The absentee ambassador
The UN Security Council convened an emergency session yesterday to draft sanctions against Libyan mad- dog Moammar Khadafy.
But as the UN struggled to put out the fires in the Mideast, America’s top UN rep was nowhere to be found.
In fact, US Ambassador Susan Rice was 8,000 miles away from UN headquarters, taking tea in South Africa with fellow diplonuts.
South Africa?
What the hell?
Rice flew to sunny Cape Town this week for a “global sustainability” conference to discuss carbon emissions and green economies in the Third World.
There were plenty of carbon emissions over Tripoli and Benghazi this week — from fighter-jet and helicopter exhaust as Khadafy loyalists strafed protestors in the streets, and from exploding Molotov cocktails. Lead poisoning from stray AK-47 rounds were an issue, too.
But instead of taking the lead as the United Nations tried to force Khadafy to end his war on his own people, America’s top UN official was essentially AWOL.
Which is every bit as shameful as it sounds.
But it’s hardly a surprise, given the Obama administration’s utter cluelessness in the Middle East of late.
O & Co. have been out to lunch since protests swept dictators out of power in Tunisia and Egypt — just as they’ve been slow to act against Khadafy now.
Though maybe it’s for the greater good that Rice is an ocean away — when she shows up for work she seems to do even more damage.
Case in point: Just a week ago, she vetoed an anti-Israel resolution in the Security Council, but immediately unleashed a loathsome attack on Israel, damaging US ties with the Jewish state.
Her disappearance now sends an odd message to a close ally:
When it’s time to bash Israel, Rice stays put. When it’s time to get to work on Libya, her deputy can pick up the pieces.
Again, back in the real world, Libya’s dictator has turned warplanes and helicopter gunships on his own people.
America’s ambassador has been off in Susan Rice-land. Maybe it would be better if she stayed there for good.
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