Frmr. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is said to be on Hillary Clinton's list for State Department. Let's look back at articles in 1996 and '97 to see how that worked out for us.
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Genocide, "The Price Is Worth It"
When asked by Lesley Stahl on CBS's 60 Minutes, on 12 May 1996, in reference to genocidal sanctions against Iraq,
"We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?"
Madeleine Albright responded,
"I think this is a very hard choice, but the price, we think the price is worth it."
See:
Madeleine albright on 60 minutes - "worth it" (video)
"We Think the Price Is Worth It"
In addition, Albright, a self professed Zionist, if belated acknowledger of her own ties with the nation, was signatory to a letter to Nancy Pelosi, which urged Speaker of the House Pelosi to quash the Armenian Genocide Resolution before it could reach the House floor, which the Speaker has the power to do.
See:
Albright trivialized the significance of the Armenian Genocide with respect to the prevention of genocide when speaking to the press as co-chair of the "Genocide Prevention Task Force".
See Also:
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Exquisiteness of the Irony
A number of foreign policy experts have been quick to note the exquisiteness of the irony. "It suggests that we've come a long way in this country from the days when the foreign service was reserved for a very WASPy elite," says former National Security Council Middle East advisor Richard Haass, who now directs foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution.
But it also poses problems for Albright. If all the Jewish candidates are appointed, Albright could draw fire from other minorities and women, WASPs, not to mention pro-Arab critics of Washington's Mideast policy. Since half of cabinet posts are Jewish, the disproportionate weight is causing both WASPs and minorities to feel shut out.
Albright already has promoted virtually all Jewish appointees to senior positions: Special Middle East coordinator Dennis Ross is now Albright's senior counselor, a position that extends his troubleshooting responsibilities well beyond the Middle East and gives him an office on the State Department's prestigious seventh floor. Meanwhile, the position of undersecretary of State for economic affairs has gone to Stuart Eizenstadt, previously ambassador to the European Community and the administration's point man on determining the extent of Jewish assets in Swiss banks.
And for the first time in the State Department's 208-year history, Jews lead the list of contenders for the six regional assistant secretary posts. According to well informed sources, they are: Mark Grossman, currently U.S. ambassador to Turkey, for assistant secretary for European affairs; Princeton Lyman, currently the assistant secretary of State for international organizations, and former Rep. Howard Wolpe of Michigan, for assistant secretary for African affairs; Stanley Roth, an aide to former Rep. Steven Solarz of New York and a former staffer on the National Security Council, for assistant secretary for Asian affairs; Karl Indefurth, a former ABC News correspondent who served as Albright's deputy at the United Nations, for assistant secretary for South Asia; Jeff Davidow, assistant secretary of State for Latin American affairs, who is expected to stay on at his post; Martin Indyk, currently U.S. ambassador to Israel, for assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs. Having chosen (non-Jewish, extremely pro-Israel) diplomatic veterans Strobe Talbott and Thomas Pickering as her No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, Albright may come under fire in diversity conscious Washington for such a heavily Jewish and allmale lineup. Her biggest challenge, however, is likely to come with Indyk, who worked for AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby, and then headed the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy before joining the administration.
"The Near East bureau always has prided itself in having career professionals at the helm," says Robert Kaplan, whose book, "The Arabists," examines the State Department's stewardship of Middle East policy. Indyk, appointed by President Clinton as his Middle East advisor in 1993 and then as ambassador to Israel, "is a political candidate," says Kaplan. "In some circles," he adds, "there's a lot of resentment that people like Ross, (his Jewish deputy Aaron) Miller, and Indyk got so powerful in Near East affairs."
Gender politics could decide who gets the position as undersecretary of State for management. Two male candidates are vying for the job, but Albright is said to want to fill the slot with a woman. Her top candidate: an assistant Interior secretary for policy and management named Bonnie Cohen. Albright's newly uncovered Jewish identity (not to mention the way she hid it and clumsily lied about it) and the prospect of so many Jews entering the State Department has already occasioned some humor in foreign policy circles. For example: Q-Why are they depressed in the U.S. State Department human resources? A- Madeleine Albright as a non-Jew filled the department's quota.
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