Rice and the 'Borderline Schizophrenia' of US Diplomacy

Condoleezza Rice singlehandedly redid the border between Iraq and Turkey during a session of the US Senate when she was asked to explain recent negotiations between the Kurds of Northern Iraq and Turkey:

This is regarding the PKK, which we have categorized as a terrorist organization in our list. The PKK performs activities at the border between Turkey and Kurdistan and is responsible for the attacks inside Turkey." [emphasis added]

The border of course is between Turkey and Northern Iraq, not Kurdistan.

Michael Rubin comments on the repercussions of Rice's mistake:

It has become fashionable in Rice’s tenure to abandon allies, be it democracy activists in Egypt, Cedar Revolution activists in Lebanon, and now Turkey. It is unfortunate in the extreme. Her careless remarks bring Turkey closer to taking action on its own in Iraq, where the PKK has established bases.

Of course, if you follow Rice's exploits in the Middle East you can see that Israel has been abandoned as well. In fact, a few years ago Rice had another case of 'borderline schizophrenia' when, back in November 2005, she said the following:

Good morning. Two months ago, Israel and the Palestinian Authority took an unprecedented step on the road to peace with the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, returning control of that territory to the Palestinian people. Israeli and Palestinian leaders have been hammering out practical arrangements to gain the benefits of that withdrawal and improve conditions in the rest of the Palestinian territories.

...First, for the first time since 1967, Palestinians will gain control over entry and exit from their territory. This will be through an international crossing at Rafah, whose target opening date is November 25th. [emphasis added]

Of course, Gaza has never been Palestinian territory--assuming you are referring to the Palestinian Arabs. James Taranto noted Rice's error and pointed out the actual historical background:

Before World War I, the entire region, including Israel and the disputed territories, was part of the Ottoman Empire. Between World War I and 1948, the British administered it. In 1948 the Arabs went to war rather than accept a U.N. partition of Palestine that would have created Jewish and Arab states. After that conflict and until 1967, Egypt controlled Gaza and Jordan controlled the West Bank.

It is a historical error on Rice's part that is telling, and derives in part from her fixation on coddling the Palestinian Authority. Unfortunately, when it comes to Israel, Rice has not limited herself to merely mis-stating the facts. The problem is that not every diplomatic end in the Middle East can be achieved by ramming it down Israel's throat. Rice commented in an interview with Cal Thomas last year that

...I know too, as a student of international history, that there are so many things that once seemed impossible that, after they happened, simply seemed inevitable.

That of course is the whole point--that to be sustainable some things have to happen and develop on their own. They cannot be forced.

This is another element of history that Condoleezza Rice seems to have forgotten.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Condoleezza Rice.