(Washington Post) Glenn Kessler - President Bush told Jordan's King Abdullah at Camp David two weeks ago that Arafat "is a loser." Bush told the king, "I'm not going to spend my political capital on losers, only winners. I'm still in a war mode, and the war is terrorism. If people don't fight terrorism, I am not going to deal with them." Secretary of State Powell said Friday the road map is in a "pause," but "it's not as if with that pause that we have disengaged." The Bush administration embraced Abbas as the new future of Palestine, which culminated in a White House meeting with Bush at the end of July. Abbas reached a cease-fire with Palestinian militant groups, but never effectively disarmed them, as the Israelis and Americans demanded. "The security efforts were really dismal," a senior U.S. official said. U.S. officials say Abbas's Washington visit enraged Arafat, prompting him to undercut Abbas in a series of events that led to his resignation.
2003-10-08 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive