EDWARD L. PECK, EUGENE BIRD
http://www.cnionline.org
Peck and Bird are on a delegation observing the Palestinian election. Peck is a former U.S. chief of mission to Iraq and was deputy director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism in the Reagan administration. He said today: “Many are talking about Hamas’ victory without mentioning Israel. [Israeli leader] Olmert’s recent speech, which basically said Israel would do whatever it wanted, had a real impact. … Bush complained about presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon during their election; well, the Israeli presence is far more here. Still the Palestinians held this election, and now Bush is going to reject what happens? That’s not democracy.”
President of the Council for the National Interest, Bird said today: “This was an election of anger at the failure of Oslo to deliver. The U.S. and Israel refused to deal with Arafat. This has led to the election of Hamas. Still, we met with Hamas leader Mahmood Zahar and he has offered a truce if Israel goes to the green line, but that’s not going to happen given the current U.S. policies.”
(via)
Does Bush need a map?
Update: Raed Jarrar has one for Iraq.
And Iddybud’s Jude Nagurney Camwell has a front page screenshot of today’s Washington Times Insider calling the election a narrow victory for Fatah.