Countdown

A House Divided Cannot Stand…Is That the Idea?

Volume VII, No. 22
Posted on Tuesday June 13, 2006

A House Divided Cannot Stand…Is That the Idea?

In an extreme display of…well…chutzpah, Congressmen Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Joseph Crowley (D-NY) are soliciting cosponsors for a bill addressing “the systematic destruction” of the Palestinian Christian community by the Palestinian Authority (PA). The bill levels wild, unsubstantiated accusations against the PA including the desecration of Christian holy sites and the forced submission to “Islamic law” and arbitrary imprisonment of Palestinian Christians. Not once does the bill mention that Palestinians of all religions continue to live under a brutal, debilitating Israeli occupation. After a recent visit to Palestine, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak (an author with no incentive to sanitize his experience), wrote: “Sami El-Youssef, financial vice president of Bethlehem University, said he believes there is a conscious Israeli policy of getting rid of the Christian minority, whose discomfiture is more politically embarrassing for Israel than Muslim distress. Holy Week has been particularly difficult for Palestinian Christians. Professors at Bethlehem University were frustrated by government refusal to permit supervised student trips to the Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem. Throughout the West Bank, Christians were denied travel permits to march in Jerusalem’s Palm Sunday procession. Israeli Foreign Ministry officials asserted to me that Christians in the Holy Land suffer more from Muslims—a position echoed by the Rev. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, head of the Franciscans minding the Holy Land’s religious places. But I could not find another Catholic layman or prelate who complained of anti-Christian bias by Muslims.” House members who have signed on include Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Connie Mack (R-FL), Mike Pence (R-IN), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Henry Brown (R-SC), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU), Mark Souder (R-IN), John Carter (R-TX), Thomas Tancredo (R-CO), and Steve Chabot (R-OH). This blatant attempt to divide the Palestinian community along religious lines is beyond disgraceful and far beneath representatives of the US government.

Tough Love?

It’s budget season in Washington and the House of Representatives concluded debate on a bill to determine much of the US foreign assistance budget for 2007. Egypt and the rate of its democratic reform was the topic of intense debate, which centered on an amendment by Appropriations Committee Ranking Member David Obey (D-WI). Although the bill had already cut aid to Egypt by $200 million, the Obey amendment called for another $100 million to be redirected to Darfur and AIDS programs (presumably to dampen political opposition). Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) chairs the subcommittee responsible for the bill and opposed the amendment, which was eventually defeated 198-225. In a letter also signed by Congressmen Darrell Issa (R-CA), Tom Davis (R-VA), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Robert Cramer (D-AL), Brian Baird (D-WA), and David Price (D-NC), Kolbe wrote, “We all agree that the United States should strive to move Egypt towards greater democracy and greater freedoms. However, it may take 10-15 years to see the fruit of what is planted today, and we must act carefully if we will enjoy those fruits in the future…While it is sometimes necessary to dispense ‘tough love’ by withholding or eliminating funds, we must also ensure Egypt remains allied with the United States as a leading moderate Arab nation within the Middle East.”

Preaching to the Choir

The House International Relation’s Middle East and Central Asia subcommittee, chaired by the indomitable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Ranking Member Gary Ackerman (D-NY), continued its proud tradition of hearings with a sole purpose—reaffirming the opinions of the committee’s members. Among the five individuals to testify at a June 7 hearing on Syria, only former US Ambassador to Syria Theodore Kattouf offered truly thoughtful and nuanced testimony. On prospects for democratic change and options for US policy, Kattouf said, “Many if not most Syrians would welcome a more open and democratic society and a leadership that, while nationalistic, was far less repressive. But my strong sense is that they want change to be brought about through their own efforts and managed in a way that prevents sectarian bloodletting and even civil war…As far as US or UN sanctions are concerned, most Syrians undoubtedly believe that they will bear the consequences of their implementation while the elites go largely unscathed and unfazed by them.”

Fried•man (n): A Recurring Six-Month Cycle or “End Game”

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) has compiled a hilarious series of quotes from New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. The quotes span a two and a half year period in which Friedman continues to predict the “next six months” as a turning point in Iraq. Excerpts include:

“The next six months in Iraq—which will determine the prospects for democracy-building there—are the most important six months in U.S. foreign policy in a long, long time.” (New York Times, 11/30/03)

“What we’re gonna find out, Bob, in the next six to nine months is whether we have liberated a country or uncorked a civil war.” (CBS’s Face the Nation, 10/3/04)

“I think we’re in the end game now…. I think we’re in a six-month window here where it’s going to become very clear…” (NBC’s Meet the Press, 9/25/05)

“We’ve teed up this situation for Iraqis, and I think the next six months really are going to determine whether this country is going to collapse into three parts or more or whether it’s going to come together.” (CBS’s Face the Nation, 12/18/05)

“I think we’re in the end game there, in the next three to six months…We’ve got for the first time an Iraqi government elected on the basis of an Iraqi constitution. Either they’re going to produce the kind of inclusive consensual government that we aspire to in the near term, in which case America will stick with it, or they’re not, in which case I think the bottom’s going to fall out.” (CBS, 1/31/06)

“I think we are in the end game. The next six to nine months are going to tell whether we can produce a decent outcome in Iraq.” (NBC’s Today, 3/2/06)

“Well, I think that we’re going to find out, Chris, in the next year to six months—probably sooner—whether a decent outcome is possible there, and I think we’re going to have to just let this play out.”
(MSNBC’s Hardball, 5/11/06)