After Receiving Phone Call From Olmert, Bush Ordered Rice To Abstain On Gaza Ceasefire Resolution
After Receiving Phone Call From Olmert, Bush Ordered Rice To Abstain On Gaza Ceasefire Resolution
Last week, the U.S. curiously abstained from a voting on a United Nations Gaza ceasefire resolution, “an apparent reversal of earlier promises to Arab states.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, despite voicing support for the resolution, raised concerns about “Egyptian mediation efforts” in explaining the abstention.
But in reality, Rice was essentially ready to support the resolution — until a last-minute intervention from President Bush. In a speech in Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert bragged that he called Bush at the last minute, urging that the U.S. not vote to support the resolution. Bush acquiesced to Olmert’s demands:
“In the night between Thursday and Friday, when the secretary of state wanted to lead the vote on a ceasefire at the Security Council, we did not want her to vote in favour,” Olmert said.
“I said ‘get me President Bush on the phone’. They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn’t care. ‘I need to talk to him now’. He got off the podium and spoke to me.”I told him the United States could not vote in favour. It cannot vote in favour of such a resolution. He immediately called the secretary of state and told her not to vote in favour.”
Rice had worked extensively on the resolution with Arab, British, and French foreign ministers. “She was left shamed. A resolution that she prepared and arranged, and in the end she did not vote in favour,” Olmert said.
In a briefing Friday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack maintained that “we fully support the text, the objectives, and the goals of that resolution” and boasted that the “resolution never would have come into being as it was without the efforts of Condoleezza Rice up there.” But he struggled to explain how the Department could both abstain and support the resolution:
Q: So we — so when the secretary comes out and you come out and you say, We support this resolution, we support the language in it, we support the goals, why — what message does it send when you don’t vote for it? I mean, it’s just, it’s completely inconsistent, no?
McCORMACK: Well, you’re — you’re certainly welcome to your interpretation.
“Look, it’s a nuanced argument,” McCormack said. The simple reality, however, is that Bush overrode Rice at the behest of Olmert. Ironically, asked whether he thought Bush had ordered Rice to abstain at the eleventh hour, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said, “I don’t know.”
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66 Responses to “After Receiving Phone Call From Olmert, Bush Ordered Rice To Abstain On Gaza Ceasefire Resolution”
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Doesn't say much for Condi. All that work and then a nice sh*tpie in the face? Heck, if she had ignored the boss and went with the work she had done what was the worst that Bush could have done? Fired her? Last time I checked she's unemployed next week anyway.
Way to go, Condi.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:23 pmWhat the deciderer was told what to deciderer?
January 12th, 2009 at 4:25 pmI'd still like to know what the US gets out of its relationship with Israel.
I mean, are the politicians bribed, blackmailed, or do they really believe the crap they say they do.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:25 pmWhat?!! Israel has power over the U.S.? Say it isnt so!!!
Its the 51st state, but the first state that politicians (all of them) recognize if they want to keep their jobs, thats not hatred thats the truth. Wrong is wrong unless its Israel, period.
RIP
January 12th, 2009 at 4:28 pmSGT Stephen R. Sherman
C CO 1-5 IN (STRYKER)
KIA 3 Feb 2005
Mosul, Iraq
WTF? Why didn't she tell Shrub to piss up a tree and vote anyway? I mean, it's not like she's gionna have a job after 1/20/09 anyways. I'm sure she has money in her savings account.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:30 pmit seems even rats are smarter than Republicans. They at least know enough to get off a sinking ship.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:32 pmOh, this boasting by the Zionists should do wonders for the view of the US in the Arab world... Just one last finger in the eye of the incoming administration by the biggest bunch of corrupt warmongers in the history of the world...
January 12th, 2009 at 4:33 pmIf anyone wants to argue anymore about whether Israel dictates US foreign policy, here's your last chance.
I wonder how many US legislators got a call last week before they so hurriedly voted to support the Israeli incursion.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:36 pmOlmert (who certainly sounds like an egomaniac) also bragged:
'"She (Condi) was left shamed. A resolution that she prepared and arranged, and in the end she did not vote in favour," Olmert said in a speech in the southern town of Ashkelon.'
These are our allies?!
January 12th, 2009 at 4:36 pmState Department spokesman Sean McCormack maintained that “we fully support the text, the objectives, and the goals of that resolution,,"
Should I believe what you say or what you do ?
January 12th, 2009 at 4:36 pmNevar Says:
If anyone wants to argue anymore about whether Israel dictates US foreign policy, here’s your last chance.
I- I- dammit, I got nothin'. Normally I would, but now that Olmert is going around bragging about how he can make the U.S. dance like a monkey just by snapping his fingers...
