Dennis Ross to be ousted as Obama's envoy to Iran

[Scurrilous]

Source: Haaretz

<snip>

"Dennis Ross, who most recently served as a special State Department envoy to Iran, will abruptly be relieved of his duties, sources in Washington told Haaretz. An official announcement is expected in the coming days.

The Obama administration will announce that Ross has been reassigned to another position in the White House. In his new post, the former Mideast peace envoy under President Bill Clinton will deal primarily with regional issues related to the peace process.

Washington insiders speculate that a number of reasons moved the administration to reassign Ross. One possibility is Iran's persistent refusal to accept Ross as a U.S. emissary given the diplomat's Jewish background as well as his purported pro-Israel leanings. Ross is known to maintain contacts with numerous senior officials in Israel's defense establishment and the Israeli government."



Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1093058.html

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From the archives:

Obama picks Ross as Mideast envoy

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[opihimoimoi]

1. Sounds like a good idea.....for now.....

[Psephos]

2. I don't at all like that Iran's refusal to accept Ross because he's a Jew was a factor in this

Religious bigotry should not be rewarded.

[opihimoimoi]

6. Until we get the full story...its hard for me to comment...maybe Ross offended them somehow other

than being Jewish

[Psephos]

8. Agreed eom

[aquart]

9. Sure, kid. Keep believing that.

[struggle4progress]

19. Ross's book, including discussion of military action against Iran, came out Thursday: great timing:

U.S. envoy Dennis Ross lays out Iran options
Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:31pm EDT
By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. envoy Dennis Ross, in a new book he co-authored, raises the possibility of the use of military force against Iran should negotiations fail to head off Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Ross, who is leading the U.S. diplomatic effort to engage Iran on a series of issues, wrote "Myths, Illusions & Peace -- Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East" with David Makovsky, a former journalist who is a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The book, released on Thursday, is significant in that Ross, who led President Bill Clinton's Middle East diplomacy in the 1990s, has said little in public on Iran since he was named in February as a special adviser to handle the issue.

The authors included a nuanced, 30-page chapter that lays out options for dealing with Iran, which has so far not responded to President Barack Obama's overtures for better relations, with elections there coming up on Friday ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE55A69H2...

[The Stranger]

27. Sorry, but that's not going to fly here.

Regardless of his religion (and he didn't get religion until late in life), Ross is extremely pro-Israel and there is no way he could equitably deal with Iran as an envoy on behalf of the U.S.

[Psephos]

28. I mentioned it as one factor among many, and that remains my position. eom

[alarimer]

31. It has less to do with his religion than his ties to Israel

You can't be any kind of diplomat if it is clear your ties are with the other side.

[Hekate]

11. I think you're right, my limpet--diplomacy is about opening up communication...

... which is hard to do if you send someone they refuse to listen to before they even meet him.

Someday, though, we can send a woman ambassador driving her own car to Saudi Arabia, and a Jew to Iran. Just not today.

Hekate

[opihimoimoi]

12. le hope that day comes soon....Time for Peace is running out...

I wuz in Kailua today...cloudy, windy, but friggen HOT...it was 88 F

I wuz melting...LOL

[rpannier]

3. Can we refuse to accept their envoy because

he was appointed by a lunatic, fundie, moron?

[IndianaGreen]

5. We should demand that Iran appoints a Bahai envoy

I am not at all sure that Dennis Ross Judaism is what kept him from being envoy. Ross is a neocon.

[rpannier]

7. Agreed

[EFerrari]

14. The man is a protege of Paul Wolfowitz and a PNACer.

[iamjoy]

15. Then No Country Could Have Accepted Dubya's

I mean, if we refused to accept envoys because they were appointed by lunatic, fundie morons than using that logic most countries could have refused our envoys during the eight years of Bush (43) on the same grounds

I'm kidding, of course. I don't really believe Dubya is a lunatic, fundie moron and that he really has much in common with that jerk running Iran. I couldn't resist the opportunity, though.

[rpannier]

21. Understood completely

No explanation needed

[No Elephants]

29. You're right. Bush only pretended to be a fundie.

[Frisbee]

17. GWB apoointed their envoy?

That seems strange.

[tomm2thumbs]

4. Sounds like they didn't like the back-channels going on with Israel's govt

but one can only speculate

[EFerrari]

10. Good. We don't need someone with baggage going into that situation. n/t

[FrenchieCat]

13. The point of an Envoy is to be trusted to some degree by the folks he/she will deal with.

If that is not the case, getting someone else who is can be trusted more is a small price to pay if one is serious about diplomacy....

[pjt7]

16. How idiotic can we get with having a jewish man

try & represent us in Iran?

I can only guess this was done to piss them off, rather than diplomocy.

[cali]

18. it is utter bullshit speculation to suggest that Ross was appointed

to piss off the Iranians. Nothing in the Obama administration approach to Iran, suggests that.

[EFerrari]

26. Not really. It's his resume. Go look up his wiki entry. n/t

[laststeamtrain]

20. K & R - n/t.

[nichomachus]

22. He's moving to the NSC to coordinate Persian Gulf affairs

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/15/dennis-ross-to...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration's pointman on Iran is moving from the State Department to the White House to better coordinate inter-agency policy on the Persian Gulf region, U.S. officials said Monday.

Dennis Ross, who is in charge of formulating President Barack Obama's outreach to Iran as special adviser for the Gulf and Southwest Asia, will take a similar position at the National Security Council, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the switch have not yet been finalized.

The White House and State Department declined to comment on the matter but denied an Israeli newspaper report that Ross was being removed from his job. Ross worked on the Middle East peace process for the administrations of former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

[PassingFair]

23. I freakin' LOVE this place!

Thanks for the previous link...

Clinton probably wanted him in
position.

Wonder what he said and to whom....

Might be something in his book.

[EFerrari]

25. Most of his career has been spent lobbying for Israel in some way.

And that means he knows the issues and has experience. It also means, he can't be seen as a credibly neutral actor. It was just a mistaken assignment in the first place.

I don't have the links but more than one DUer pointed this out when his nom was announced.

[Wednesdays]

24. K&R

[No Elephants]

30. Have we ever appointed a militant pro-Palestinian Arab-American as envoy to Israel?

[harun]

32. Good. Using an Israeli agent to deal with Iran sends the wrong message.