In letter, Dean clarifies Mideast stance
Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean has written a letter to the head of the Anti-Defamation League, seeking to clarify his views on the Middle East after being criticized for saying the United States should be evenhanded in the region.
"There is no difference between our positions when it comes to my unequivocal support for Israel's right to exist and be free from terror," Dean wrote in the letter, dated Sept. 15. "I stand firmly with you in the war on terror and have called on the Palestinian leadership to renounce violence and to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure that exists inside the Palestinian Authority."
Dean added that "the United States must remain committed to the special longstanding relationship we have with Israel, including providing the resources necessary to guarantee Israel's long-term defense and security."
Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said yesterday that his concerns were allayed by Dean's letter, which was sent in response to an earlier one Foxman wrote to the former Vermont governor criticizing his campaign statements about the Mideast.
"I am confident that the doctor is beginning to understand and is learning the nuances," Foxman said. "The fact that he declared he wants to be president does not make him an instant expert."
Dean, who has staked his campaign on a willingness to speak plainly, had been criticized for saying the United States should not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for describing as "soldiers" the members of Hamas, which the State Department has designated a terrorist group.
Dean later said he used the word soldier to justify the Israeli policy of assassinating Hamas leaders and called for evenhanded treatment as a means of saying the United States must act as an honest broker in the peace process.
His political rivals deemed Dean's comments missteps, with some questioning his ability to handle the delicate diplomacy of the region if elected president.
"I don't think that Howard Dean is not supportive of Israel," said Alan Solomont, Massachusetts finance chairman for Senator John F. Kerry, a Democratic presidential candidate.
"But the Middle East lies in the center of some of the most sensitive and critical foreign policy issues that our government has to deal with, and I'm not sure that we want to have someone who is not seasoned," Solomont said. "I don't think we can afford to have someone who is going to learn on the job."
Dean's comments have caused awkward moments for his campaign cochairman, Steve Grossman, a former head of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and a leader in the Jewish philanthropic community.
"Obviously there are many people who have asked me to clarify the things that Howard said. . . . Dean does not regard his approach to be different at all from the role Bill Clinton played," Grossman said yesterday.
In the future, though, Grossman said, Dean will take greater care with his words.
