Author Topic: Rep urges Kerry to 'enlist' Bush to help resolve South Sudan conflict  (Read 496 times)

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Offline mystery-ak

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/31/rep-urges-kerry-to-enlist-bush-to-help-resolve-south-sudan-conflict/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29

Rep urges Kerry to 'enlist' Bush to help resolve South Sudan conflict
Published December 31, 2013
FoxNews.com

A leading human rights advocate in Congress is calling on the Obama administration to enlist former President George W. Bush to help broker an end to the violence in South Sudan.

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday urging the State Department to seek the help of the former president, citing his work in the region.

"It's been said that politics stops at the water's edge," Wolf wrote. "While perhaps not always the case, I would hope that this administration, despite its past differences with Bush administration, would recognize the wisdom of inviting former President Bush and key members of his team who forged lasting relationships with the leadership of South Sudan to engage in high-level diplomacy with the various actors involved in the current crisis and to do so with the full support and blessing of the U.S. Department of State and the White House."

It's not clear whether Bush, who largely has remained out of the spotlight since leaving office, would want to engage in such a role. But Wolf lauded the Bush administration's diplomatic work in Sudan -- engagement from that administration, and the Obama administration, helped lay the groundwork for the 2011 referendum which resulted in South Sudan becoming an independent nation.

But the future of the world's newest country is now in question, with heavy fighting seizing pockets of South Sudan. The fighting started in mid-December, between the incumbent government and rebel forces loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar.

The U.S. military has been positioning troops in nearby Djibouti amid the violence. A State Department spokeswoman said Monday that Kerry has been in regular talks with officials on both sides of the conflict, and the focus now is on bringing the parties to the table.

Wolf argued in his letter that sending Bush would send a "clear message" that the people of South Sudan have not been abandoned.

"Indeed we are at a crisis point and time is of the essence," he wrote.
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Offline musiclady

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Re: Rep urges Kerry to 'enlist' Bush to help resolve South Sudan conflict
« Reply #1 on: December 31, 2013, 04:02:29 pm »
"It's been said that politics stops at the water's edge,"

Not with the current Democrat party.  Their radical politics and hatred of those who differ never ends.

Wolf is right in that Bush earned respect for what he did for Sudan, but there's no way the haughty John Kerry would stoop to ask his help for anything.
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Offline EC

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Re: Rep urges Kerry to 'enlist' Bush to help resolve South Sudan conflict
« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2013, 08:11:38 pm »
It's a solid idea. Bush is hugely respected in South Sudan - don't forget he (and his team) not only pushed hard for the formation of this nation, but recognized it instantly when it finally formed, giving it legitimacy. Add in the Bush's long history of aid work in Africa and Kerry would be a fool not to invite him to assist. I figure that, if asked, GWB would accept the role.

Kerry is a fool and haughty as hell - as musiclady so rightly points out. Obama would probably freak out at losing his favorite excuse.

The Democrats are staring down the barrel of the mid terms gun and could do with at least one foreign policy triumph to point to. If it a bipartisan triumph, they can make hay from that too. "See? We are willing to work with republicans, they are the ones in bad faith."

It is a matter of balance.

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