Rice: Better to have Hamas in power than in streets

[Scurrilous]

US secretary of state says Hamas government may be preferable to group 'running the streets, masked, with guns'

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3324663,00.html

<snip>

"An elected Hamas government in the Palestinian territories may be preferable to the group operating outside the power structure and carrying out terrorist actions, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday.

Rice, speaking to a pro-democracy forum, made the point in arguing that that the United States should not retreat from its advocacy of democracy abroad when elections do not turn out well from the US point of view. Referring to Hamas, Rice said, "I am not so sure that it is better to have these groups running the streets, masked, with guns rather than having them have to face voters and having to deliver."

While the election that produced the Hamas victory was free and fair, she said Hamas has failed in its responsibility to obtain international acceptability. The result, Rice said, has been that the Palestinian people basically have been deprived of international assistance.

"The interesting point is would we have ever seen Hamas confronted with that dilemma without elections and without coming in to govern," Rice said.

She added that the international community should do more to convince Middle East groups that enter politics to give up terror."

[NOLADEM]

1. But it is apparently better to have Baathists in the Street rather than in power

Go figure. Weird world.


Stupid bitch.

[MADem]

7. Well, they're finally coming around on that score.

They're letting the Shi'a Ba'athists back into the fold. See, they were the ones who didn't get the patronage jobs; they actually had to be COMPETENT in their field and do some actual WORK!!!

Discussed here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2592291

[yellowcanine]

8. Good point. More Orwellian double think from the neocons. War is peace. Torture is not torture,

it is robust interrogation. Chaos is "untidiness". Civil war is not civil war, it is the last throes of the democracy haters.

[ckramer]

15. You nailed her!

What a foreign policy mess!

[Supersedeas]

18. how can she say that--Wow...that's stunning and full of implications

[zbdent]

2. Maybe we should ask Condascending Lies who the Republican was

who said that he trusted Hamas more than he trusted Clinton ...

Since the Repukes seem to know exactly what the terrorists' plans and thoughts are ...

[rodeodance]

3. gee Condi---that mean diplomacy matters---a skill you do not have.

[superconnected]

4. so why not put terrorists incharge of Iraq, instead of having them in the streets

oh yeah, because that would mean the terrorists would win.

Aparently condosleeza doesn't care if the terrorists win though, she supports hamas.

[Straight Shooter]

5. You can take your "interesting point" and shove it, Condi.

It's amazing what the Repubs will spin when they've lost the argument. I heard the argument on a video on Crooks & Liars yesterday, and the Repub claimed that finding Osama isn't important because we've got him contained and he can't do anything now.

Huh??? Isn't Osama the same guy they're using in "the stakes are high" ad campaign? x(

[endarkenment]

6. Gee perhaps the dim twit should have figured that out last year.

Instead of conspiring with Israel to do everything they could think of to sabotage the democratically elected palestinian government. Little late to the parade.

Can't she just retire and get another oil tanker named after her?

[central scrutinizer]

9. What do Hamas, the Ba'athists, and the Taleban have in common?

All will soon be back in power and everything will be the same, except for all of the dead American soldiers who were used as human shields by the chickenhawk neocon scumbags.

[coalition_unwilling]

11. Ouch. I do share your assessment. Don't forget, though, about

the 650,000 dead Iraqi civilians and the countless thousands of dead Afghans.

[iverglas]

22. excuse me

All will soon be back in power and everything will be the same, except for all of the dead American soldiers who were used as human shields by the chickenhawk neocon scumbags.

... and, oh, several tens of thousands of dead, er, foreigners. I know, it's just too easy to, er, forget about them when there are a few hundred fine upstanding important USAmericans dead.

Those who failed to learn the REAL lesson of Vietnam -- that it is fucking NOT fucking ABOUT fucking YOU, it is about the fucking evil that you do to other people -- were doomed to repeat it. And the rest of the world was doomed to keep suffering the consequences of their failure.

Whining about US military body bags while children and other people are being killed and maimed and left with the infrastructure of their lives in ruins is just so damned unattractive.

[coalition_unwilling]

10. If Rice believes her own bullshit, then why did the U.S. government

cut off funding to the Palestinian Authority when Hamas won legislative elections in a landslide?

[Turbineguy]

12. Oh-oh

Does that mean we are going to have a bunch of republicans in the streets?

Gee, that's too bad, what with winter coming and all.

[mom cat]

13. And how many people in Palastine have suffered while she was figuring that out?

[wickerwoman]

14. But, but, but "You can't hate al Qaeda and hug Hamas"!!!!!!

[Canuckistanian]

16. The mental agility of a small soap dish

What a waste of good oxygen.

[The Stranger]

17. NPR (Neocon Public Relations) had two stories (one from Linda Gradstein) trying to show that it is

the Palestinians' fault that they live in chaos and squalor, and that it cannot be as a result of a half-century-long brutal, ethnically-cleansing, military occupation.

Thanks, NPR!

[On the Road]

19. I Actually Agree with Her to a Limited Extent

Winning the election forces Hamas to take responsibility and deal with the realities of running the government. It will bring about greater legitimacy but also force moderation -- pretty much what happened with the PLO.

[minnesota_liberal]

20. I've never tried Hamas with Rice.

Doesn't sound very appealing.

[seafan]

21. Did you mean to say "Democrats", Condi?? I bet you're thinkin' it.

Be gone, you simpering nincompoop.