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TechnoratiDennis Ross as Iran Envoy?
Two days after taking office, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a press conference to announce the new administration's advisers for the hottest part of the globe: the Middle East. Obama handed oversight of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to former Democratic Senator George Mitchell; veteran Clinton-era diplomat Richard Holbrooke took control of U.S. foreign policy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and possibly India. But what about Iran? Who would Obama choose to oversee policy to the country's chief adversary in the Middle East, the government that supposedly has been funding Hamas and Hezbollah, and stirring up so much evildoing?
While the Iran portfolio remains unassigned, one figure stands out as a likely Obama appointee: Dennis Ross, a former US ambassador to Israel and lead negotiator during Israeli-Palestinian talks under President Bill Clinton. The New York Times reported Ross's presence inside the State Department on January 28, however, his duties remain unspecified. Considering Ross's hand in crafting Obama's outreach to the Israel lobby, and his own recent orientation towards US-Iran policy, there is reason to believe he will get the vaunted Iran portfolio, a pivotal component of Obama's foreign policy.
During the campaign, Obama faced an onslaught of attacks on his Muslim background and insinuations that he harbored sympathies to enemies of Israel. Enter Dennis Ross. The veteran diplomat is widely believed to have crafted Obama's campaign address to the American-Israeli Political Action committee in which the candidate called for an undying commitment to America's alliance with Israel and ensured that Jerusalem would remain "undivided," a controversial proposal that contradicted President George W. Bush's "Road Map For Peace." Having helped consolidate Jewish support for the young senator, Ross positioned himself for a prominent position in the upcoming administration.
Ross's hard line on Iran raised eyebrows. In the heat of the presidential race, Ross co-chaired an ad hoc group called United Against A Nuclear Iran. Members of the organization comprised a who's who of neocons and Iran hawks, including former Bush advisor Karen Hughes, neoconservative scholar Fouad Ajami, and Jim Woolsey, the former CIA chief who clamored for an invasion of Iraq well before Bush assumed power. In September, Ross added his signature to a report demanding that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment activities as a precondition for negotiation. Joining Ross in support of the statement were arch-neoconservatives Michael Makovsky and the American Enterprise Institute's Michael Rubin, with consultation from Patrick Clawson, the Iran specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a think tank formed by AIPAC.
Ross' support for the confrontational statement is no surprise. He is closely tied to the Israel lobby, currently serving as a counselor and distinguished fellow at WINEP. When Ross joined the Obama campaign, WINEP released a statement declaring Ross a "nonexclusive" advisor in accordance its non-partisan classification. Despite these ties, or perhaps because of them, Ross appears in line for an appointment as envoy to Iran, or a position like it. For anyone hoping for a break from the confrontational approach to the Islamic Republic that has prevailed for eight years, this is a disturbing prospect.
18 Comments so far
Show AllAgreed.
I find it hard to believe that after all the shit Obama took in the primaries and in the general election campaign about just sitting down to talk to Iran that he would now turn around and deliberately appoint someone like Dennis Ross to be his special envoy and point man for opening up a diplomatic dialogue with Tehran. Why not pick Tom Tancredo as ambassador to Mexico?
There may be some method to Obama's apparent madness where keeping Gates at DOD and using Holbrooke in Afghanistan/Pakistan is concerned, however.
The mullahs know Robert Gates is a man of his word behind the scenes because Gates served as a top aide to Bill Casey in the back channel negotiations with Iran for timing the US hostage release during the Carter/Reagan election contest. You remember. Iran/Contra and all that, while Casey ran the CIA during the Reagan years, with Gates as his top deputy. Gates kept his word back then, using Mossad as an intermediary, so the Iranians should feel they can still trust him now.
Holbrooke, in turn, has a history of being a tough diplomatic negotiator and public face on US policy when there is warfare and/or widespread black ops in the immediate conflict background (East Timor, Bosnia, etc.). That certainly is what is destined to be taking place in Afghanistan, in the northwest tribal areas, and in Pakistan's Swat Valley in the awful months lying immediately ahead.
Barack Obama (and indeed all of us) have inherited a potentially catastrophic anti-American blowback scenario stretching from Kurdistan to the Hindu kush with about a half a million US military personnel vulnerable to reprisal courtesy of George W. Bush's imperial blunders. Giving the hawks a chance to manage damage control while the empire disengages may therefore make some sense.
Gates and Holbrooke know where the bodies are buried and know how many of those bodies got there. If it all goes to hell in a handbasket, then the failure is theirs, they can then be replaced, and new people can take a new approach.
Bill from Saginaw
I would like to see Ramsey Clark as the Iran envoy.
I never expected real change from obama. It has always been obvious.
The guy outspent anyone ever in campaigning and inauguration when we are going into a deep depression. What does that tell us? He said nothing about iraq vets against the war when trampled upon at hoffstra outside the presidential debates and ignored protestors outside his home in hawaai. He never said anything progressive in his campaign, and we all know he voted for fisa, etc., etc.
And Rahm Emmanuel? No one can become such a fast star in the democratic party and be any different. I don't know why, other than physical appearance, that people expect something revolutionary from this man. It amazes me, really. But, he is really, really good at the game. Makes Clinton look like he isn't slick.
Personally, i think his job is to make us believe we actually have a functioning government left.
