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

[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. :)