Bush administration disavows Carter’s Mideast talks
Rice rules out peace negotiations with Hamas groupSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that former President Jimmy Carter’s recent talks with the Palestinian group Hamas had not been helpful, and she disputed Carter’s contention that no one in the government had tried to dissuade him from his mission.
"We counseled President Carter against going to the region and particularly against having contacts with Hamas," Rice told reporters in Kuwait, adding that the administration had "wanted to make sure there would be no confusion and there would be no sense that Hamas was somehow a party to peace negotiations."
The disagreement revived longstanding Bush administration tensions with the former president, an outspoken critic of American policies at a time when Israelis and Palestinians say their talks have reached a sensitive phase and Bush is planning another trip to Israel…
Condi has been such a disappointment. As National Security Advisor, she ignored the threat of al Qaeda until the Twin Trade Towers were bombed into rubble. Now, as Secretary of State, she’s not produced one single diplomatic success. Now she’s going out of her way to trash good old Jimmy for trying. I want to like her, but I can’t bring it off. She’s acting like a traditional "wife" to Bush and Cheney. She’s got the stuff to act on her own, but not the will…
I think you give her far too much credit. I remember what she said when she testified to what she was asked by one of the 911 Commission members in the live hearings, what did the August 2001 president briefing memo say, and she said it was some “historical” memo,and when pressed she said it said “Bin Laden determined to strike inside the United States”. Anyone working for Bush is suspect as far as I’m concerned. Who with a brain and a conscience would work for him knowing what they know now? If you read the The Paul O’Neill book it tells you how the Bush Administration has distorted the truth to us from the beginning of his first term. I have watched Rice while Bush has given press conferences looking at him as if he were one of her students with almost total concentration when he answers a tough question. She seems to have almost a maternal feeling for him as if he’s her child.