Condoleezza Rice and the State Department have openly criticized former President Jimmy Carter’s upcoming talks in Syria with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal. Carter contends that “if Israel is ever going to find peace with justice concerning the relationship with their next-door neighbors, the Palestinians, that Hamas will have to be included in the process.” The State Department is opposed to the meeting because Washington considers Hamas to be a terrorist organization.
However, exactly two years ago, on April 12, 2006, Rice met with Equatorial Guinea’s president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and referred to him as “a good friend.” Mbasogo had made Parade magazine’s “Annual List of the World’s 10 Worst Dictators” for four consecutive years. During his rule, torture was the normal means of investigation and there was no freedom of speech. There were no bookstores or newsstands and the sole radio station was owned by his son. However, the Bush administration considers him to be “a good friend.”
It sound to me, not unlike anyone else in the Bush administration, Condi is speaking out of both sides of her mouth. But then, Mbasogo had deposited over $700 million in accounts in the United States, thanks mostly to rich oil reserves. The current administration has always been able to provide justification for its actions, especially when the situation in any way involves oil – even if the results of their greed lead to the deaths of 4,000+ of America’s finest men and women and the maiming of countless others.
