|
Rahm Emanuel on War & Peace
Democratic Rep. (IL-5); Chief of Staff-Designee
|
|
|
Israel/Palestine framework deal easier than a final deal
Q: What do you think went wrong at the beginning of the administration with the Obama-Netanyahu relationship? How optimistic are you about a peace deal?EMANUEL: I am uncharacteristically optimistic, just on the optimism side of 50%.
Q: Why now?
EMANUEL: I think it is a framework deal, which is different and easier than a final deal. And I think the parties have enough in common about the framework, which they have known for ten years.
Q: But why is there the will now?
EMANUEL:
Hamas is as weak as it's going to be. Abbas is ready to work with Israel. Israel has a security concern involving geography. But geography does not have the same value it did in 1967. And I want to say that there is nothing I just said that major
figures in the national security apparatus of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] and Israel haven't said publicly. Nothing! It is not my business. I don't really care. But Israel's national security apparatus has concluded what I have observed.
Source: The New Republic 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
, Apr 6, 2014
2006: Petraeus deserves Nobel Prize for creative statistics
When General Petraeus came back to Washington, he had some good news [from Iraq]. The left-wing group MoveOn.org, however, was determined to smear Petraeus. It ran a full-page ad in the New York Times accusing him of treason and lying to
Congress. The ad's headline read: "General Petraeus or General Betray Us? Cooking the Books for the White House." Accusing a decorated military leader of treason was an incendiary charge. MoveOn went on to attach
Petraeus as "a military man constantly at war with the facts" and argued "the surge strategy has failed."Congressman Rahm Emanuel echoed MoveOn's attack by saying Petraeus's written report to Congress deserved "the Nobel
Prize for creative statistics or the Pulitzer for fiction." But Petraeus, while careful not to paint a "rosy scenario," documented significant, and in some cases stunning, political and military progress in Iraq.
Source: Courage and Consequence, by Karl Rove, p.482
, Mar 9, 2010
Iraq stretched our troops thin too thin for Afghan success
Iraq stretched our forces so thin that soldiers, members of the Guard, and Reservists carried a load far beyond that they had signed up for. The administration jeopardized the success of our mission in
Afghanistan by shifting troops to Iraq because it didn't have enough to go all out in both places. Osama bin Laden got away at Tora Bora in part because we didn't have the personnel to pursue him.
Source: The Plan, by Rahm Emanuel, p.150-151
, Jan 5, 2009
Page last updated: Nov 22, 2024; copyright 1999-2022 Jesse Gordon and OnTheIssues.org