[Dean's World] Ron Coleman: James Baker's fantasy world

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Posted by Ron Coleman:
James Baker's fantasy world
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1160059062.shtml


   The éminence grise James Baker III, former U.S. Secretary of State
   and all around power broker, was pitching his new book on Don Imus
   this morning. (It was painful to hear him prefacing each answer with a
   reference to the book!) He has been around, and has had a magnificent
   career in public service. I was enjoying the interview, and
   appreciated his demurral from the shibboleth suggested by Imus that
   "all this terrorism will just go away if we solve the Israeli
   Palestinian crisis." James Baker's fantasy world doesn't include that
   absurdity. But then Imus lobbed in this gopher ball: Did he think more
   engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian sphere would be helpful?

   Well, what is he going to answer? Of course, of course he says;
   sometimes, after all, you have to sit down with people who you'd
   really rather not talk to, as long as you find the right (read:
   legalistic, hypertechnical) way of doing so.

   Sigh.

   And what did he give as his example? The Madrid Conference of 1991.
   "Syria was on the list of terror-sponsoring nations, but I flew back
   and forth to Syria 16 times. And on the 16th trip, they agreed to come
   to the Madrid Conference! And for the first time ever, Israel and its
   neighbors ["Howdy, neighbors! How many suicide bombers are in the
   neighborhood this morning?"] sat down at the same table and ...." blah
   blah blah.

   Really. I suggest two very different lessons from the "take away" that
   Mr. Baker proffers.

   ([1]show)

   Lesson #1: When you put a company on a list of terror-sponsoring
   countries, but engage with it diplomatically -- actually sending your
   chief diplomatic officer to its capital 16 times in a short span of
   years, begging it to engage -- what effect does that have on the
   designation of that country as a terror sponsoring country? [2]Here's
   a hint:

     Syria â- along with Iran â- gives the Lebanese militia Hezbollah
     "substantial amounts of financial, training, weapons, explosives,
     political, diplomatic, and organizational aid," according to the
     State Department. Iranian arms bound for Hezbollah regularly pass
     through Syria, experts say. Syria, which has effectively occupied
     and controlled neighboring Lebanon since 1990, has also let
     Hezbollah operate in Lebanon and attack Israel, often ratcheting up
     regional tensions. Hezbollah's July 2006 strikes on Israel prompted
     allegations that Syria and Iran were using the group to deflect
     international attention from other issues, such as Iran's
     contentious nuclear program.

     The United States also accuses Syria of letting militants, who
     support the Iraqi insurgency, easily pass through its border with
     Iraq. In September 2004, Syria hosted border security discussions
     with the Iraqis and adopted a number of measures, but U.S.
     officials feel more needs to be done to prevent terrorists from
     taking advantage of the Syrian border with Iraq. The State
     Department's 2005 Country Reports on Terrorism call Syria a
     "facilitation hub" for terrorist groups operating in Iraq. Syria
     has also provided training, weapons, safe haven, and logistical
     support to both leftist and Islamist Palestinian hard-liners. The
     far-left Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General
     Command and the fundamentalist Palestinian Islamic Jihad have their
     headquarters in Damascus, and other terrorist groups, including the
     Islamist group Hamas and the leftist Popular Front for the
     Liberation of Palestine, maintain offices there.

     From 1980 until 1998, the Kurdistan Workersâ Party, which sought an
     independent Kurdish state, used Syria as a headquarters and base of
     operations against neighboring Turkey.

   Lesson #2: In classic liberal fashion, Ã  la the Clinton
   Administration, results don't matter -- it is enough of a result to
   get a "process," such as the vaunted Madrid Conference featuring Syria
   at the table, going, and some good pictures. Well, what did Madrid
   achieve in terms of that [3]honored guest? [4]Here's a possible
   answer:

     Syriaâs importance as an advance base for Iran â- the two countries
     concluded a formal alliance on June 16 â- cannot be exaggerated. It
     is the go-between for most of the munitions flowing to Hezbollah.
     It is the sanctuary of Hamas honcho Khaled Meshaal. It is also,
     according to Israeli intelligence sources, the home of a new
     Iranian-Syrian intelligence center that tracks Israeli military
     movements and relays that information to terrorist proxies.

     State Department optimists dream that Syrian dictator Bashar Assad
     can be weaned from Iran through concessions from the United States
     and Israel, such as the return of the Golan Heights. But since the
     early 1990s, the United States has tried repeatedly to strike a
     deal with Syria and never gotten anywhere. More economic pressure,
     especially from Europe, would be helpful, but it could probably be
     offset by increased subsidies from Iran.

   Diplomats love photo opportunities like Camp David, Madrid, Oslo ...
   and Munich. They believe that pictures of smiling, or even grim,
   diplomats are achievements, when they can actually be the exact
   opposite. There were, in fact, some achievements at the Madrid
   Conference -- but they had nothing to do with Syria. James Baker's
   [5]concept of how a fair broker would look in the Mideast is a lot
   like [6]Jimmy Carter's. I don't expect Don Imus to know this -- he's
   considered intelligent but mostly spits out sound-bites pre-digested
   by his on-air coterie of sycophants -- nor to ask a challenging
   question of a famous interviewee more than once a year (he [7]does do
   it once a year, though). But he's not to blame; James Baker is.
   Thankfully, he's now busy selling books instead of selling out
   alllies.

   ([8]hide)

References

   1. file://localhost/var/www/powerblogs/deanesmay/posts/1160059062.html
   2. http://www.cfr.org/publication/9368/
   3. http://www.jcpa.org/jl/saa26.htm
   4. http://www.cfr.org/publication/11344/israel_should_hit_syria_first.html
   5. http://discardedlies.com/entry/?20715_james-baker-rides-to-the-rescue
   6. http://www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback-nordlinger101102.asp
   7. http://newsbusters.org/node/5748
   8. file://localhost/var/www/powerblogs/deanesmay/posts/1160059062.html