The President that Was

[pyat]

According to (Israeli Prime Minister) Olmert’s account of what happened, given in a speech on January 13 in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, “I said, ‘Get me President Bush on the phone’. They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said, ‘I don’t care: I have to talk to him now’. They got him off the podium, brought him to another room, and I spoke to him.”

“I told him, ‘You can’t vote in favour of this resolution.’ He said, ‘Listen, I don’t know about it. I didn’t see it. I’m not familiar with the phrasing’.” So Prime Minister Olmert told President Bush: “I’m familiar with it. You can’t vote in favour.”

Bush did as he was told: “Mr Bush gave an order to Secretary of State Rice and she did not vote in favour of it—a resolution she cooked up, phrased, organised, and manoeuvred for,” said Olmert triumphantly. “She was left pretty shamed, and abstained on a resolution she arranged.” The Security Council passed the resolution 14-0, but the United States, its principal author, abstained.

From a recent column by Gwynne Dyer.

Comments

[anidada.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the oral history of the Bush White House (http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/02/bush-oral-history200902)? Warning: nausea-inducing.

[zenten.livejournal.com]

I'm still not clear on why Olmert went to the press with this.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

He was apparently angry with the foreign minister for taking credit, earlier. See a quote in a comment, below.

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

HE'S LEAVING, HE'S LEAVING, SWEAR TO GOD, WE'RE HUSTLING HIM OUT THE DOOR AS WE SPEAK

[leonard-arlotte.livejournal.com]

Has it been verified that is is actually what happened? I am very dubious that a speech would be interrupted for this kind of thing. It sounds like this Olmert guy is tooting his own horn about how important he is.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

No, no one knows more than what's in the column, apparently. It's certainly confirmed that Olmert, who is the Prime Minister of Israel, said it in his speech. It's certainly true that the US appeared to support the motion, then abstained only after Israel objected in some fashion.

The state department initially said the story was totally false, then later said there were "inaccuracies" in the story. Olmert's people say it's true.

So, there it stands.

If true, reminds me of the time LBJ went ballistic on the Canadian PM and chewed him out. :)

[pyat.livejournal.com]

According to one Israeli paper, Olmert was responding to claims that Israel's foreign minister had been the one to force the change.

Interestingly, the one thing no one is denying is that the US abstained because Israel asked the US to abstain.

From Arutz Sheva:
All media reports agree that Bush trumped Rice's intentions, but Livni and Olmert, who never have been the closest of friends, each tried to take the credit.

At this week's Cabinet meeting, she complained to Prime Minister Olmert after Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) criticized her for failing to convince the U.S. to veto the U.N. motion. Hasson reported that Prime Minister Olmert ordered the minister not to deal with politics while a war is going on.

The following morning, Livni told Voice of Israel government radio that she spoke with Rice last Thursday night and secured a promise that she would abstain in the vote.

Hasson said that when Prime Minister Olmert heard of her comments, he took the opportunity in a speech in Ashkelon to brag about how he personally interrupted President Bush with a phone call.

"I said, 'Get me President Bush on the phone,'" he explained. "They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I did not care: 'I need to talk to him now.' He got off the podium and spoke to me."

He later told the Associated Press, "She was left pretty embarrassed."

McCormack's comments were challenged by Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki, who said that he was told that the U.S. would back the resolution.

[leonard-arlotte.livejournal.com]

The part I am wondering about is if there is anyone who was in Philadelphia, who can confirm that Dubya was interrupted, and left to handle this guy.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

That is actually a fairly minor point, IMHO, beside the possibility that the Bush changed his own government policy because someone in the Israeli government demanded he do so.