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| Middle East |
| Bush chatting up Arab governments |
| 2002-06-26 |
| U.S. diplomats are holding talks with Arab governments about the Bush administration's new framework for Middle East peace. Secretary of State Colin Powell began telephone conversations with his counterparts from Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia before President Bush's Monday speech. In a series of interviews Tuesday, Mr. Powell explained the U.S. break with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, saying the administration has been frustrated with his repeated failure to back up his rhetoric about curbing terrorism. The U.S. secretary said he expects to visit the Middle East soon for further consultations. But he did not announce a timetable for his visit. Bush has laid out his plan, and Powell's going to have to put the pieces in place for it to come together. The amount of inertia they're going to have to overcome is enormous. Yasser and his thugs are determined they're not going to give up power — Yasser expects to be "president" until he dies of old age. When his grip does appear to be weakening, the fundos in Hamas and Islamic Jihad will try to grab the power for themselves so turbans can make a comeback. I'm reassured, though, that Bush does have an eventual goal in mind, even though most of what's going on is behind the scenes and of necessity has to involve a lot of compromise. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |