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Jewish World Review
March 4, 2009
/ 8 Adar 5769
The Saudis' man in the White House
By
Richard Z. Chesnoff
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Attention all those folks who voted for Obama not only because he promised America
vital change, but because he swore to sustain foreign policy support for America's
long standing democratic allies - notably the State of Israel, our only true friend
in the Middle East.
Take a close look at who's just been appointed Chairman of his National Intelligence
Council, the inner group that produces vital intelligence estimates for the
President, his administration as well as the overall intelligence community. I'm
talking of none other than Charles "Chas" Freeman, the former U.S, diplomat and
pro-Arab lobbyist who is openly and loudly hostile to the Jewish state of Israel, is
a defender of Chinese oppression, and hardly the man one might think Obama's
supporters would like buzzing in the presidential ear.
A bosom pal of a long list of Arab kings, princes and other oil millionaires,
Freeman was U.S. Ambassador to the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the first
Gulf War. More to the point, since 1997 he has been president of the Middle East
Policy Council, the Arab world lobbying group that used to be called the "American
Arab Affairs Council". Not surprisingly, the MEPC owes it very healthy endowment to
those internationally renowned lovers of peace, civil rights and democratic process,
the Saudi Royal Family.
Freeman's lack of enthusiasm for democracy is not limited to the Middle East.
Without a sign of shame, he has steadfastly defended China's brutality towards those
brave enough to fight for Chinese freedom of political thought. Indeed, the only
criticism Freeman had of the Chinese government for its bloody 1989 massacre at
Tiananmen Square was the timing! In a 2006 posting on ChinaSec, a confidential
internet discussion group of China specialists, recently reprinted in The Wall
Street Journal, Freeman wrote: "The truly unforgivable mistake of the Chinese
authorities was the failure to intervene on a timely basis to nip the demonstrations
in the bud."
Moreover he declared, "the Politburo's response to the mob scene at 'Tiananmen'
stands as a monument to overly cautious behavior on the part of the leadership, not
as an example of rash action." As if that wasn't enough, Mr. Freeman continued, "I
do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national
capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of
government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be."
Still it's the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli conflict where I'm convinced Freeman
can do the most damage. Consider this assessment by Freeman before the Arab-American
Affairs Council in 2006: "[Israel's] inability to find peace with the Palestinians
and other Arabs in the driving factor in the region's radicalization and
anti-Americanism. Demonstrably, Israel excels at war; sadly it has shown no talent
for peace."
No mention of Islamic extremism's rejection of American political values , no
mention of Arab failure to accept a Jewish state.
Or how about this insightful Freeman view in 2007 remarks to the Pacific Council on
International Policy in Los Angeles: "We embraced Israel's enemies as our own; they
responded by equating Americans with Israelis as their enemies. We abandoned the
role of Middle East peacemaker to pacify its captive and increasingly ghettoized
Arab populations. We wring our hands while sitting on them as the Jewish state
continues to seize more Arab land for its colonists. Now the United States has
brought the Palestinian experience - of humiliation, dislocation and death to
millions more in Afghanistan and Iraq."
Didn't the President just announce he was upping our military presence in Afghanistan?
Freeman has also taken up the cause of legitimizing the Hamas terrorists - even at
the expense of the already legitimate Palestinian government. Or take the example of
Freeman's MEPC council publication Middle East Policy. It is consistently
anti-Israel. In its fall 2008 issue, editor, Anne Joyce even perpetuated the
anti-Semitic smear that the Iraq war was waged by neo-cons on behalf of Israel
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These are hardly views that will encourage Arab states to show true willingness for
peace with the Jewish state and are certainly not views that will reassure the
Israel to take the chances we keep urging them to take.
From a strictly ethical point of view it seems totally out of order. As Jeffrey
Goldberg of The Atlantic Monthly says it is obviously inappropriate to hire "a well
known advocate for the interests of Middle Eastern autocracies to produce national
intelligence assessments for the Obama administration."
There are those like New York's Senator Chuck Schumer who are already openly urging
the president to change his mind and reverse Freeman's appointment. I hope many of
Obama's million's of fans will do the same. It won't be the first time Obama has had
to shift appointment gears - but embarassing as that may be, it may be one of the
most important shifts our new president can make if he sincerely wants intelligence
assessments that are objective and will help ihim, Israel and the Arabs n the
ongoing struggle for a just Mideast peace.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor and veteran journalist Richard Z. Chesnoff was Senior Correspondent at US News & World Report, and is now a columnist at the NY Daily News and the Huffington Post. A two-time winner of the Overseas Press Club Award and a recipient of the National Press Club Award, he was formerly executive editor of Newsweek International. The paperback edition of his critically acclaimed book, "Pack of Thieves: How Hitler & Europe Plundered the Jews & Committed the Greatest Theft in History" is now on sale. (Click on cover above to purchase. Sales help fund JWR. To comment, please click here.
ARCHIVES
© 2009, Richard Z. Chesnoff
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