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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BigBull who wrote (98246)	5/14/2003 10:13:37 AM
From: BigBull	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Iranian President Khatami vows support for Hezbollah By The Associated Press haaretzdaily.com BEIRUT, Lebanon - Iranian President Mohammed Khatami urged the United States on Tuesday to quickly withdraw its troops from Iraq and warned against imposing a U.S.-installed government in Baghdad. In an apparent rebuff to U.S. calls on Lebanon and Syria to rein in the Hezbollah militant group, Khatami, addressing a mass rally in Beirut on the second day of his visit to Lebanon, vowed Iran's continued support for the group, which is on the U.S. State Department list of terrorist organizations. "The symbol for the survival of this country and its unity lies in this resistance (Hezbollah). All of Lebanon stood against methods used by the aggressive Israel. The legitimate resistance carried out by all (Lebanese) groups has made the victory a victory for all the people," Khatami said. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell recently urged Syria and Lebanon to rein in militant groups, including Hezbollah. Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon, supports Hezbollah politically but denies channeling arms to it. Iran, a Shiite-majority country, is Hezbollah's main financial backer. Lebanon, Syria and Iran see Hezbollah as a legitimate resistance movement fighting against the former Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory. The group fought Israeli forces during the Jewish state's nearly 20-year occupation of southern Lebanon until it ended in 2000. "The world has praised this great heroic resistance. We also are still praising it. Our support (for Hezbollah) is a support for all of Lebanon," Khatami said, drawing cheers from the crowds, who were waving Iranian, Lebanese, Hezbollah and Amal flags. With Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah legislators sitting close to him in the first row, Khatami stressed that Israel's withdrawal from occupied Arab territories and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state were essential for peace in the Middle East. The rally was organized by Hezbollah and its rival Shiite guerrilla group, the Amal Movement, in a show of support for the Iranian president. Khatami is the first Iranian president to visit Lebanon in 24 years. His visit to Lebanon will be followed by a trip to Syria Wednesday. Khatami also addressed the U.S. role in Iraq since the ouster of Saddam Hussein. "We hope that the U.S. administration will leave the wounded Iraq as soon as possible to allow it to be run by the Iraqis," Khatami said. "We warn the U.S. administration against plans to create other crises in the region and in the world following the Iraqi case," he told tens of thousands gathered at the 50,000-seat Sports City in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold. Khatami warned Washington against imposing a U.S.-installed government in post-Saddam Iraq and called for "a one-person, one-vote" elections to allow the Iraqis to decide their future government. He said Iran was ready to help in this voting formula, which clearly favors the Shiites who constitute 60 percent of Iraq's population. "The elimination of Saddam's dictatorship constitutes a valuable opportunity for the oppressed Iraqi people and also for the regional states. But we must not accept that the Iraqi people fall under the pressure of another injustice," Khatami said, apparently alluding to a U.S.-installed government. He called for wide participation by Iraqis of all political and sectarian affiliations in the formation of a temporary government on the basis of "one vote for each Iraqi." Khatami's visit to Lebanon came as news emerged that U.S. and Iranian officials have set aside decades of animosity to discuss issues such as Afghanistan and Iraq. A senior U.S. official said in Cairo on Monday that officials from America and Iran have met several times in Switzerland to try to ease friction. Iranian Vice President Mohammed Ali Abtahi, who was with Khatami in Beirut, said Tuesday that the U.S.-Iran contacts dealt with the issues of Afghanistan and Iraq and did not discuss the restoration of bilateral ties severed since the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover in Iran. "After the (U.S.-led) war in Afghanistan and the occupation of Iraq, we have become America's neighbor. Whoever rules Iraq cannot ignore Iran because it has the longest border with Iraq," Abtahi said in an interview with the Lebanese Future television station. Asked if there is a U.S.-Iranian understanding on the future of Iraq, he said, "We have a clear policy in Iran. We have suffered a lot from Saddam's presence. The elimination of Saddam is a positive thing. Our policy in Iran is that we reject foreign intervention in Iraq. The entire world should leave the Iraqi people decide their fate by themselves."

