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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (5280)	11/14/2005 8:26:55 AM
From: epicure	Respond to of 541931

:-) I don't think either one of them is ever going to confide in you.

To: Ilaine who wrote (5280)	11/14/2005 10:34:37 AM
From: TigerPaw	Respond to of 541931

Condi's visit to Iraq was just a smoke-screen to hide her semi-secret visits to major Arab countries to get them to take over the Iraq war. They turned here down flat. They also didn't agree to an invasion of Syria. Her visit to Israel is just the second half of the same smoke-screen. U.S.-backed Mideast democracy summit fails Egypt derails agreement at international conference intended to advance democracy in the Middle East. FROM WIRE REPORTS Sunday, November 13, 2005 MANAMA, Bahrain -- A U.S.-backed summit to promote political freedom and economic change in the Middle East ended Saturday without agreement, a blow to President Bush's goals for the troubled region. In a surprise move, Egypt, which accounts for more than half the Arab world's population and is the second-largest recipient of U.S. aid, derailed the Forum for the Future by demanding that Arab governments have significant control over which pro-democracy groups would receive aid from a new fund. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also used the conference to send a message to Syrians chafing under authoritarian rule, saying Washington backs their "aspirations for liberty, democracy and justice under the rule of law." The White House had hoped the conference would showcase political progress in a region long dominated by monarchies and single-party rule, and spread goodwill for America. U.S. officials seemed startled that an ally, Egypt, threw up the roadblock Saturday. Egypt's criticism was backed by Saudi Arabia and Oman, but diplomats said both those countries had agreed in the end to drop their objections. Egypt receives nearly $2 billion annually in U.S. aid, second only to Israel. Egyptian diplomats complain that outside financing might end up in the hands of extremists. American officials dismiss those warnings as absurd, noting that some U.S. aid to Egypt, about $430 million this year, already goes to groups in Egypt that don't have that government's approval. But U.S. support for independent groups in other countries has alarmed some Arab leaders. They cite U.S. aid to groups that led the uprisings in Georgia and Ukraine and point out that both Russia and Uzbekistan have sought to block American aid to groups in their countries. U.S. involvement in Iraq also plays a part in the skepticism. The Arab world isn't persuaded by the Bush administration's portrayal of Iraq, which Rice visited Friday, as a beacon for democracy. Rather, many Arabs say, Iraq represents the perils of imposing democracy from outside. Its current chaos and violence are widely seen as a cautionary tale rather than an inspiration, U.S. officials acknowledge. The administration first set up its own Middle East Partnership Initiative, which committed $300 million in aid in the past few years to political and business activity in the region. Now, in part to remove the taint of U.S. fingerprints in a region where anti-American sentiments run high, about $85 million is to be taken out of this initiative and spun off to the new Foundation for the Future, to support democratic groups, and the Fund for the Future, for entrepreneurial efforts. Rice, in remarks at the conference, hailed the foundation's establishment, saying it "will provide grants to help civil society strengthen the rule of law, to protect basic civil liberties and ensure greater opportunity for health and education." statesman.com