A recent NewsDay editorial made some good points about United Nations' special envoy in Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi: Undiplomatic diplomat.
Interviewed on French radio Wednesday about Israel's unilateral policy of disengagement and Bush's support of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's moves, Brahimi said, "there is no doubt that the great poison in the region is this Israeli policy of domination and the suffering imposed on the Palestinians, as well as ... the equally unjust support of the United States for this policy."[...]In his ABC interview, Brahimi also predicted that the U.S. sieges of Fallujah and Najaf would end badly if military force were used. In these tense standoffs, Brahimi said, "there is no military solution." Then he went on to say, "There is never any military solution to any problem." [...]
One of the biggest obstacles to a transition in Iraq is the ferocity of the insurgency. U.S. forces must guarantee some security to the people of Iraq. That means a defeat of the insurgency. You can't do that without military force. Brahimi should know that, unless he is simply playing to anti-American Arab biases.
Being from the U.N., Brahimi's attitude shouldn't come as a surprise. But what is very disappointing is this fact:
President George W. Bush has put his trust in the Algerian diplomat's reputation as a fair negotiator.Posted by Forkum at April 29, 2004 06:19 AM
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