Video: US Public Diplomacy, Elizabeth Cheney, and the Denial of Torture

Last weekend Elizabeth Cheney, former Assistant Secretary of State in the Bush Administration (and, far from incidentally, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney), held the line on MSNBC against any criticism of the Bush-Cheney "extreme interrogation" policies: "It wasn't torture....Everything that was done in this program...are tactics that our own people go through in SERE [Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape] training."

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AF9rV0tw6A[/youtube]

Cheney's appearance is part of the public-relations, Bush/Cheney legacy fightback against the confirmation of torture.She repeats the disinformation that waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and Abu Zubaydah provided "incredible important and useful information that saved American lives". She echoes the warning that "national security" is endangered by the revelation of "enhanced interrogation", referring viewers to other parts of the propaganda effort, such as the opinion piece by former Director of the CIA Michael Hayden and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey in The Wall Street Journal.

(As for Cheney's explanation of "it's not torture": SERE training was developed for US troops in preparation for the torture that they might undergo if captured. The techniques and punishments they endured were adapated by Bush officials for use upon detainees.)

So why focus on this particular interview? Well, in 2002 Elizabeth Cheney was put forth as the State Department's official to lead public diplomacy's engagement with the Middle East. Press and web releases heralded her leadership of the Middle East Partnership Institute to "strengthen civil society and the rule of law": "We all – every one of us-- want to live in freedom. Not because we are American or Iraqi or Afghan or Egyptian or Saudi or Kuwaiti or Iranian."

Thus, when MSNBC interviewer Norah O'Donnell quotes the comment of current Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, "The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image in the world," it speaks directly to Cheney's supposed mission in the Bush White House.

Cheney's response? She merely recycles talking points about "the effectiveness of these programs". There is not a single word responding to the wider (and perhaps more important) challenge about how "the programs" affected the view that the rest of the world has of the US Government and its policies.

How was American partnership with other countries and peoples advanced by the breaking of international law and the exposure of US values as disposable, if not hypocritical? And how are current US efforts in and beyond the Middle East advanced by the wilful denial that there was any improper, let alone illegal, activity in the Bush War on Terror? How do Cheney's words dispel the suspicion that torture has not been put outside the boundaries of American politics and society but merely hidden away?

No doubt Elizabeth Cheney got a Thank You card from her father for her personal diplomacy on his behalf. I'm not so sure that the present State Department, putting in a great deal of effort to raise its public diplomacy profile with social media to complement high-profile initiatives by Hillary Clinton and other officials, pubt one in the mail.

Gaza: Where's the Reconstruction Money?

Matt Benyon Rees of Global Post offers a useful reminder today that very little of the $5.2 billion promised to rebuild Gaza after the December/January war has made it into the area. He could have gone farther, reflecting on Josh Mull's recent post in Enduring America: "Only a slice of the money is even allocated to the Gaza Strip, under the control of the democratically elected Hamas government, while the majority goes to the West Bank, held in the iron grip of Fatah’s Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority."

Still, Rees provides a direct answer for the non-reconstruction: "'Keeping the money out of the hands of Hamas is a challenge,' says one Israeli official."

Billions promised, but Gazans still waiting

RAMALLAH — Money, wrote the English philosopher Francis Bacon, is like manure: of very little use unless it is spread.

Since an international aid conference in March promised $5.2 billion to rebuild Gaza, the stink of un-spread money has been strong in the nostrils. That’s particularly unpleasant for the people of Gaza, who also have to deal with a largely destroyed sewage system, thus giving them a double-helping of manure.

International diplomats, Israeli officials and leaders of the Palestinian Authority haven’t been able to figure out how to rebuild Gaza while keeping the cash out of the hands of Hamas, which runs the narrow strip of land. Food aid can get in, but substantial reconstruction hasn’t begun.

Read rest of article....

Beyond Roxana Saberi: The Arrest of Esha Momeni in Iran

Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, jailed for eight years on espionage charges in Iran, is now entering the second week of a hunger strike. Understandably, given her work for Western media and the building drama, her situation is now daily news. Beyond those headlines, however, there are other cases of individuals imprisoned --- in Iran and the US --- as part of  political manoeuvring.

Last October, California State University graduate student Esha Momeni (pictured) was detained in Tehran's Evin Prison. Momeni, an Iranian-American dual national, was researching her thesis on the women's rights movement in Iran when she was picked up by the authorities. Campaigners for Momeini, who was suffering from kidneystones, claimed that she received no medical care and that her lawyer and family cannot see her.