January 12th, 2009 at 4:38 pm”I told him the United States could not vote in favour. It cannot vote in favour of such a resolution. He immediately called the secretary of state and told her not to vote in favour.” Olmert
January 12th, 2009 at 4:39 pmHistory will judge Bush as the Caspar Milquetoast he is...
This is truly outrageous! Olmert says jump, and W says how high. One more week and NO MORE Condi! YAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
January 12th, 2009 at 4:42 pmGeorge W. Bush "doesn't do nuance". He ducks responsibility, he does the bidding of those pulling the strings, he lies, and he mangles the English language. But there is no way he is "nuanced".
January 12th, 2009 at 4:43 pmWe told you so, Condi... does this finally click on the lightbulb?
January 12th, 2009 at 4:44 pmSo, Olmert calls, and Bush the deciderer has to decide whether to spit out his gum or pull down his pants.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:50 pmAnd still the question is: Who runs our country?
January 12th, 2009 at 4:51 pmBelieve me, most Jews in this country are liberals who vote for Democrats and only have a marginal interest in what goes on in Israel. This is a conservative agenda more than a Jewish one.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:54 pmOlmert perfectly personifies the bonehead, short-sighted Israeli approach of the last few years. Pulling strings in Washington and then bragging about how you humiliated the U.S. Secretary of State?
Not smart in the long run. Without America's support, Israel would be in deep, serious trouble.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:54 pmCondi will do as she's told. People who cross Bushco end up getting hit with birdshot in the face or swinging from a rope like the DC madame except those that go down in unexplained airplane failures of course.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:55 pmDid/does Rice genuinely believe Israel had gone too far this time, even though their methods are identical to those used in the war against in Lebanon in the summer of 2006, which Rice and the Bush admin helped to extend by resupplying Israel with bombs?
Or was she looking to her own legacy this time around--given the large scale international public disgust with Israel's conduct and the fact that she only has a week left to serve and thus could finally afford to go against the administration grain?
I can't believe Rice might actually have any moral position this time around, because then she could just as easily resign right now in protest.
I;ve no reason to think anything but the worst of Rice--she was trying to polish her resume with an eye to an international consulting future, has now been stymied and with an eye towards a national republican-welfare consulting gig has chosen not to rock the boat any further.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:55 pmI'm still shell-shocked that an expanded democratic majority would push for a resolution backing Israel--look at all the evidence calling for the contrary! More children DIE as our lemmings, er, leaders take orders from Israel.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:02 pmShayne: This is a conservative agenda more than a Jewish one.
I quite agree. The Israeli conservatives are especially politically beholden to the Hademi etc -- the arch conservative fundamentalist religious Right who like the extremist Muslims want to see a return to Biblical law and who like the extremist Christians in the US also desire to see violent prophecies fulfilled.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:02 pm(Without any of the Hademi etc doing the required fighting of course---they are too busy being closer to God).
g w bush America's spoiled rotten BRAT!
January 12th, 2009 at 5:03 pmBush is just playing patty cake with israels opposers. He fully intended for this to happen from the beginning. Just a show.
Olmert plays on the stage of Israel and you can't believe anything he says.......either.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:11 pmGot to agree with rmwarnick. Stupid move on the part of Olmert. This gives Obama a highly visible excuse for giving the finger to Olmert for the next 4-8 years. Here's hoping the story receives the press it warrants, and Obama recognizes the opportunity.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:12 pmCondi works as a secretary under Bush, but also a stenographer to Olmert.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:12 pmShayne Says:
Believe me, most Jews in this country are liberals who vote for Democrats and only have a marginal interest in what goes on in Israel. This is a conservative agenda more than a Jewish one.
Then why in the hell are our Democratic Senators and Congresspersons voting to fully support Israel in their genocidal attack on Gaza?
I am so disgusted with the Democrats it's hard for me to speak without spitting.
Does anyone know where I can get my hands on who voted for that hateful resolution? I really want to know how my Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkely voted.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:14 pmEtherealStrife Says:
Got to agree with rmwarnick. Stupid move on the part of Olmert. This gives Obama a highly visible excuse for giving the finger to Olmert for the next 4-8 years. Here’s hoping the story receives the press it warrants, and Obama recognizes the opportunity.
Olmert will be gone when they have their elections in February. I believe that this incursion into Gaza is all about who will replace him. As far as I can tell, there isn't a candidate who favors peace talks with Hamas, as do sixty four percent of the people in Israel. I fear that the people will have to choose between a hawk and a super hawk.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:16 pmThis latest insanity reminds me of the theater that was Georgia attacking Ossetia/Russia after Cheney visited the region trying to boost up McCain. And when McCain was in Columbia when kidnap victims just happened to be released. Why all this drama now, forcing Obama to "pick sides"?
