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Freeman: A Pyrrhic Victory?

Obama may have hoped to demonstrate that with a new administration in place the US can show the world, and especially the countries of the Middle East, that the US will be an honest broker and not so one-eyed pro-Israel as the Bush White House was.

Think again, for in a short time Obama has shown his true colors in his appointments, his words and his actions and inaction. The withdrawal by Charles Freeman of his nomination for the Chairmanship of the NIC - citing, as he does the pressures of the Israel Lobby - have, needless to say, attracted comment of the press in the Middle East.

The Washington Post reports:

"The Middle East press has questioned President Obama's authority over Arab-Israeli issues since Charles W. Freeman Jr.'s withdrawal from his appointment to a senior intelligence position.

A commentary in Abu Dhabi's the National, a newspaper owned by an investment fund controlled by the government, said Freeman's decision Tuesday to withdraw as chairman of the National Intelligence Council "threw the Obama administration into the heart of a long-running controversy over the alleged supremacy of pro-Israel hawks in determining U.S. foreign policy after having taken a cautious approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so far consistent with previous administrations."

The Daily Star in Beirut went further, saying Freeman's action "is likely to be viewed as a significant victory for hardliners within the so-called 'Israeli lobby,' who led the movement to scuttle his appointment, and a blow to hopes for a new approach to Israel-Palestine issues under the Obama administration."

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