"But i could be wrong"! (sorry, Curmudgeon, for the borrow) :)
Dick Cheney tried his best to preciptitate an attack against Iran at least twice and also tried to get the Israelis to attack Syria during their attack against Lebanon in 2006. The US Joint Chiefs of staff finally convinced the President that an attack against Iran would go badly and the Israelis were turned down when they brought their heavy hitters to Washington last summer. Ehud Barack, Gabi Ashkenazi and Meier Dagen all made their appeal for US assistance in the attack against Iran but were told that we wouldn't allow them to overfly Iraq or receive refueler planes to assist them. The neo-cons and Likudniks that essentially run IAPAC have great influence in this country. When you realize that Obama basically kowtowed to AIPAC before the election and repeated the grand lie that the Iranians are intent on building nukes, it is an indication of how powerful the Israeli propagandists are.
That Ross is so close to some of the Zionist groups and men who were part of the "Office of Special Plans" in the DOD under Paul Wolfowitz should scare the Hell out of Americans and Iranians who don't want war. That Office helped create some of the better lies that were used by Dick Cheney and the White House to con Congress into the Resolution of the use of force against Iraq.
Read "The Second Pentagon Papers" (Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski)Salon.com, as a starter. Also the Inspector General's report Number 07-INTEL-04 "Review of Pre- Iraqi War Activities of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy"Dated Feb 09,2007. Dennis Ross is just about the best person the Likudniks could ever want in the position to talk to Iran. He is certainly the worst possible choice for Americans.
Aarky, Hello. Yeah, I remember the push for DC to hit Tehran-with 1,000 Israeli lobbyists crawling throughout DC making "donations" to Congressman and Senators.
Although I like BHO, I see him shackled and obeisant to Israel. In this regard I'm disappointed but not surprised. No American President since Eisenhower has defied Israel's wishes*. But I don't think BHO will attack Iran, even if Mullens said it was on the table (as a last resort).
Israel will either turn Natanz to glass or get us to fight for them by faking an attack by the Iranians on the U.S. I predict the straits.
*Why? The MSM control, the assault on all fronts if a politician dares defy his Masters, along with heavy heavy money for ALL his/her opponents on ALL fronts, attack ads.....DC knows the score, you defy Israel you exist no more. azjoe.
toubibcal well, actually JFK tried to push for inspection of the Israeli nuclear program at Diamona, i believe that's the name, and later he was "removed". No, the Mossad doesn't screw around. When the M wants Amerika to hop Sammy jumps.
I'm an Obama fan-he'll do a lot of good but also fail. Without denying his culpability, I observe No President or U.S. politician can buck Israel's wishes and survive. Dare they try, the attacks in the MSM on them and the super-funding of their opponents have created a climate of fear and effective control in DC.
I think the forces hobbling Obama and U.S. politics re Israel are far stronger than any politician, including BHO. This does not excuse his actions but contexts them.
These same neoCon Israeli Zionist influences also attempt to dictate U.S. policy in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
azjoe.
they select so we may elect. exactly who is the client state, u.s.a or israel?
like making hitler our rep at the UN. these people clearly don,t get it. perpetuate war perpetuate poverty etc.
john bolton redux.
Ross, Holbrooke, Mitchell, Gates...the Obama administration looks like "Night of the Living Dead". These zombies never go away. It's Clinton redux, deja-vu all over again. Aaaaiiiieeee, halp!
Sioux Rose
Exactly, BUBBA. Poor Bill from Saginaw has to invent a compelling argument to convince himself that Obama really has his and the nation's best interests in mind. I can't keep watching evidence to the contrary and come to that conclusion. Hope doesn't always float.
Just how many Zionists does Obama have in his administration? Does anyone there have another opinion where Israel is concerned?
Is the real reason we are going to support them faithfully always is because they are our protection in the Middle East? How so?
Israel is not Northern Ireland. Mitchell will find that out rather quickly. The push for more settlements will not end, whatever Mitchell tries to do.
If Ross is our representative to Iran, he will surely undo any good Mitchell will attempt.
Soooo,
We will be even harsher in our diatribes with Iran - just look closely at Nancy Rice's recent remarks.
The only change from Bush policy is the method of delivery - we are still on track for a nuclear first(so-called 'deterrent') strike on Iran. We will tell them to their face 'Our way or the Highway'.
With Obama and company doing Israel's bidding, it's only a matter of time. It appears that he is even more beholden to Israel and AIPAC than Bush was in his actions so far.
He will probably give Israel the green light to attack at some point in time.
But I could be wrong !
You are right, you could be wrong. In fact, you usually are!
The White House had the Joint Chiefs work up an attack plan against Iran and when they added the probable use of nuclear bunker busters (B61-11's), the White House was overjoyed. When Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, realized that the White House was intent on using nukes he started objecting strenuously and finally convinced them that it was not a good option. They eventually canned him for speaking up along with Admiral William Fallon, who as CENTCOM Chief, quietly stated that,"There will be no attack against Iran on my watch". The nation owes a lot to these two men. It would be great if these two men sat down and write a tell-all book, or even better if they testify at Bush/Cheney war crimes trials.
Dennis Ross as Iran Envoy?
Wow that's like making Musharraf Special Envoy to India or Hu Jintao Special Envoy to Taiwan and Tibet.
It looks like we get some window dressing change on foreign policy under Obama which is NOT good enough.