How Did Reality Get On My TV?

This week Keith Olbermann had on former National Security Council staffer Hillary Mann Leverett. In a deeply shocking maneuver, she told the truth about the US, the mideast, and the incoming Obama administration:

OLBERMANN: The other thing that will change, if not on the 20th then shortly thereafter, is the identify of the secretary of state. And here is Hillary Clinton coming in to the middle of this with a last name certainly that is, to some degree, magical, influential at least in the Middle East. How is her appointment going to shape Obama`s efforts for Middle East peace? And how will it be received by both sides in the Middle East?

LEVERETT: Her name is magical and influential to an extent in Israel. But throughout many capitals in the Arab world, where I served at the US embassy in Cairo and in the Gulf, there is a lot more skepticism that she is going to be even handed. There is considerable fear about the advisers that she is going to bring with her, people like Martin Indyk or Dennis Ross, Ken Pollack, people that I would call neo-conservative fellow travelers, people who brought us a failed peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians by the end of the Clinton term in 2000, people who cheered and championed the invasion of Iraq under this administration.

There is a lot of fear and consternation that the advisers, in particular, that Hillary Clinton is bringing with her are going to make us long for the Bush days.

Here's the complete video of the segment, plus the full transcript below the fold. The above exchange is right at the end.

(Thanks to Doug Henwood for noticing this.)

OLBERMANN: Let`s turn to now Hillary Mann Leverett, former director for Iran and Persian Gulf Affairs at the National Security Council, also served in the US embassy in Tel Aviv, and spent considerable time in Gaza. Thanks for your time tonight.

HILLARY MANN LEVERETT, FMR. NSC PERSIAN GULF DIRECTOR: Thank you.

OLBERMANN: This is, obviously, a third rail politically worldwide, because the two sides only agree on one thing, that the other guy is not only 100 percent wrong, but has been 100 percent wrong for 2,500 years. But give me your thoughts on the Bush statement today, and what US role -- the role we have had in the current crisis, because did Israel move because it got a knowing green light from us? Or was there an unwitting open window? How are we involved in this?

LEVERETT: There was an effective green light. There was a cease-fire in place until December 1th. The Bush administration actively discouraged the parties, particularly Israel, from renewing that cease-fire, because they didn`t want to legitimate Hamas in any way. They wanted to work with Palestinians we like, the, quote-unquote, good Palestinians in the West Bank.

So they didn`t want to do anything to encourage Hamas and Israel to renew its cease-fire that could actually become something more lasting and enduring. For President Bush to now come out and say, a week later, nearly 500 people dead -- more than 500 people dead, to grudgingly acknowledge that maybe a cease fire, with some conditions, is warranted is -- you know, it`s maybe what Sarah Palin would call word trickery. A cease-fire was necessary immediately.

An immediate cease fire is what was needed to get monitors in, to get peace-keepers in, to ease the blockade, to get humanitarian goods into the people in Gaza. Something that`s more lasting and enduring is not a cease- fire. That would be maybe an armistice or negotiations that could lead to a resolution and settlement of the conflict. That would be enduring and lasting. A cease fire, by definition, is not that. It is really, I would call it word trickery.

OLBERMANN: Well, say we did get an armistice, to use your term, even by end of tomorrow, this would obviously not be resolved in full by the time of the change in the presidents. What will Obama have to do? What will his options be as of the 20th?

LEVERETT: He really should be coming out now with a statement of sympathy for all those who have been killed, Palestinians and Israelis. The fact that he is silent is resonating very strongly throughout the Middle East. The fact that he came out with a statement after the Mumbai attacks, but will not say anything about what Israel is doing in Gaza is something that is resonating very strongly in the region where U.S. credibility is at its low point.

So I think he does need to come out with an immediate statement of at least sympathy for those who have died. When he comes into office, he has to do something even stronger to signal a departure from Bush administration policies. What I think will be critically important would be for the United States to finally come out and say that we support efforts for Palestinian reconciliation, for there to be some sort of Palestinian national unity government. That would mean that we would recognize and deal with a government of the Palestinians that included Hamas, something that Saudi Arabia tried to broker last year and we vetoed.

OLBERMANN: The other thing that will change, if not on the 20th then shortly thereafter, is the identify of the secretary of state. And here is Hillary Clinton coming in to the middle of this with a last name certainly that is, to some degree, magical, influential at least in the Middle East. How is her appointment going to shape Obama`s efforts for Middle East peace? And how will it be received by both sides in the Middle East?

LEVERETT: Her name is magical and influential to an extent in Israel. But throughout many capitals in the Arab world, where I served at the US embassy in Cairo and in the Gulf, there is a lot more skepticism that she is going to be even handed. There is considerable fear about the advisers that she is going to bring with her, people like Martin Indyk or Dennis Ross, Ken Pollack, people that I would call neo-conservative fellow travelers, people who brought us a failed peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians by the end of the Clinton term in 2000, people who cheered and championed the invasion of Iraq under this administration.

There is a lot of fear and consternation that the advisers, in particular, that Hillary Clinton is bringing with her are going to make us long for the Bush days.

OLBERMANN: Hmm. Goodness. Hillary Mann Leverett, former member of the National Security Council, as always, great thanks for your insight into this stuff.

LEVERETT: Thank you.