January 12th, 2009 at 5:17 pmNope, most of the people who go down are our guys. The guy who was supposed to testify against the administration of those lost emails went down in a plane crash a couple of weeks ago. Paull Wellstone was a Democrat. JFK Jr. was one of us. Who said anything about them all being Republicans. The alleged anthrax mailer, I don't even know what he was.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:20 pmToday's Gaza update posts (3) at TheZoo.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:20 pmJuan Cole offered some interesting ideas to fight this entire mess over the weekend. Here and following that up with this post.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:21 pmIf you get a second, go vote for Informed Comment (Juan Cole) for Best Middle East or Africa Blog in the 2008 Weblog Awards. It's the last 24 hours of voting. He does a fantastic job and provides a great service.
I don't know either Billbo. I just think that these Democrats who go along with Bush's insanity know Bushco has something on them and are looking out for their careers more than their country. I hope they all lose their jobs.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:23 pmThere are many studies that say children who are abused grow up to be abusers themselves. All of them are aimed at understanding the pathology but I have yet to see one that says it makes it ok.
No one rational denies that the Holocaust happened but it does not justify a new one. Man is supposed to learn from mistakes.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:27 pmThey said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn’t care. ‘I need to talk to him now’. He got off the podium and spoke to me.”
January 12th, 2009 at 5:35 pmFOR REAL?
If, as reports are indicating, Israel is using Willy Pete, they have lost all credibility. I don't give a rat's ass if Gaza is firing rockets into the heart of Jerusalem, no one deserves WP. One of the reasons it has been outlawed.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:39 pmWhat originates in Israel, frequently manifests in the U.S. That's why it's worth perusing Israeli newspapers like Haaretz, the Jerusalem Post and Ynet.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:45 pmWell it's better than taking gotcha questions from reporters. What the hell was he doing in Philadelphia though?
January 12th, 2009 at 5:48 pmJerusalem: 3 Oct 2001 (IAP) -- According to Israel radio (in Hebrew) Kol Yisrael, [Shimon] Peres warned [Ariel] Sharon Wednesday that refusing to heed incessant American requests for a cease-fire with the Palestinians would endanger Israeli interests and "turn the US against us."
At this point, a furious Sharon reportedly turned toward Peres, saying "every time we do something you tell me Americans will do this and will do that. I want to tell you something very clear, don't worry about American pressure on Israel, we, the Jewish people control America, and the Americans know it."
January 12th, 2009 at 5:49 pmBush was put on notice by Israel as they have alot on him and will use it if he turns against them. Look all that talk about Israel has been dishing out about never forget the Holocaust and how Israel is God's chosen people was told to make people feel sorry for them. It worked as they have cells in the US Govenment and Jewish Law Makers like Joe Lieberman and Diane Feinstein pushing the issue ever time they call. While for years Israel has been milking the US Treasury more then Bernard Madoff. The Bush Family made it's wealth with Hitler's crimes so it makes since they could do the same with Israel. Americans are watching a Palestine Holocaust Massacre and our Law Makers are in full support of killing children with the funding of US taxpayers money.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:53 pmShayne asks:
What the hell was he doing in Philadelphia though?
Getting a last cheese steak?
January 12th, 2009 at 5:53 pmHey, beeyotch!! Where's my coffee?????
January 12th, 2009 at 5:55 pmWell Jackie we had with all those dead brown children in Iraq why would we have a problem with Israel killing all those Palestinian children.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:06 pmBush was in Philly to tour elementary school in promotion of NCLB
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-education/2009/01/12/bush-makes-last-push-on-education.html
http://www.nj.com/south/index.ssf/2009/01/presidential_visit_to_philadel.html
However, this mentions an evening meeting. Bush may have held a Republican fundraiser.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:11 pmShayne Says:
Well Jackie we had with all those dead brown children in Iraq why would we have a problem with Israel killing all those Palestinian children.
Come on, Shayne, everyone knows nits make lice.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:16 pmBush's last policy speech is on education
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The state of U.S. education was the subject of President George Bush's last policy speech Thursday, as was the topic of his first policy speech.
Bush, speaking at the Kearny School in Philadelphia, praised his signature education legislation, No Child Left Behind, warning that it should not be diluted when he leaves in several weeks.
[...]
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/01/08/Bushs_last_policy_speech_is_on_education/UPI-40081231458608/
vaguely remember that happening...
January 12th, 2009 at 6:21 pmstate -
“In the night between Thursday and Friday, when the secretary of state wanted to lead the vote on a ceasefire at the Security Council, we did not want her to vote in favour,” Olmert said.
guessing he's on mid-east time...
does that jive with the philly speech?
January 12th, 2009 at 6:31 pmBilbo, You can see the roll call vote here.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:37 pmOops. I just saw you were looking for the Senate vote. I don't think it has been released yet.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:39 pmNo need to look. With the Senate the vote was unanimous.
