Kerry's Mideast Policy is Miles from Bush's

[Nancy Waterman]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/06/01/kerrys_mideast_policy_is_miles_from_bushs/

THE PROFOUND differences over foreign policy between John Kerry and George Bush can be encapsulated in two words, the Middle East.
Kerry's world view is designed to hit one element of the region's importance hard: that would be oil. It is designed to hit the other element more softly: that would be the festering conflict between Israel and its occupied and unoccupied neighbors.

For those who think Kerry thinks small, his determination to end nearly 40 years of dangerous dependence on imported oil from the Middle East is powerful refutation. It is just as important, however, that Kerry is determined to renew America's activist role in Middle East diplomacy, and to seek allies internationally to make that role more effective.

The contrast with the Bush administration could not be more dramatic. What is on display is the essence of passivity in areas that could not be more related to the threat of terrorism that will be part of our world for years.

[Gloria]

1. This speaks to the "dynamic of conflict" that Clark features right at

the start of his New Republic Piece on Iraq.

http://tnr.com

Bring in the World, Key to Success
Post date: 5/28/04
Issue date: 6/7/04

"First, the United states must correct the "dynamic of conflict" that it has injected into the region. In essence, the Bush administration has scared Iran and Syria into believing that, if the United States is successful in its occupation of Iraq, they will be the next targets. To the Iranians and the Syrians, the implication is that their survival depends on dragging the U.S. mission in Iraq into failure. Furthermore, America's perceived pro-Israel bias, and its failure to engage seriously in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has fed the poinsonous atmosphere fueling Arab anger toward the United States and its efforts in Iraq.

And it continues.....Snip

Thus far, the Bush administrationi has been unable to win much backing from European and Middle Eastern states, but addressing fears of U.S. hegemony and spuring the Israeli-Palestinian peace process will help dispel Arab anger and enhance U.S. crediblity in the region and abroad, allowing Washington to build an international advisory and support structure that will sustain the mission in Iraq after the Iraqis regain sovereignty on June 30. This structure should be a tailor-made international organization, such as the one created to implement the Dayton Accords in Bosnia in 1995......


My notes--heard a U.N. official in Iraq today on the BBC World Service, very afraid that the U.N. is going to wind up sanctioning a government that is not really going to be sovereign....The U.N. crediblity in Iraq is bad enough already....the official was very worried about the way things are going...

[Darranar]

2. Naturally, Kerry SAYS he wants to...

but does he really?