(Washington, DC) - "Mr. Chairman, thank you for calling today's hearing with Ambassador Dennis Ross, one of our nation's finest diplomats and a reliable source of wise counsel.

 When Amb. Ross left government service the situation in the Middle East was not that great. Yasser Arafat and Ehud Barak had just failed to make an historic peace; the Palestinian Authority was instigating a revived intifada. Negotiations with Syria had likewise failed. Lebanon's government was unable to exert its sovereignty throughout the country. Saddam Hussein's brutal regime was trying to worm its way out of comprehensive but leaking UN sanctions. And Iran was continuing to sponsor terrorism, working to disrupt the Middle East peace process, and aggressively pursuing dangerous nuclear and missile technologies. Ohhhhh, for the good old days.

 The picture today, however, is not just worse, but much worse. It is worse in scope, scale and degree. It is worse for our friends and it worse for us with our foes. It is worse in terms of our options and it is worse in terms of our assets. Our enemies are stronger and we are somewhat spent. Our friends are less numerous, less capable and, in general, less friendly. This situation is not an accident. It is the outcome of the choices and the policies of the Bush Administration.

 We are bleeding and isolated in Iraq. We are failing there and only the President's intransigence and the loyalty of his backers here in Congress stand between us and an ignominious but necessary redeployment. Iran is months away from achieving a self-sufficient nuclear enrichment capability, and from that point, with almost mathematical inevitability, a nuclear weapon. Syria, having been ousted from Lebanon-a rare but momentary Administration success-is now on the verge of toppling the Lebanese government and perhaps reigniting a civil war in that small suffering country.

 And in Israel, the situation is dire. Perceptions of Israel's military deterrent capability were badly diminished by the war in Lebanon. The Iranian nuclear threat grows incessantly. The threat of war with Syria grows daily. The threat from Hezbollah is as great as it ever was. A flood of Iraqi refugees could threaten Jordan's stability. From Gaza, rockets and mortar shells are falling on Israeli homes every single day. A Hamas take-over of the West Bank is prevented only by daily operations by the IDF and Shin-Bet. The survival of Israel's only viable partner for peace has never been in such doubt. Al-Qaeda appears to have established itself in the Gaza Strip. If this is the record produced by Israel's greatest friend, then hey-what are friends for?

 Our interests and equities in the Middle East have never been in such jeopardy. And in response to all this chaos, where is the Administration's focus? On a desperate rear-guard action here on Capitol Hill to keep the "surge" alive until September, and a content-free peace process meeting here that month with whoever is still willing to have their picture taken with President Bush. January 20th, 2009 is long time to wait for things to get better."
 

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