Lincoln Chafee gives the Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lecture on International Affairs at Brown University yesterday.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

PROVIDENCE — Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, one of the most persistent Republican critics of President Bush’s foreign policies when he was in Washington, continued in that vein last night with a speech at Brown University — taking the president to task for not living up to his administration’s promises to help forge peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The Bush administration fumbled diplomatic opportunities in 2003 and 2005, Chafee said, and “President Bush’s lofty rhetoric has been hollow.”

Chafee, who was a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee until his defeat for reelection last November by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, is now teaching at Brown, his alma mater. Last night’s speech was part of the university’s annual Ogden lecture series, which honors the memory of the late Stephen A. Ogden Jr., a member of the Brown class of 1960.

Arab-Israeli peace is the linchpin for solving other problems in the Middle East, Chafee said, as he urged Americans to pressure their leaders to get peace talks back on track.

“The American people should not tolerate any more mendacity on this critical issue,” Chafee told a mostly student audience of about 500. “Every voice that has clamored for a victory in Iraq, or that has spoken up against this war from the beginning, or that calls for it to end now, should rise up in unison in a clarion call for U.S. leadership on the central issue of Israeli-Palestinian peace.”

Since losing the Senate seat that had been in his family since 1976 — his father, the late John H. Chafee, served from 1976 until his death in 1999 — Chafee has been teaching a seminar in international relations at Brown’s Watson Institute.

Quoting from parts of the Iraq Study Group’s report — much of which has been ignored by Mr. Bush — Chafee said, “The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating…The United States will not be able to achieve its goals in the Middle East unless the United States deals directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

In 2003, Chafee was the lone Republican senator to vote against giving Mr. Bush authority to use the U.S. military to prosecute the war in Iraq. In remarks after his speech, Chafee also said he is against the president’s plan to send 21,000 more U.S. troops to that restive nation.

Yet, Chafee’s speech last night was nuanced. After he reminded the crowd that, “I opposed this war from the beginning” Chafee said he worries that a withdrawal that comes too soon may threaten allies in the region.

“I am skeptical about the need for more troops, but I also fear that a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq would threaten our allies in the region, especially Israel,” said Chafee. “I believe there is a glimmer of hope — albeit a small one — that there will be a stable, even peaceful Iraq. It is a goal for which we all dearly hope.

“But I submit to you that whether we do or do not send an additional 20,000 troops to Baghdad is not nearly as critical to our success in Iraq as is U.S. leadership on the Road Map [to Arab-Israeli peace]. That is the crucial missing ingredient.”

Chafee praised the Bush administration’s 2003 commitment to a two-state solution — an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state living next door to Israel in peace — as commendable.

“I am deeply distressed to observe that, in the almost five years since, it seems that President Bush has become the only U.S. president in three decades to have removed himself from the peace process.”

Chafee also said he worries that the administration’s Middle East policies are overly influenced by evangelical Christians, a group that has become the foundation of the GOP in many Southern states. Chafee quoted Sen. James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, as saying that Genesis, the bible’s first book, decrees that Israel should forever have all the land in the West Bank.

Chafee said no one should be under the illusion that a diplomatic breakthrough between Arabs and Israelis would be simple; indeed he noted that two of the region’s most illustrious peace-seeking leaders, Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Yitzak Rabin of Israel, were murdered by extremists for bringing the two sides together.

Chafee emphasized that the “security of the state of Israel is paramount. Everything I have said and will say on the subject has as its ultimate aim the long-term security of interests of Israel.”

Then he invoked the famous theme of a John Lennon song, saying, “I also stand before you as one who is faithful to my generation, as one determined to give peace a chance.”

While much of his speech was devoted to a dour view of events in the Middle East, Chafee said he hopes things are finally changing. “We are seeing some progress now, at least superficially: The administration is turning its attention once again — and I hope with a sense of grave purpose and commitment — to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.”

“Jordan’s King Abdullah said two years ago, ‘My father used to say that he wants peace for his children and our children’s children.’ He was talking about us. Do I have to start saying I want peace for my children and our children’s children? The Middle East cannot wait that long.”

smackay@projo.com