Coup Plot Against Hamas Revealed

Condoleeza Rice: most evil Secretary of State since Kissinger

From Al Jazeera:

The US plotted to overthrow the democratically elected Hamas government in the Palestinian territories, documents obtained by Al Jazeera reveal. One of the documents appears to show that Washington tried to persuade Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and leader of Fatah, to remove Hamas from power.

One document, dated March 2007, states "the plan will enable the Palestinian leadership to be more credible in the eyes of Israel and the others". But, when that plan failed, the US set up an operation to fund Fatah fighters and drive Hamas out.

In Cairo, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, justified the arming of Fatah, saying the situation had called for it.

The leaked documents include a memo sent to Fatah officials, apparently by a senior US diplomat in Jerusalem in November 2006, encouraging Fatah to declare a state of emergency and take control.



The memo stated: "If Hamas does not agree [to accept a new government] within the prescribed time, you should make clear your intention to declare a state of emergency and form an emergency government explicitly committed to that platform."



The plan was ignored by Abbas who instead formed a unity government with Hamas in 2007, intended to bring an end to fighting between the two factions.

I never took seriously Bush's talk about wanting to spread democracy in the Middle East. Bush didn't think much of democracy when he lost the election in 2000, or when he supported the Venezuelan coup in 2002, or when he backed Musharraf after his defeat in Pakistan's recent election. Bush has supported some of the most repressive regimes in the region, all the while claiming that his love of democracy is what motivated him to invade Iraq.

So now we find that the Bush administration urged a coup d'etat in Palestine when he didn't like the results of their election. I am so not surprised.



(via appletree, cross posted at Liberal Avenger)