Bush Recasts Mideast Goals (in LAT, after meeting w/Abbas)

[Wordie]

October 21, 2005
latimes.com : World News

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usm...

<snip>
THE WORLD
Bush Recasts Mideast Goals
A Palestinian state might not be realized before he leaves office, as he had once hoped, the president says after a meeting with Abbas.

By Paul Richter, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — President Bush conceded Thursday that Palestinians may not have an independent state before his term ends in three years, as he had once envisioned.

After a White House meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Bush told a news conference that the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in August had provided the two sides a "magnificent opportunity" to move toward peace. But he said he could not predict when the goal of an independent state would be reached, because "there will be moments of progress, and there will be moments of setback."

Bush said as recently as last year that he believed the goal could be reached during his term.

A U.S.-backed peace plan known as the "road map" projected that there could be an independent Palestine adjacent to Israel as early as 2005, provided the two sides met mutually accepted goals.

[maddezmom]

1. Wordie

Please be aware that DU copyright rules require that excerpts of copyrighted material be limited to four paragraphs.

[Wordie]

2. Sorry about that...can I repost in LBN with only 4 paragraphs?

I also removed the Tompaine.com reference, which was extraneous and may have led you to think this did not belong in LBN. It was, however, an LA Times article, of early today, that fills all the LBN rules. It is about the ME, but is about the US relationship with ME players.

I went ahead and re-posted in LBN. I hope that was ok. The post does meet the rules of the LBN, and isn't really an editorial or opinion piece at all. So, I presume that is acceptable to the moderators. I should have waited for a response, but I am REALLY tired!

If you agree the article goes in LBN, more than here, I'll leave it to you to move it. Thanks!