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Be Honest About Evil
Fred Hiatt (Washington Post)
Sunday, October 15, 2000; Page B07 Two separate events--the Clinton administration's romancing of North Korea and its refusal to forthrightly condemn Yasser Arafat--raise questions about the meaning of the term "honest broker." The United States sometimes has to engage with bad people in order to mediate conflicts and promote peace. But when that role leads the administration to avoid the truth, it's fair to ask whether something has gone awry... In Israel, as in South Korea, a democratically elected leader remains committed against all odds to peace and so deserves U.S. support in his pursuit of negotiations. But Ehud Barak is honest in that pursuit, and he asks for equivalent American honesty. "We know who initiated it"--the violence, that is--"and why," he told CNN. "And we believe that the Americans know it. We believe that certain other Western countries know it. And we expect the leadership of the world to be able to look at the eyes of our own public and tell the truth loud and clear." For a leader who has taken and continues to take such risks for peace, that does not seem so much to ask. Yet the Clinton administration won't veto U.N. resolutions that are false and one-sided. The most a senior U.S. official can say is, "I think he [Arafat] has not gotten control over" the violence. "Finding a villain isn't part of the job," the official says. "Making too many personal judgments is not the way to move this forward." Arafat and his aides have urged, celebrated and participated in the uprising. They have freed terrorists and stood by as holy sites are desecrated. "Not gotten control over" is simply not an accurate rendering. Yet it is put forward in the name of preserving U.S. usefulness--of remaining an "honest broker." No one can argue with that goal. But a failure to speak the truth not only damages America's moral standing; in the long run, it will also damage its effectiveness as a mediator. A minimum requirement to be an honest broker is honesty. 2000 The Washington Post Company
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