Kerry Criticizes Bush in Egypt

[fedupinBushcountry]

Kerry Criticizes Bush in Egypt

Friday December 15, 2006 2:16 AM


CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Senator John Kerry, visiting Egypt Thursday during a tour of the Middle East, accused the Bush administration of neglecting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Kerry met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and said they discussed Iraq as well as the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

``I have always believed that the Middle East peace process is the critical issue of the region, and it has not been focused on for the past 6-7 years adequately,'' the Massachusetts Democrat told reporters after meeting Mubarak. ``I think there has been a huge loss of opportunities.''

Kerry, who narrowly lost to President Bush in the 2004 election, is also planning to visit Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel.

The senator said he agreed with the recommendation of the Iraq Study Group that the U.S. should engage adversaries such as Iran and Syria in trying to curb the conflict in Iraq. The recommendation was contained in the report by the bipartisan commission to the White House last week.

``I think it is important to talk and have a dialogue, but you don't give up our principles and you don't make deals that are against your larger interest. Syria needs to understand that and also Iran, but I think it is important to begin a discussion,'' Kerry said.

President Bush has expressed reluctance to seek help from Syria or Iran on Iraq because of their support for militant groups as well as Syria's alleged interference in Lebanon and Iran's suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6281762,00.html

[jillan]

1. Oh boy - I can hear Fux now!

Good for you Kerry! Someone has got to speak truth to power with these people.

[beachmom]

2. The headline doesn't really match the story IMO

He doesn't criticize "Bush", he's just saying in a tempered way that the policy of not engaging in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict was a mistake. It's not like he said "Yeah, Bush is an IDIOT!" or something. Thanks, Guardian, for that headline. Thank you very much.

[ProSense]

3. Exactly!

Expect these sensationalized headlines thorughout the entire trip! This is an AP article.

[sandnsea]

4. Yeah, it's the AP headline

Danged ol' librul media.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-egypt-kerry,0,7886678.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[Island Blue]

5. A better headline would have been:

Kerry points out the obvious in Egypt.

I think part of the media's "problem" with Kerry may be that he often (unintentionally) makes them look bad (or lazy) by pointing out important things that they have failed to report about the bush* administration. It's true that bush* has spent absolutely no time trying to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, and the media has let them slide even though this issue is vital to peace in the region.

The article does seem pretty fair, but the headline isn't quite accurate and unfortunately it's the headline that people will remember and that will be repeated by the even more mindless television media.