Dave Postman of the Seattle Times interviewed Newt Gingrich and then followed up by watching him on Meet the Press before writing his article. In the course of the interview, Gingrich makes the following statements as detailed in Postman's article:
On Meet the Press Gingrich did repeat his assertion that World War
III has begun. He said the current fighting in the Middle East:
"is absolutely a question of the survival of Israel, but
it's also a question of what is really a world war. ... I mean, we, we
are in the early stages of what I would describe as the third world
war, and frankly, our bureaucracies aren't responding fast enough, we
don't have the right attitude about this, and this is the 58th year of
the war to destroy Israel.
"MR. RUSSERT: This is World War III?
"MR. GINGRICH: I, I believe if you take all the countries I just
listed, that you've been covering, put them on a map, look at all the
different connectivity, you'd have to say to yourself this is, in fact,
World War III."
Russert seems genuinely surprised to hear the words World War III, but should anyone be surprised? Gingrich makes a valid point. A point, by the way, that President Bush made back on May 5th (Hat tip: Reliapundit):
BREITBART (AFP):
US President George W. Bush said the September 11 revolt
of passengers against their hijackers on board Flight 93 had struck the
first blow of "World War III."
In an interview with the financial news network CNBC,
Bush said he had yet to see the recently released film of the uprising,
a dramatic portrayal of events on the United Airlines plane before it
crashed in a Pennsylvania field.
But he said he agreed with the description of David
Beamer, whose son Todd died in the crash, who in a Wall Street Journal
commentary last month called it "our first successful counter-attack in
our homeland in this new global war -- World War III".
Bush said: "I believe that. I believe that it was the first counter-attack to World War III.
The article ends with some very strange ramblings by Gingrich that seem to knock the President or at least his policies of the last couple of months pretty hard.
On Meet the Press Gingrich seemed to be drawing a distinction
between two visions of foreign policy and how to deal with dictators
and terrorism. But it came out sounding like he was comparing his view
to that of the Bush Administration -- which he advises as a member of
the Defense Policy Board -- rather than what I heard as the contrasting
views of Democrats and Republicans.
He told Russert:
"My point is -- and this is a core difference in how, in
how I think we think about foreign policy. When in doubt, I want the
United States to be very strong and I want us to be very clear with
dictatorships. We're sending signals today that no matter how much you
provoke us, no matter how viciously you describe things in public, no
matter how many things you're doing with missiles and nuclear weapons,
the most you'll get out of us is talk.
"MR. RUSSERT: You're talking about the Bush administration.
"MR. GINGRICH: I'm talking about the policies of the United States today.
"MR. RUSSERT: But that is such a condemnation of George W. Bush.
"MR. GINGRICH: Well, it's not a condemnation of George W. Bush. It's
a statement that--look what we've done in the last six weeks. I mean, I
think we are in a very serious crisis in this country."
Perhaps he was projecting a message to someone, because to say that President Bush isn't strongly motivated and very focused on taking a hard line against terrorists would be ludicrous. Or perhaps he was tailoring his message to Russert's liberal NBC audience. Or perhaps its all a Rovian plot. Even the Instapundit is confused: "IS NEWT GINGRICH CRITICIZING BUSH, or is he criticizing the left? Maybe both?"
UPDATE:
Perhaps I was too hasty. I hope the President clarifies this remark which comes from the joint G8 statement released earlier:
"These extremist elements and those that support
them cannot be allowed to plunge the Middle East into chaos and provoke
a wider conflict. The extremists must immediately halt their attacks.
It is also critical that Israel, while exercising the right to defend
itself, be mindful of the strategic and humanitarian consequences of
its actions. We call upon Israel to exercise utmost restraint," the statement continues.
I want the old George Bush back, you know, the one who says things like "wanted dead or alive." This diplomatic Bush is B.S.
And just in case anyone has forgotten, Israel has been following the "be patient" plea from the United States for years, going all the way back to Bush 41's plea as Iranian scuds were landing in their country during the first Gulf War back in 1991.
UPDATE II:
Hmmm. Perhaps this is the clarification from Condi Rice (Hat tip: Tammy Bruce):
Rice: No point in temporary ceasefire
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned that for the time
being the United States is not interested to assist in negotiating a
ceasefire. There is no point in achieving a ceasefire so long as
Hizbullah and Hamas are capable of firing rockets at Israel, and by
doing so to breach it...
The Pentagon notified Congress of plans to sell Israel jet fuel
valued at up to USD 210 million "to keep peace and security in the
region".
"The proposed sale of the JP-8 aviation fuel will enable Israel to
maintain the operational capability of its aircraft inventory," the
Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in notice required
by law.
UPDATE III:
Aaaah, I feel better. Behind the scenes, GWB tells it like it is.
Bush was talking privately to British Prime Minister
Tony
Blair during a lunch at the Group of Eight summit in St
Petersburg about an upsurge of violence in the Middle East, not
realizing a microphone was recording what he said.
"I think Condi (Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice) is
going to go pretty soon," Bush said.
Blair replied: "Right, that's all that matters, it will
take some time to get that together."
The two leaders also referred to an offer by Blair to help.
Blair said Rice has "got to succeed" if she goes out to the
region.
Bush replied: "What they need to do is to get Syria to get
Hezbollah to stop doing this shit." Shortly afterwards Blair
noticed the microphone and hastily switched it off, but not
before the recording had reached news media. Video.

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