COLIN POWELL had long been admired in this part of the world. His stately role during the Gulf War alongside James Baker, the then US secretary of state indeed gave some cause to appreciate how the son of an immigrant had indeed qualified himself to such a respected position.
However, a decade or so later, those very same people who had once admired Mr. Powell as a man of vision and trust and perhaps a future president, today simply wonder just where has his statesmanship gone off to. And Mr. Powell did not seem to help dispel such uncertainties with his recent trip to this region.
With so much to gain, and with just a little effort, Mr. Powell could have indeed marked US policies in the region with the stamp of fairness and justice. Rising suspicions of a one-sided policy and a growing resentment of US interests in the region would have indeed been put to bed. But sadly none of that happened.
Instead, Mr. Powell adds that no massacres seem to have been committed by Israeli military forces during their assault on the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin. This in contrast to eyewitness reports of independent journalists and humanitarian workers who were later barred access from such areas of butchery.
It’s a pity indeed that when Mr. Powell was less than the drop of a hat’s distance from Jenin and other cities of massacre, he chose to cross them off his agenda. And yet today, he deems himself qualified enough to make such a statement. Or are his words and actions simply being orchestrated by forces beyond his control?
A report in the Washington Times perhaps best sums it up by stating that “State Department officials say Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has been repeatedly undercut by other senior policy-makers in his effort to break the Middle East deadlock,” warning this has left US diplomacy paralyzed at an especially volatile moment.
It goes on to explain how different interest groups from within the Bush administration have perhaps reduced this effort toward stabilizing peace in the region to near comical efforts, albeit and tragically with a rising human toll.
On the one hand you have Mr. Rumsfeld; the Rambo of “collateral damage” fame who thinks war is good for business. Shades of Gen. Westmoreland during the Vietnam War era. The budget for the Department of Defense needed a boost, and nothing short of continued altercations in all regions of the globe would justify it. More bombs and more bullets meant fatter dividends.
Then there is Paul Wolf-o-witz, who perhaps because of his ethnicity seems bent on redefining the Holocaust once again, this time on the hapless Palestinian refugees, women and children first. Notwithstanding the fact that he is an American first and foremost, Paul is the inspiration for Sharon to continue “full throttle”.
And included in this circle of differing interest groups is Ms. Condi Rice, who has carefully avoided displaying her true form and would sway between the various parties, depending on who was winning the argument for the moment. Job security at its best, and to hell with humanity.
And what of Mr. Powell’s boss, President Bush? Well, a good governor a good president does not make! That was clearly demonstrated with the shenanigans of his predecessor Mr. Clinton who perhaps single-handedly brought the White House into a den of ill-repute.
Yes indeed, Mr. Powell. You are between a rock and a hard place today. And may the force be with you.
Students of political science and international relations should be cautioned not to allow current US foreign policy to be a model of a stable or comprehensible vision of statesmanship. Sadly, this is more like a badly written and corny sitcom! What a pity!