Momeni was initally charged with a traffic violation, but with other women's rights activists, she was later charged with "endangering national security" as "agents of Western powers". She probably crossed the line when her research included the filming of a documentary on the activists,

Momeni was released on 10 November when her bail of approximately $200,000 was met by the deeds to her family’s apartment. She is still barred from leaving Iran or from pursuing any research in connection with her Master's thesis.

Reading Mahmoud in Tehran: Ahmadinejad Engages (and Wins) in US Television Interview

Video and Transcript: Iran’s Ahmadinejad on ABC’s This Week (26 April)

ABC News, after its posturing earlier in the week over the Roxana Saberi case, finally broadcast the substance of its interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday.

This time, the signals are significant. Behind the rhetoric, Ahmadinejad made clear: no short-term breakthroughs, primarily because of June's Presidential elections, but the path is being laid for long-term talks. And, in preparation for those talks, Iran is reshaping the issues on the table: the priority is not Tehran's nuclear programme but a meaningful approach --- in which Tehran plays an accepted and significant role --- towards Palestinian statehood.

Even the fact that an interview took place carries weight. The last time that a crew from a major US network visited Iran was last autumn, for NBC's Today Show, and their stay did not include an audience with the President. The granting of the visas to ABC, plus 30 minutes face-time with Ahmadinejad, is an acceptance of engagement.

Which was not to say that the President was going to make the process easy. Responding to ABC's framing of Obama offering "a new relationship", Ahmadinejad gave the assurance, "We are calling for peace and security for all," but then put the burden of symbolic concession on the US:

In the past 29 years, different U.S. administrations have opposed the Iranian people. Now they say that we have given up that enmity....An administration which, up until yesterday, was saying that I’m going to kill you, and today says that I’m not going to kill you?

Ahmadinejad backed this up with the clever reminder that he had made the first step to reconciliation: "I sent a congratulatory message to Mr. Obama [when he was elected President]....I am yet to receive a response."

Doing this, the President could present an Iran biding its time to consider the possible change in US approach. On the proposed direct talks over Iran's nuclear programme, he said, "Planning needs to be made, and some timetables need to be set....Many new issues have been added to the agenda, so to speak, and we are reconsidering our proposed package."

ABC's George Stephanopoulos, turned into a teenager wanting his allowance now, begged, "Why not sit down right now with the U.S. and the European powers to discuss the nuclear program?.... Tell me your proposal....I just want to know, when will Iran sit down with the United States and the European powers to discuss the nuclear program?", which only reinforced Ahmadinejad's play-it-cool position:

We should just have a clear-cut framework for talks. The agenda should be clear.

This, however, was not just a case of a President stalling or holding the line. Turning around Stephanopoulos' bumbling presentation of the standard charges of Iran's anti-Israel policy and Holocaust denial, Ahmadinejad put forth Tehran's defence of rights and a just solution for Palestine:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Why do you insist on questioning the Holocaust even when it’s established as an historical fact, and even when politicians here in Iran worry that that kind of talk isolates Iran?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): I’m going to talk about that as well. Don’t be hasty. I have posed two questions over the Holocaust. My first question was, if the Holocaust happened, where did it take place? In Europe. Why should they make amends in Palestine? The Palestinian people had no role to play in the Holocaust. They had no role, for that matter, in the Second World War. Racism happened in Europe, but amends are made in Palestine?

Perhaps more significantly, Ahmadinejad knocked back Stephanopoulos' next attempt clubbing --- Iran will never recognise Israel --- with this response:

AHMADINEJAD: we are asking for the legal rights of the Palestinian people. What we are saying is that the Palestinian people, like other peoples, have the right to determine their own fate....Nobody should interfere. Allow the Palestinian people to decide for themselves. Whatever they decide....

STEPHANOPOULOS: If the Palestinians sign an agreement with Israel, will Iran support it?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Whatever decision they take is fine with us. We are not going to determine anything. Whatever decision they take, we will support that. We think that this is the right of the Palestinian people.

It will be interesting to see how the President's interview is received within Iran, but my reading is that he successfully balanced the need to hold open the door to US-Iran engagement while putting off any substantive discussions during his bid for re-election. Washington undoubtedly recognises this; the immediate issue is whether it accepts this and holds off on any pressure against Tehran.

Then the interesting part begins. As Ahmadinejad tries to hold office, the US is making its (so far stuttering) move for a Middle Eastern reconfiguration in which Iran looks in from the outside --- that is why the Obama Administration needs a substantive advance on both Israel-Syria and Israel-Palestine talks.

Ahmadinejad's most important message, therefore, was: You can't keep us out. And, indeed, if the US makes little progress before July --- whether or not he still is President of Iran --- he might be right.

