:: Xinhuanet - English ::: "US emissary urges Sharon to fulfill promises in secret meeting: newspaper | www.chinaview.cn 2003-11-24 17:37:15

JERUSALEM, Nov. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- A US emissary met secretly last Monday in Rome with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and urged the latter to fulfill his promises, Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported Monday.

Eliot Abrams, who is a member of the US National Security Council and in charge of White House relations with Israel, informed Sharon of US administration's demands that Israel fulfill his promises to dismantle illegal outposts and freeze settlement construction.

According to the report, Abrams apparently told Sharon of the administration's intention to deduct the cost of the security fencefrom US loan guarantees to Israel. "
- posted by Editor @ 6:25 AM

Israel Urged to Aid Palestinians (washingtonpost.com): "Ways to Push Peace Process Forward Discussed With U.S. | By Glenn Kessler | Wednesday, November 19, 2003; Page A22

White House officials have held intense discussions with Israeli officials in recent weeks on ways to ease the plight of the Palestinians, lift roadblocks in the occupied territories and deal with other vexing issues that have created a chill in the generally warm relations between President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, U.S. officials said yesterday.
...
"There is frustration with Sharon at the White House," a U.S. official said yesterday. "Issues don't go away and don't get resolved."

Still, European and Arab leaders have argued that the administration has been much too reluctant to pressure Israel in the past. The European Union sharply condemned Israel yesterday for its treatment of the Palestinians, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to raise the issue with Bush in their meetings this week.
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U.S. officials are debating whether to deduct the costs of the fence from U.S. loan guarantees to Israel. Some officials say the United States is close to doing so, but one said yesterday that was "wishful thinking in an election year."
- posted by Editor @ 8:48 AM

FAIR MEDIA ADVISORY: Bush Uranium Lie Is Tip of the Iceberg: "Press should expand focus beyond '16 words' | July 18, 2003

Five months later, the truthfulness of one claim in George W. Bush's State of the Union address has become the focus of growing media scrutiny. The attention media are paying to this single assertion should be part of a larger journalistic inquiry into other misstatements and exaggerations that have been made by the Bush administration about Iraq.
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At minimum, the following assertions made by the Bush administration also deserve media scrutiny:
-- Aluminum tubes: Bush said would be "suitable for nuclear weapons production."
-- Iraq/Al Qaeda links: "We have removed an ally of Al Qaeda."
-- The trailers: "We found biological laboratories,"
-- Weapons Inspections: "chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in."
-- Powell's U.N. address: added the phrase "make sure there is nothing there,"
-- Other pre-war deceptions: 'Iraq was "six months away" from developing a nuclear weapon' and "for missions targeting the United States."
- posted by Editor @ 6:47 PM

Charley Reese: "Wednesday, November 5, 2003 | Don't Trust Government | Charley Reese

The independent commission set up to investigate the Sept. 11 attacks is threatening to use subpoenas to get documents that the White House has so far refused to give up.

This is stonewalling and a cover-up.

The president, at his recent news conference, referred to his daily intelligence briefings and said, in his own muddled way, that if they were made public, the people who prepared them would somehow be inhibited in preparing future intelligence briefings.

That is so illogical it beggars reply. ...
- posted by Editor @ 8:05 AM

American spy chiefs want more pressure on settlements: "American spy chiefs want more pressure on settlements | By Amir Oren | Monday, November 03, 2003

The U.S. Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) has recommended to the Bush administration to apply 'clear and intentional pressure' on Israel regarding the settlements, as part of making headway with the Palestinians, as well as helping to calm the situation heating up in Iraq.
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Ford submitted that the urgency of advancing an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, which necessitates pressure on Israel regarding the settlements, was one of two conditions for stability in Iraq. The other was visible progress on democracy and welfare in Iraq itself. Ford expressed doubts over fulfilling these conditions, and described the chance of achieving success on both counts as "a miracle," but that without it, the U.S. should expect Arab and Muslim hostility to increase further, threatening prospects for the future.
- posted by Editor @ 5:54 AM