Biden National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan just made a fool of himself - boasting in an essay published Wednesday for Foreign Affairs that the Biden administration had "de-escalated crises in Gaza," and that their "foreign policy for a changed world" is leading to a "freer and more stable world."
"The Israeli-Palestinian situation is tense, particularly in the West Bank," Sullivan wrote, "but in the face of serious frictions, we have de-escalated crises in Gaza and restored direct diplomacy between the parties after years of its absence."
Then Hamas attacked Israel sparking a war, causing Sullivan to scramble and eliminate much of the above from the online edition of the article.
The print edition, however, still contains the embarrassing boasts, according to the Free Beacon.
Publications rarely allow an author to make substantial changes after a piece has been sent to print, revisions are generally reserved for factual errors. But the digital edits to Sullivan’s piece are immense, and undermine his original argument that Biden is forging peace in the Middle East.
In lieu of Sullivan’s boast that "we have de-escalated crises in Gaza," the online version of his article notes: "The original version of this article emphasized that this progress was fragile and that perennial challenges remained, including tensions between Israel and Palestinians and the threat posed by Iran. The October 7 attacks have cast a shadow over the entire regional picture, the repercussions of which are still playing out, including the risk of significant regional escalation."
Sullivan also claimed in the print edition of his article that Biden’s outreach to Middle Eastern leaders "emphasizes deterring aggression, de-escalating conflicts, and integrating the region through joint infra- structure projects and new partnerships, including between Israel and its Arab neighbors. And it is bearing fruit."
Now, Sullivan writes that the White House is "alert to the risk that the current crisis could spiral into a regional conflict."
And if the print edition hadn't been sent out for publication before the Hamas attack on Israel, the Ministry of Truth would have gotten away with stealth-editing Sullivan's embarrassing screed.
Sullivan's article follows a boast in September at the Atlantic Festival that "The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades."
As the Beacon's Joseph Simonson also notes, Sullivan "has presided over a number of foreign policy failures including the "kinetic military action" campaign against Libya in 2011, the 2014 Iran nuclear deal, and the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of 13 Americans. "