Video and Transcript: Iran's Ahmadinejad on ABC's This Week (26 April)

Latest Post: Ahmadinejad Engages (and Wins) in US Television Interview

VIDEO (PART 1 OF 2)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMwdlOk2wMw[/youtube]

VIDEO (PART 2 OF 2)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77eeYWxbqWQ[/youtube]

SPEAKERS: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST

PRES. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRAN

STEPHANOPOULOS: During the last administration, no other world leader next to you was as critical of the American administration as [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez. Yet, look at this picture right here. Is this a picture that you would like to see, you and President Obama? And what do you think the Iranian people would think of you and President Obama meeting, shaking hands, engaging in conversation?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Well, we are calling for peace and security for all. We would like international relations to be based on just this and friendship. Wherever a hostile relationship turns into friendship, that would make us happy.

STEPHANOPOULOS: President Obama says that’s exactly what he wants right now. He says he wants a new beginning in a relationship with Iran. He sent a message to the Iranian people on the occasion of the Novruz holiday, where he called Iran a great civilization.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Very best wishes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: He talked about the Islamic Republic of Iran, where he signaled that he wasn’t interested in regime change, and he talked about his vision for the United States/Iranian relationship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: It’s a future where the old divisions are overcome, where you and all of your neighbors and the wider world can live in greater security and greater peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you share that vision?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): You need to appreciate that the American administration, 29 years ago, unilaterally cut its relations with Iran. In the past 29 years, different U.S. administrations have opposed the Iranian people.

Now they say that we have given up that enmity. That’s fine. We have welcomed such comments. But an administration which, up until yesterday, was saying that I’m going to kill you, and today says that I’m not going to kill you?

STEPHANOPOULOS: So there is change, though. What will Iran do in response? The United States has said that the United States is ready to talk with Iran and the other great powers -- Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. Are you prepared to sit down at those talks without preconditions?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Well, previously, first of all, I sent a congratulatory message to Mr. Obama. This was a major decision, although the Iranian people were very much dismayed with the conduct of previous U.S. administrations, and I was criticized here at home in Iran.

Nevertheless, I did that. I am yet to receive a response.

With the European group and the American group, we will talk. We have announced as much, that we are going to negotiate. But...

STEPHANOPOULOS: When will you join those talks?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): ... again, based on justice and mutual respect.

Well, after everything is said and done -- well, planning needs to be made, and some timetables need to be set. We believe in talking, in negotiating, based on sincerity and respect and justice. But the U.S. administration severed its relations with us.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But that was the past administration. And now President Obama said he is prepared to sit down, along with the other European powers, without any preconditions. And it sounds to me as if you’re suggesting now Iran is the one with the preconditions, echoing, in fact, the policy of the last U.S. administration.

Are there preconditions or not? Why not sit down right now with the U.S. and the European powers to discuss the nuclear program?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Last year we proposed a package of proposals for talks. Everyone knows that in this year many changes, developments have unfolded on the international stage. Many new issues have been added to the agenda, so to speak, and we are reconsidering our proposed package. We are adding new issues to the realm, if you will, of the talks. And we are going to make that public as soon as possible. We are always ready to talk...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Why not now?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): ... with no preconditions.

What should I do?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Tell me your proposal.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Should I share that with you, sir?

STEPHANOPOULOS: The world, American viewers.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): We are going to do that officially. We think that we should prepare the ground so that all states and peoples can have their say.

We are ready to contribute to international security, peace, and global friendship and global disarmament.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You say you want to talk on the basis of respect. The president has expressed his respect for the Islamic Republic of Iran, and he said he is ready to talk. I just want to know, when will Iran sit down with the United States and the European powers to discuss the nuclear program?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Well, the nuclear issue of ours is a special issue. We think that the nuclear issue needs to be resolved in the context of the agency and regulations.

We are just utilizing our legal rights.

I have no reservations when it comes to talking.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you’re ready to talk without preconditions?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): No, no. We should just have a clear-cut framework for talks. The agenda should be clear.

But so far we have only heard this from the media, the newspapers, that they’re interested in talking. And obviously, they’re going to receive a response from the papers.

I was fully expecting Mr. Obama to participate in the Geneva Conference. What issue is more important than racial discrimination? The United Nations has organized...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Yes, sir, since you bring that up...

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): ... such a conference. I don’t think or believe that Mr. Obama supports racism. However, the gentleman should have been there and should have condemned outright racism and racial discrimination.

This is a good possibility for talks and cooperation. We should all cooperate with one another to help racism to go away from the international...

STEPHANOPOULOS: What he doesn’t agree...

