White House Pushes Back Against Newspaper Profile of Envoy to Sudan - Political Punch

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/09/white-house-pushes-back-against-newspaper-profile-of-envoy-to-sudan.html

The White House is pushing back against a profile in the Washington Post of the Obama Administration's Special Envoy for Sudan, Air Force Major General Scott Gration (Ret.).

The profile -- "Obama Administration Engages Sudanese Regime It Blasted" -- was published on the eve of today's National Security Council meeting in which Obama administration policy dealing with Sudan will be discussed, and the principals -- Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones (Ret.), and others -- will decided whether or not to send any new proposals to the president for approval.

The story states that Gration wants the US to normalize relations with the Sudan, "the only country in the world led by a president indicted for war crimes," a reference to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

"We would not take a step like that absent significant changes in conditions on the ground," says a senior administration official.

In the story, Gration is quoted saying of the regime, "We've got to think about giving out cookies. Kids, countries, they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk, engagement."