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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, March 7, 1980
Page 5
(It is U.S. policy to deal with Jerusalem as an issue apart from the rest
of the West Bank). He claimed that all references to Jerusalem specifi
cally should have been deleted before the resolution came up for a vote.
The vote--and its subsequent repudiation--reaped the whirlwind for the
U.S. from both sides. The Israelis denounced as "repugnant" the original
vote and dismissed an apologetic letter from President Carter. Reaction
to the apology in the Arab world was predictably angry. Mr. Carter was
accused of giving in, during this election year, to the Jewish lobby.
Secretary of State Vance tried to take the heat off both the President
and his hand-picked U. N. envoy, McHenry, by accepting responsibility.
As a reslt no one knows who or what to believe. �he credibility of the
Carter administration has suffered another blow.
It was a blow Mr. Carter could ill afford, coming as it did after a whole
series of foreign policy lumps and diplomatic snafus. The quality of U.S.
diplomacy is at its lowest ebb ever. Less than a month previously,
President Carter dispatched boxer/entertainer Muhammad Ali on a delicate
diplomatic mission to Africa. He was sent as Mr. Carter's own official
envoy in an attempt to drum up African support for a boycott of the Moscow
summer Olympic Games. (This was in itself somewhat hypocritical. When 27
Black African nations boycotted the 1976 Montreal games to protest apart
heid, the U.S. counseled against mixing sports and politics.)
Ali's mission was a first-rate disaster. He had no understanding of
African perceptions, prejudices, and sensitivities. Despite coaching by
dismayed travelling aides provided by the State Department (which strongly
disapproved of the trip), Ali did not know how to handle hostile press
questioning.
In Dar Es Salaam, Ali was informed by Tanzania's government newsmen that
the Soviets were not viewed in such a bad light, since they support "na
tional liberation" movements on the continent. The teacher �nded up being
student. Said Ali: "You all have given me some questions which are good
and are making me look at this thing different...To me, Russia's a bad
country. But I don't know what Russia did for you...I'm learning.
You're teaching me. Look, I'm no traitor to black people...I'm not here
to do nothing against Africa. I'm not here to promote no role for
America." Some official envoy.
The next day, the president's special emissary told a press conference
in Nairobi, Kenya, "I'm not Carter's whuppin' boy. I'm n.
ot selling
America or American policy...." In an oblique reference to the Afghan
istan crisis, Ali added: "The two baddest white men in the world are the
Russian white man and the American white man and if those two start fight
ing, all of us little black folk goin' to be caught right in the middle."
Having received an earful of African objections to continuing U.S. rela
tions with South Africa, the president's personal envoy told the Kenyans
that he was henceforth devoting his life to crusading against South Africa
and on behalf of all oppressed peoples. "I'm no longer in boxing," ex
claimed Ali. (He has since come out of retirement for the umpteenth time,
lured by a $14 million dollar gate.)
"I'm going out as a warrior for Allah
...The number one trouble spot on the planet is racist, devilish, slavery
[sic] South Africa."