[(Continued from p.6)]
sity. It relies on three foundations: Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. To those one must add a fourth foundation -- the depth of Hijaz (i.e., the Gulf States). Those were the foundations that historically achieved the repelling of invasions of Palestine." A sharper note was sounded by a member of the Fatah central committee, Abbas Zaki, in speeches made in Arafat's name (April 2001), when he invoked the Palestinian expectation of support by the Arab military front, mainly by Iraq, to finish the historic move toward the liberation of Palestine. He said: "We swear to you, Abu Udai [Saddam Hussein], to adhere to the path of struggle, until the Iraqi Army liberates this land from the uncleanliness of the oppression."[Editor's note: Following are three explanations by the State Department of the difference between the U.S. policy of targeting terrorists and Israel's policy doing the same thing. The first is a parody sent to us by Yisrael Medad of the Begin Center in Israel; the anonymous author, he says, is a young American who lived in Israel. The parody , which was written first, is followed by the actual briefing by the State Department spokesman and a Powell interview on CNN. The reader is invited to decide whether the parody or the real State Department "elucidations" are more absurd.]
Spokesman: The United States killed six suspected al Qaeda members in Yemen Monday morning, including the man wanted in the bombing of the USS Cole, with a Hellfire missile fired from an unmanned CIA drone at the car in which they were traveling.
Reporter: Mr. Spokesman, some have compared this incident to the Israeli policy of using targeted killings against wanted terrorists which Secretary Powell has condemned. What is your reaction?
Spokesman: Well, there's clearly no comparison to be made here.
Reporter: Mr. Spokesman, with all due respect, what is the difference?
Spokesman: For starters, the Israelis refer to their operations as "targeted killings." Under a new executive order signed by the President, we call our operations "getting the bad guys."
Reporter: Mr. Spokesman, putting aside our choice of terminology, is the effect of these operations not much the same?
Spokesman: Clearly not. The Israeli policy affects people from groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah, whereas ours are directed against members of Al Qaeda. Besides that, the name of the top guy we killed was Abu Ali. The name of the top guy the Israelis killed was Abu Mohammed.
Reporter: I think the point I'm trying to make is, are these not both very similar tactics used in the effort to combat terrorism?
Spokesman: Tactics?! Let me be very clear. This is part of an ongoing strategy. A strategy which the President has rightly called a "War on Terror." The distinction between tactics and strategy should be kept very clear.
Reporter: But, Mr. Spokesman, how is our strategy different from the strategy being used by the Israelis?
Spokesman: I think I've made the distinction clear enough and I'm afraid we've been over this ground before. I'm not going to entertain further questions on this topic, but if you'd like to discuss our vision for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I'd be happy to get into that.
Q: On Qatar. What are the implications of the U.S. Government's missile strike yesterday and--
Boucher: Qatar? You mean Yemen?
Q: I'm sorry.Yemen. I'm sorry, in Yemen. And I'm sure many Israelis are wondering what the difference is between this and targeted killing. And me, too.
Boucher: As far as the events in Yemen, I have nothing for you on that.
Q: But can you say that you are against targeted killings?
Boucher: Our policy on targeted killings in the Israeli-Palestinian context has not changed--
Q: In other contexts?
Boucher: --and we've discussed that and explained that many times.
Q: And in other contexts?
Boucher: I'm not going to speculate.
Q: Well, so you have one rule for one conflict and another rule for another conflict?
Boucher: I would say that -- if you look back at
[(Continued on p.8)]
December 2002 - 7 - Outpost