Hotline's Sunday Snapshot: Conflagration

Middle East talk dominated the Sunday shows this weekend. Sec/State Condoleezza Rice made the morning rounds.

Rice: "We have to be committed to dealing not just with the immediate crisis, but to laying a foundation so that when we are out of this set of circumstances, we don't have repeated violence again. We all want a cessation of the violence, but we also want a return to the international framework -- Resolution 1559 in the case of Lebanon, the road map in the case of the Palestinian territories -- that will give us a permanent and firm foundation, rather than a cessation of violence that would be held hostage to the next time that Hezbollah or Hamas decide that they want to attack Israeli territory" ("Face the Nation," CBS, 7/16).

More: "Israel has a right to defend itself. No country would sit and continue to receive rocket fire against civilian populations and not try to do something about it. What we have asked of the Israelis is that they act in a way to avoid innocent civilian casualties, to avoid the destruction of civilian infrastructure" ("Fox News Sunday," 7/16).

She noted: "We can have a cessation of violence, but we'll be right back here three weeks from now, talking about another cessation of violence because we will be at the whims of Hezbollah or Hamas for launching the next attack."

On possible dangers to the U.S.: "We are certainly going to do whatever we need to do to increase vigilance, because this is a time in which the Middle East is facing not just a crisis, but a crisis that is clarifying the choices. ... We just want to be careful and vigilant. And we also want all parties to know, any extremist parties to know, that the United States will, of course, protect itself."

She continues: "This is a very turbulent time as the Middle East changes. But it is better to have a Middle East that is changing in the direction in which moderate and democratic forces can take hold than to pretend that everything is just fine in the Middle East, and that we're somehow going to get a stable Middle East out of appeasing and dealing with extremist forces. We should have learned at least by September 11th that that wasn't going to happen" ("This Week," ABC, 7/16).

WH Counselor Dan Bartlett: "What President Bush is focused on, both in his conversations with the people in the region as well as the leaders here at the G-8, is let's get people focused back on the root causes, so we can clearly define what the challenges are. We all want the violence to stop. ... President Bush is deeply concerned about the plight of innocent civilians on both sides of this conflict, and he will work hard, and he will do whatever necessary. And if that requires dispatching somebody to the region, I'm sure he would do that. But right now, we believe the proper focus is getting the international community all on the same page, which we believe can happen in the coming days."

More: "What you're seeing differently than in past times, you've always heard ... people condemning Israel. What we're hearing new this time is that we're seeing moderate forces in the Middle East, as well as Europeans leaders and other leaders here at the G-8, saying Hezbollah has started this, Hezbollah is the culprit here, and we are a growing united voice on that front" ("Late Edition," CNN, 7/16).

IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

Newt Gingrich and Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) were on "Meet the Press."

Gingrich: "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."

More: "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."

Biden: "Indirectly, it's our war. It seems to me it's partially our responsibility. I don't agree with the World War III analogy. ... The U.N. Resolution 1559 said that as Israel got out, the army of the Lebanese people were going to move and take over that responsibility, they didn't. But I might add that we didn't do anything to help them. We didn't do anything at the time to help train them. We didn't do anything at the time to give any attention to it. And now we are, because of our lack of a prevention strategy, we're left with no option here, in my view, but to support Israel in what is a totally legitimate self-defense effort."

More Biden: "Does anybody think we're stronger now because we, in fact, have essentially going it alone around the world? Does anybody think we can wage a war now against Syria, against Iran, against Korea, and while we're still bogged down in Iraq? We've got to get real here."

Gingrich: "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."

NBC's Russert: "You're talking about the Bush administration."

Gingrich: "I'm talking about the policies of the United States today."

Russert: "But that is such a condemnation of George W. Bush."

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" (NBC, 7/16).

LOTS OF TALK NO ACTION

Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and George Allen (R-MS) were on "Fox News Sunday."

Allen: "U.S. policy should be, number one, stand with your friend, and Israel's a wellspring in the wilderness. And any country, particularly Israel, has the right to defend itself and to protect its citizens as we do. The recognition for our country and actions need to be based on reality. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. It is armed by Iran. It is paid for by Iran. And it is directed by Iran. It is interesting to note that the rocketry, the weaponry that is going into Haifa and other places in northern Israel is from Iran."

Dodd: "You need to go beyond just understanding the friendship, which is important, but for Israel's benefit and our own, we have missed, I think, over the last number of years the ability to really engage in the kind of diplomatic efforts in the Middle East. From 1967 up until the end of the Clinton administration, every administration has remained very, very engaged in the Middle East. This administration, unfortunately, has seen the word diplomacy and negotiation as somehow a favor to your enemies. And I think, unfortunately, we've allowed this time to elapse over the last several years."

Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Trent Lott (R-MS) were on "Late Edition."

Feinstein: "I think there are people that know this situation backwards and forwards, who could be of help. And one of them would be two former presidents, Senator Clinton, who knows -- excuse me. President Clinton, who knows this area like the back of his hand, and President Bush one. And I think that would not be a bad combination to be sent to the area."

Lott: "We need to touch every button we can from a diplomatic standpoint, a pressure standpoint, but also to be firm in our support of Israel's right to defend itself" (CNN, 7/16).

Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) and Council on Foreign Relations' Richard Haas were on "Face the Nation."

Harman: "The doctrine of preemption, the Bush doctrine shouldn't just be at the end of the gun. It should be pre-emptive diplomacy. And had our government acted in 2004 to enforce Resolution 1559, we might not now have this Hezbollah problem. In addition, had our government done more to support Mahmoud Abbas before the January election in Palestine, we might not have had this Hamas victory there."

Haas: "What this does is essentially makes it urgent that the United States do two things. One is launch a high-profile diplomatic effort to see Hezbollah push back from the border in the context of the cease-fire and the prisoner exchange.
And secondly, as part of this, I believe it's time for the United States to have an unconditional, broad dialogue with Iran. We've got to understand that Hezbollah in part takes orders from Tehran, and it's not good enough to say the United States will talk to Iran only on nuclear issues" (CBS, 7/16).

Ex-Sec/State Madeleine Albright: "I, frankly, was waiting for Secretary Rice to say that she was going to the Middle East" ("This Week," ABC, 7/16).

FANNING THE PLAMES

Bob Novak was on "Meet the Press" this weekend.

On talking to Patrick Fitzgerald: "He knew who my sources were, and so it wasn't a matter of me giving them up."

Russert: "We were subpoenaed at NBC. We fought the subpoenas. Time magazine subpoenaed, fought the subpoenas. New York Times fought the subpoenas. Why didn't you fight the subpoena?"

Novak: "Because my lawyer said I did not have a clear constitutional chance of surviving. I had to make this decision myself. I was operating as an independent operator, paying the great burden of my legal fees. Chicago Sun-Times helped me, but it was, essentially, my decision."

Russert: "When I was subpoenaed, we announced it. When I testified before Patrick Fitzgerald, we announced that and what I had said. And so, too, with Time magazine and the New York Times. Why did you wait almost three years to tell the public that you had been subpoenaed and what you said?"

Novak: "Mr. Fitzgerald asked my lawyer not to divulge our contacts. He advised that that was good advice until his investigation was completed. When he announced that Karl Rove would not be indicted, my attorney went to Mr. Fitzgerald and asked him if that request now no longer held true, and he said that his investigation had been concluded as far as I was concerned."

On his third source: "I'm not going to speculate on who the source was. ... I'm a reporting columnist, as opposed to a thumbsucking columnist, and I have all kinds of interviews with people where there is a tacit agreement that I will not reveal the name. I sat down with this source, who was not a, as I have said 10 million times, was not a political gunslinger. We had a long talk, an hour-long talk. We were the only people in the room. I didn't have a tape recorder; I didn't take notes. It's the kind of tacitly not-for-attribution interview that I do constantly as part of my work for the last half-century in Washington."

Russert: "Having said twice before that you got the name of a senior official..."

Novak: "Oh, a mistake."

Russert: "...you can understand why people are..."

Novak: "I understand, I understand, but it was not factually correct and I have, I have testified under oath about this."

Russert: "That they did not give you the name?"

Novak: "Yes."

On Valerie Plame: "I don't think I outed her. I think she was outed by Aldridge Aimes before. I don't think she was a covert operative" (NBC, 7/16).

ROUNDTABLE ROUNDUP

The "This Week" roundtable discussed the situation in the Middle East. George Will, asked about the effect on the '06 election: "The country is not adverse to changing horses in midstream." They also discussed stem cell research. Cokie Roberts: "What's happening in stem cell research is that it's happening anyway. It's happening in the states ... it's happening in other country. It seems to me the smart thing to do is regulate it" (ABC, 7/16).

The "Fox News Sunday" roundtable discussed the Middle East and Plame's lawsuit. NPR's Williams, on the suit: "If you get into discovery here, you have a very embarrassing situation for a White House that is ... going into the midterm elections, over the war in Iraq, which is the dominant political issue, still battling over the question of weapons of mass destruction" (Fox, 7/16).