January 12th, 2009 at 7:07 pmAnd by the way. bush could sit and read a book during 911 but he walked off the stage for a PHONE CALL from olmert?
January 12th, 2009 at 7:08 pmIsrael is always going to get away with this B.S. because we back them financially and militarily, we won't do anything to spite them and it is always the Arab world...through the media's lens...that is viewed upon as the lone outraged party. If Obama tries to do something, he could find himself in the same boat Bush Sr. was in when he tried to cut funding for loans to Israeli settlements in the middle of the '92 election.
The Holocaust was grave and an utter tragedy, but it has now become an excuse to empower one group of people to fund a religious war and oppress another group of people for simply being tenants whom the Israelis can't find a way to coexist with since the onset of the Six Day War. If the U.S. and/or U.N. can't grow a backbone soon, the Arab world will do something to facilitate a real Crusade where the death toll will tally like the score on a pinball machine.
January 12th, 2009 at 8:19 pmThis was a last desperate act by two world leaders who have both exhausted all their resources and ideas. The old ways just don't work and haven't for a long time. Olmert is just as much a lame duck as Bush and doesn't even know it.
It's time for Israel to end the Six Days War. Give Syria back the Golan Heights and watch the spigot supplying Hamas and Hezbalah close. The Syrian proxy war in Palestine and Lebanon has been going on since 1967. Face the real problem and then there will be a real two state solution.
January 12th, 2009 at 8:31 pmWTF??
Let me get this straight.....Olmert can get sorry-ass Bush to leave the stage and take a phone call..
Whereas, when Dubya is informed at an elementary school on 9/11 that another plane has hit the twin towers and that "we are under attack".....Bush just sits there staring at an UPSIDE book of pages (or pictures if you insist) of My Pet Goat.
And Bush think he is leaving this country just fine and dandy.......
the man is a FREAKIN' SOCIOPATH !!!
Jan. 20, 2009 - the end of an ERROR!
January 12th, 2009 at 8:59 pmDoesn't that picture look like...
Stop, page, up, go look at the picture.
OK.
...like it came right out of a gay-friendly resort brochure?
January 12th, 2009 at 9:36 pm"Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that.... I want to tell you something very clear: Don't worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it."
January 12th, 2009 at 9:42 pmAriel Sharon,3rd October 2001 Kol Yisrael radio
LOL
G-harmony...
January 12th, 2009 at 9:42 pmtomcat27834 Says:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WTF??
Let me get this straight…..Olmert can get sorry-ass Bush to leave the stage and take a phone call..
Whereas, when Dubya is informed at an elementary school on 9/11 that another plane has hit the twin towers and that “we are under attack”…..Bush just sits there staring at an UPSIDE book of pages (or pictures if you insist) of My Pet Goat.
_______________________________________________________
As sad and true that is... it was very funny the way you put it.
January 12th, 2009 at 10:30 pm#53 The Holocaust was grave and an utter tragedy
When does the mandate expire on this Holocaust ? The victims have now become the tormentors. Olmert is nothing but a Nazi as is Barak, Livni and of course Ariel Sharon who openly declared in October 2006, "Don't worry about the Americans we have them in our pocket."
When are we going to rid ourselves of this artificial and troublesome country, called Israel, and throw it back on the Eurpeans who lit the fuse of its illegal existence in the first place.
January 12th, 2009 at 11:07 pmPlease, anyone, tell me anything Israel has done for us here in the US. Can anyone?
January 13th, 2009 at 12:15 amWell, well, well, we finally have proof of what so many have suspected for so long: Israel is running OUR show.
Wake up, America and the Obama administration too! Obama is going to have to find very creative ways to deal with the Israelis...
Moreover, how many Palestinian lives have been lost because America voted no to this resolution?
January 13th, 2009 at 12:55 amThe real problem here is that because America's support for Israel is so blind, so sweeping and so beyond question politically, America is unintentionally enabling and encouraging Israel's worst behaviour. Friends don't let friends drive drunk. Or bomb schools.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:10 amI hate to say it but this seems to be just another attempt to either rewrite or ignore history. Once upon a time there was a concerted effort to take back the Holy Land. Went on for a considerable chunk of time, cost oodles of lives and served no real clear function since the folks who controlled the place ended up...you got it. Still controlling it.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:40 amand I thought the picture was a Viagra ad. Or maybe Enzyte.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:42 amThis is the biggest revelation coming out of this war. AMERICA WAKE UP!! This single bit of news can be a measuring tape against which all politicians, news outlets and forums can be measured as to who is who. Who is on the zionist payroll and who is not. This is an outrage against the people of the US, why bother voting. So whoever is friends with the US and support US policies are really supporting Israel even if they are Muslims like Pakistan, etc. What a joke.
January 14th, 2009 at 8:32 pm