Clinton Urges Hamas to renounce violence as it forms government

[barb162]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=akn3ecnM2DUQ&refer=top_world_news

Clinton Urges Hamas to Renounce Violence as It Forms Government



Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton called on Hamas to renounce violence as it prepares to form a government after winning Palestinian parliamentary elections.

``They can be an effective political force if they deliver to the people what some of their mayors do and if they are viewed as responsible and non-violent,'' Clinton said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. ``I don't see how they can expect the support of the rest of us'' as long as they stay committed to the destruction of Israel.

Hamas wrested control of the Palestinian Legislature from the secular Fatah party in the Jan. 25 elections. The U.S. labels Hamas a terrorist organization and contact with members of the group is forbidden by law. At a session in Davos, Clinton said he supports U.S. President George W. Bush's decision not to work with Hamas until they renounce destruction of Israel.

Bush yesterday said the U.S. would withhold aid, and the European Union pledged this week to continue its financial support of Hamas while stressing that it expects the new Palestinian leadership to commit to peace with Israel.
snip

[IndianaGreen]

1. America is so discredited throughout the world that no one pays attention

to what any American leader, past or present, has to say. The world senses, as George Soros has acknowledged, that America's rapid decline since 9-11 has created a power vacuum in the world.

[Coastie for Truth]

2. The Bush era

will go down as the worst era in American political history - worse then the 1920's.

[barb162]

4. People don't pay attention as much but they still pay a lot of

attention to the US. China will fill that vacuum

[Ian David]

3. America doesn't negotiate with terrorists

Iran-Contra Affair
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Iran-Contra Affair (also known as "Irangate") was a mid-1980s political scandal in the United States. President Ronald Reagan's administration sold arms to Iran, an avowed enemy. At the time, Americans were being held hostage in Lebanon by Hezbollah, a militant Shi'a organization loyal to Ayatollah Khomeini. The US government claimed that using the arms would influence Iran to release the hostages. At the same time, Iran, which was in the midst of the Iran-Iraq War, could find few nations willing to supply it with weapons. However, the arms shipments began before the first hostage was taken, and ended a long time after the last hostage was released. The U.S. diverted proceeds from the sale to the Contras, anti-Communist guerrillas engaged in an insurgency against the socialist Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Both the sale of weapons and the funding of the Contras violated stated administration policy as well as legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress, which had blocked further Contra funding.

In January of 1986, the administration approved a plan proposed by Robert McFarlane employee Michael Ledeen, whereby an intermediary, rather than Israel, would sell arms to Iran in exchange for the release of the hostages, with proceeds made available to the Contras. At first, the Iranians had refused the weapons from Manucher Ghorbanifar, the Iranian intermediary, when both Oliver North and Ghorbanifar created a 370% markup (WALSH, Lawrence E. "Firewall"). The arms were eventually sold - in February, 1000 TOW missiles were shipped to Iran. From May to November, there were additional shipments of miscellaneous weapons and parts. However, Hezbollah proceeded to take more hostages after they had released old ones, and failing to produce any meaningful results, the arms-for-hostages program was finally cancelled.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Contra

[barb162]

5. One of my favorite scandals.

He should have been impeached for that, the S & L bailout and a few other things. But people just LOVED him. He smiled and people thought he made the sun rise in the morning.