(CROSSTALK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... with, if I may (inaudible), is the idea that Israel is a racist state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I found many of the statements that President Ahmadinejad made, particularly those directed at Israel, to be appalling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: And, frankly, many in the West look at your speech in Geneva, and they wonder whether you really do want a better relationship with the West when you deny that there was a Holocaust when it’s an established historical fact. They believe that you’re not showing respect for the West and the beliefs of the West.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Well, I was talking against the Zionist regime in the racism conference. The first proviso for successful talks would be to give the other party the freedom to speak. Mr. Obama has the right to have his own opinion, obviously.

He is ready to express his points of view. But the Geneva conference had been organized to combat racism, to oppose racism. My point of view is that the Zionist regime is the manifestation of racism.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Yet when you speak at that conference, Western diplomats walk out. Even the U.N. secretary-general condemns your remarks.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): That’s fine. That’s fine. They are free to have their own points of view. Why do they want to deny me my ideas?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Why do you insist on questioning the Holocaust even when it’s established as an historical fact, and even when politicians here in Iran worry that that kind of talk isolates Iran?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): I’m going to talk about that as well. Don’t be hasty. I have posed two questions over the Holocaust. My first question was, if the Holocaust happened, where did it take place? In Europe. Why should they make amends in Palestine? The Palestinian people had no role to play in the Holocaust. They had no role, for that matter, in the Second World War. Racism happened in Europe, but amends are made in Palestine?

My second question about the Holocaust. If this is indeed a historical event, why do they want to turn it into a holy thing? And nobody should be allowed to ask any questions about that? Nobody study it, research it, permitted to research it. Why?

STEPHANOPOULOS: It’s the most studied historical event in history. AHMADINEJAD (through translator): If this is a historically documented event, why do Western states show so much sensitivity towards a historical event?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s talk about...

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): (inaudible) the lid to be taken off.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s talk about what’s happening right now.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): I am asking them to permit studies.

STEPHANOPOULOS: President Obama has appointed Senator George Mitchell to help negotiate a peace between Israel and Palestine. Do you support that effort?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Well, we are asking for the legal rights of the Palestinian people. What we are saying is that the Palestinian people, like other peoples, have the right to determine their own fate. Muslims, Christians and Jews alike. We should -- they should allow them to engage in elections, free elections and a free referendum to determine for themselves their own fate. We must not repeat the mistakes of the past.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you believe President Obama’s new effort is repeating the mistakes of the past?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Well, I am yet to have a clear idea about Mr. Obama’s Palestinian policy. However, the gentleman’s support of the massacre of Gazans and support for the criminals who were responsible for that atrocity was a major mistake on the part of the gentleman.

I think that if Mr. Obama wants to help with the Palestinian issue, he has to move in accordance with justice, fair play. And also, again, I am calling for the right for the Palestinians to determine their own fate.

STEPHANOPOULOS: If the Palestinian people negotiate an agreement with Israel and the Palestinian people vote and support that agreement, a two-state solution, will Iran support it?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Nobody should interfere. Allow the Palestinian people to decide for themselves. Whatever they decide.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That’s all I’m asking. So if they choose a two- state solution...

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): It is the right of all human beings.

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... with Israel, that’s fine?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Well, what we are saying is that you and us should not determine the course of things beforehand. Allow the Palestinian people to make their own decisions.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But if they choose a two-state solution, if they choose to recognize Israel’s existence, Iran will as well?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Let me approach this from another perspective. If the Palestinian people decide that the Zionist regime needs to leave all Palestinian lands, would the American administration accept their decision?

STEPHANOPOULOS: I’ll ask them. But I’m asking you if they decide to say Israel should exist and (inaudible) Israel, would Iran support that?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Can I ask you questions as well?

STEPHANOPOULOS: I’m not part of the American government. I’ll put that question to the American government, but I have a question for you as president of Iran.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): That’s fine.

STEPHANOPOULOS: If the Palestinians sign an agreement with Israel, will Iran support it?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Whatever decision they take is fine with us. We are not going to determine anything. Whatever decision they take, we will support that. We think that this is the right of the Palestinian people.

However, we fully expect other states to do so as well. The U.S. administration, European governments. The right to determine their fate by the Palestinians should be respected by all of them.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask you one final question. You are up for election on June 12th. If you are successful in this reelection, what is your hope for the Iranian-U.S. relationship over the next four years?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Well, Iran and U.S. relations are dependent on the decision taken by the U.S. administration. Mr. Obama sends us messages of friendship, but in the communique issued by the five plus one, enmity can be seen. So this is a dual route, if you will.

I have sent a message to Mr. Obama myself. We welcome change. We are praying to the Almighty for that. And we will help to bring change about.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. President, thank you very much for your time.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Thank you. Good luck. And please convey my regards to the American people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANOPOULOS: President Ahmadinejad in Iran.