Sometimes I wonder if diplomats would benefit substantially by having 
some plain and direct spoken fellow...or lady, at his/her side...to 
make sure that content is not mistaken.  No authority to speak for the 
nation of course, that could be embarrassing.  But maybe if Ralph had 
been at the table and had gone eyeball to eyeball with Sadam along with 
Ms. April and made his statement, there would have been no 
misunderstanding.

Sometimes the problem with being professionally represented is that one 
is not appropriately represented.  We can be a rude speaking people, 
(judging by this group).  Our representatives should remember that on 
occassion and demonstrate an understanding our our language and values. 
  Maybe that's why Powell makes sense to me.  Of course that would kinda 
explain dbya also...at least to anyone who thinks there is an 
explaintionerary.

-jc

On Thursday, February 20, 2003, at 08:19  PM, Ralph Walter wrote:

> In a message dated 2/20/2003 9:09:47 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> "But we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border 
> disagreement with Kuwait." US Ambassador April Glaspie to Saddam 
> Hussein prior to the aggression of Iraq against Kuwait, as quoted from 
> a transcript supplied by Iraq to the New York Times. It is reported 
> that later Glaspie told a reporter to the effect that it had never 
> been considered that Saddam would take all of Kuwait.
>
>
>
> I don't see where this gave the nice Mr. Hussein a green light to take 
> anything.  On the other hand, I can see where in retrospect it might 
> have been wiser to tell him to keep his grubby mitts the hell off and 
> his pecker in his pocket.
>
> Ambassador Ralph
> (whose offer to purchase, along with the rest of Mr. Grove's 7th grade 
> social studies class,  a diamond-shaped disputed area at the south of 
> Libya, was intended to form the Republic of Groveland,  was somehow 
> overlooked by the then-recently-installed gov't of Libya under a 
> gentleman named Qaddafi)