I'm not sure when we're going to hear something like this again from a highly placed US official, let alone a Clinton, so I just wanted to memorialize it here.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton acknowledged the limits of US power Thursday in a combative exchange with an Al-Jazeera reporter, saying, "We can't stop a lot of countries from doing things that we disagree with and we speak out against."Of course it will. But ... just for a moment there, ... wow. Emes.
In the Qatari capital of Doha for a regional development conference, Clinton was asked why Arab countries should listen to her criticism when the US can't even get its longtime ally, Israel, to make peace with the Palestinians.
"Israel is a sovereign country and it makes its own decisions," Clinton responded.
"I wish there were a way we could tell a lot of countries what they should do because there are a lot of countries doing things that are not in the best interests of their own people, their neighbors or the world," she added.
Clinton pointed out that Israel has reasons to be cautious. "You often make decisions based on your own experience and history," she said. "And when the Israelis pulled out of Lebanon they got Hizbullah and 40,000 rockets and when they pulled out of Gaza they got Hamas and 20,000 rockets."
Still, she said, the US will continue to work toward achieving a separate state for the Palestinians.