To: BigBull who wrote (98246)	5/14/2003 12:09:27 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

To paraphrase Nadine, it's time for State to wake up and smell the cordite. State is still fighting Bush tooth and fang on the Mid East. Here is a column showing the latest attempt. Not pledging allegiance Joel Mowbray - WASHINGTON TIMES Speaking to a group of Palestinians and left-wing Israelis in Israel last week, a high-ranking State Department official took the time to disparage the "conservative" and "Christian" supporters of President Bush, his ultimate superior. The incident is revealing, not just in showing the contempt members of the Foreign Service have for Mr. Bush, but how urgent the need is for the White House to finally address systemic problems at Foggy Bottom. At a May 4 meeting attended by several Labor Party officials, political activists from left-wing Peace Now and several officials from the Palestinian Authority, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns candidly discussed the U.S. political dynamic with respect to the road map for peace in the Middle East. According to the Jerusalem Post, which broke the story Sunday, Mr. Burns pointed the finger at supporters of President Bush, indicating that "conservative and Christian viewpoints" were the main obstacles to peace. One of the participants, the Post reported, remarked to Mr. Burns that supporters of Mr. Bush "are lobbying to torpedo the 'road map' and suggested that the Americans should help us [the Peace coalition] to express our views to the American public." Mr. Burns' response? "The common sense of all peoples will override the conservative and Christian viewpoints once they see the road map's potential." Mr. Burns seized the opportunity to take a potshot at the "viewpoints" of the president's strongest supporters, claiming that they will be "overridden" by "common sense." Hard to misread it. Which might explain why the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem's original defense was not that Mr. Burns didn't make the comment, but rather, that the meeting was supposed to be held in secret. That's likely true ? it was closed to the media, but Peace Now activists were so excited that a senior U.S. official agreed with them that they publicly distributed the minutes of the gathering ? but it doesn't change the fact that Mr. Burns said what he did. In fairness, he explicitly supported Mr. Bush's commitment to peace, but criticizing the president's supporters in a foreign land ? implicitly or otherwise ? is simply not acceptable. Many inside the administration are outraged. Sensing that it needs to defuse the matter, the State Department's official response when asked for comment Monday was: "It is simply untrue that Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns made disparaging statements about any groups at his meeting with the Israeli-Palestinian peace coalition last week." But a State Department spokesman pointedly refused to dispute the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting provided by Peace Now, meaning the State Department's beef is with the interpretation of the comments. State even echoed Mr. Burns' comment when, later in the same prepared statement read over the phone, the spokesman noted that "common sense" would be the key to peace in the Middle East. Foggy Bottom is filled with a festering contempt for President Bush, so it should come as little surprise that one of its top officials would ? on foreign soil ? take a swipe at Mr. Bush's political base. State Department officials are willing to criticize the president in the domestic press as well, albeit anonymously. One "young diplomat," as the Los Angeles Times described the official, whined to the paper last week, "I, like many others, am carrying a great deal of anger and at times even shame over the way we as a nation are conducting ourselves." That same article quoted a "mid-level State Department official" as blaming Mr. Bush personally for a "massive failure of diplomacy." This seething disdain for the commander-in-chief has caused more than just embarrassing flaps. Last year, the State Department's top policy guru, Richard Haass, went to Israel and told Israeli officials that they needed to "engage" the Iranian mullahs ? one month after the president named Iran a member of the "axis of evil," according to several administration officials. Unlike the State Department's tap dance on Mr. Burns' remarks, there is simply no way to "spin" Mr. Haass' flagrant attempt to undermine Mr. Bush. For a variety of reasons, the White House has paid little mind so far to personnel decisions at State. There are but a handful of true political appointments in important positions at Foggy Bottom, as Colin Powell has made good on his original promise to promote and enhance the role of careerists. This must change now. Karl Rove is a brilliant political strategist, so one can only hope that he understands both the policy and political importance of reforming the State Department. To be sure, change will be, at best, plodding and partial. But Mr. Rove has a golden opportunity coming up: Mr. Haass is leaving next month to head up the Council on Foreign Relations. The leading candidate to replace him, however, is the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, someone who largely shares Mr. Haass' worldview. If Mr. Rove really wants a State Department that supports the president, this is as good a place as any to start. washingtontimes.com