Word: arabize
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...point to the agreement by Syria's President Bashar Assad to stop paying Baghdad directly for oil pumped through his country as a sign that Saddam's neighbors are ready to play ball if they believe Washington is pursuing a sound strategy. The problem, of course, is that the Arab states who lined up behind the U.S. in the Gulf War for the most part don't believe that a proxy war to overthrow Saddam is a sound strategy - they have serious doubts, echoed by many in the Pentagon, about the abilities of a loose and diverse coalition of opposition...
...swallow a significantly softer sanctions regime. There, Powell may be in a bit of a box. While he can ritually intone the mantra of taking steps to change the regime in Baghdad, he also has to be concerned that this is a policy option that causes concern among the Arab states on whom Washington must rely to enforce the arms embargo. Powell may envisage a policy of long-term containment of Saddam, but that's not going to sound particularly appealing to the Capitol Hill hawks who want to finish what the Gulf War began. Still, Powell may have...
...with a whimper." Accusing Powell of following up America's bombing of the Baghdad radars (a good thing) with easing sanctions on Saddam (a bad thing), it sneered that his aim seems to be to figure out "how the United States can best bow to pressure from the Arab world." Equally bad, he "gave the Israelis a slap in the face" by telling them they should pay the $54 million in taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority. It concluded, "If Mr. Powell was trying to renew a friendship with an old ally through these actions, Israel wasn't impressed. Neither...
...with Saddam becomes unclear and sometimes even dangerous to wider U.S. interests. So while he may be up against some formidable power players in debating Iraq policy, Powell has the ultimate trump card - his policy of revised sanctions is the only one capable of winning the support of the Arab regimes who'll have to implement...
While U.S. officials like Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld talk of aggressive new strategies to get rid of Saddam, Powell speaks mainly of reinvigorating the sanctions. To do that, he will need to convince Arab and European allies that Saddam is playing and winning a propaganda game by letting his people starve. And to bring the allies back aboard, Powell will need to draw up an approach that reduces civilian hardships while concentrating embargoes on things that count. Powell has taken to saying sanctions are really about ensuring that Iraq complies with 1991 cease-fire agreements...