repeated applause for tough language on Iran, the rising Mideast power that Israeli leaders consider their greatest enemy. Iran's hardline president regularly says Israel must be wiped off the map. On Tuesday he told a European audience that Israel is "doomed to go."
Rice scoffed at Iran's claim that its nuclear program is intended only to produce electricity. Why then would Iran keep inspectors away from some sites, reject a generous offer of civilian nuclear help from Russia or maintain part of its program under military control, Rice asked.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's just hard to imagine that there are innocent answers to these questions."
Later, she directly accused Iran of pursuing weapons on the sly. She said there is no point in engaging the regime until it changes its behavior.
"We would be willing to meet with them, but not while they continue to inch closer to a nuclear weapon under the cover of talk," Rice said.
The Bush administration long claimed Iran was hiding a bomb program, a view shared by Israel and presumably the rationale for any military attack either country might launch against Iran.
Rice's words were striking because U.S. officials have backed off pointed accusations since the publication in December of a declassified intelligence report that concluded Iran once had an active warhead program but had shelved it in 2003.
The report said U.S. analysts could not say whether Iran still held weapons ambitions, and said the program might be restarted without U.S. knowledge.
Obama and Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton are addressing the AIPAC convention on Wednesday, and presumed Republican nominee John McCain spoke Monday. McCain had a get-tough message on Iran, while Obama is expected to tell the group that he would talk to Iranian leaders without preconditions set by the Bush administration.
The "furious debate" about how to confront the Iranian threat "should not be about whether we talk to Iran," Rice said. "Diplomacy is not a synonym for talking," but must be combined with pressure tactics.
Olmert's trip comes at the height of the worst crisis of his two-year term. Israeli prosecutors are looking into hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions that Olmert received from American donors in the years before he became prime minister.
Olmert's popularity ratings have plunged and there are growing calls for his dismissal.
Olmert was seeing Bush at the White House later this week.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said Tuesday that Bush is thinking about the Mideast peace negotiations, not Olmert's political problems. "Our focus hasn't been on that," she said. "President Bush has to keep his focus on the big picture. He's not spending a lot of time worried about that."
Associated Press writer Matti Friedman contributed to this report. |
