[Marxism] Painting Rice Nice

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

See, she doesn't look so bad after all. Compare her to the guy  
sitting next to her on her Ultra-Right -- Elliott Abrams, the  
pardoned Iran-Contra guy. However, you can't even be associated with  
this prong from hell without condemning yourself.
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/969

August 10, 2006
The Negotiator
Rice’s Hurdles on Middle East Begin at Home
By HELENE COOPER

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 — As fighting was breaking out last month between  
Hezbollah and Israel, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice worked  
through the night at her guest quarters on Russia’s Baltic coast to  
draft America’s response to the unfolding crisis.

The strategy she outlined that night, the eve of the Group of 8  
meeting, dispensed with traditional diplomatic flourishes. It  
included no call for an immediate cease-fire and expressly stated  
that Israel had a right to defend itself.

The approach, which President Bush approved the next morning and has  
served as the basis for American strategy during the crisis, was more  
than a policy blueprint. It was also Ms. Rice’s answer to opposing  
camps within the Bush administration. Ms. Rice, one senior  
administration official said, “staked out a position that was  
sufficiently unlike the usual State Department” approach to satisfy  
conservatives in the government, including Vice President Dick  
Cheney, who were pushing for strong American support for Israel.

As Ms. Rice has struggled with the Middle East crisis over the last  
four weeks, she has found herself trying to be not only a peacemaker  
abroad but also a mediator among contending parties at home.

Washington’s resistance to an immediate cease-fire and its staunch  
support of Israel have made it more difficult for Ms. Rice to work  
with other nations, including some American allies, as they search  
for a formula that will end the violence and produce a durable cease- 
fire.

On her recent trips to the Middle East, Ms. Rice was accompanied by  
two men with very different outlooks on the conflict: Elliott Abrams,  
senior director at the National Security Council, and C. David Welch,  
a career diplomat and former ambassador to Egypt who is assistant  
secretary of state for Near East affairs.

Mr. Welch represents the traditional State Department view that the  
United States should serve as a neutral broker in the Middle East.  
Mr. Abrams, a neoconservative with strong ties to Mr. Cheney, has  
pushed the administration to throw its support behind Israel. During  
Ms. Rice’s travels, he kept in direct contact with Mr. Cheney’s office.

One administration official described how during the trip — including  
a July 29 discussion in Ms. Rice’s Rabin suite at the David Citadel  
Hotel, with its panoramic view of Jerusalem’s Old City — Mr. Welch  
and Mr. Abrams served as counterfoils, with Mr. Welch arguing the  
Arab view and Mr. Abrams articulating the Israeli stance.

Ms. Rice selected Mr. Abrams for the National Security Council staff  
in 2002 when she was national security adviser. His return to  
government service was unexpected. After President George H. W. Bush  
pardoned Mr. Abrams in 1992 for his role in the Iran-Contra affair  
during the 1980’s, Mr. Abrams said he would never work as policy  
maker again.
. . .
FULL AT
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/washington/10rice.html? 
hp&ex=1155268800&en=428c231c62573ff2&ei=5094&partner=homepage>
OR http://makeashorterlink.com/?N27651A8D
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