Andrew Sullivan's conspiracy theory
The Chas Freeman controversy continues. And Andrew Sullivan thinks the entire controversy is a conspiracy of Israel's supporters.Martin Kramer takes a swipe at Freeman for toeing the Saudi line that the 9/11 attacks were all because the US supports Israel (Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs).
Since 9/11 Freeman hasn't repeated his 1998 assessment [of al-Qaeda terrorism] ("nothing to do with Israel"), instead sticking with his Saudi-pleasing spin of 2004 ("the heart of the poison is the Israel-Palestinian conundrum"). It's not hard to figure out why. When the 9/11 Commission interviewed him in 2003, it noted that his position as president of the Middle East Policy Council "requires regular trips to the Persian Gulf for fundraising. While there, he meets with many senior Saudi officials." In 2006, Freeman finally went the extra mile, offering this explanation for 9/11:Ed Morrissey rips Freeman for that last statement.We have paid heavily and often in treasure for our unflinching support and unstinting subsidies of Israel's approach to managing its relations with the Arabs. Five years ago, we began to pay with the blood of our citizens here at home.Freeman was now touting precisely the sort of nonsense he had previously dismissed out of hand. And he hit paydirt for doing it: within months, Prince Alwaleed wrote a check to Freeman's Middle East Policy Council for $1 million.
So [9/11 is] our fault, not for bombing people, but for allying ourselves with a Western-style democracy which may not be perfect but far surpasses anything else in the region. Does Saudi Arabia offer more freedom and liberty to its people than Israel? Jordan? Egypt? Syria? Iran?None of this matters to Andrew Sullivan. To him, all of the opposition to Freeman is 'hysterical bullying' by Israel's supporters to make sure that no one with Freeman's views has access to 'real power' in Washington (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
This is Freeman's cardinal sin among his critics: to blame Israel, even in part, for the plight it finds itself in, and to ask that US foreign policy be more neutral with respect to the parties in the Middle East. This is the third rail no one is allowed to touch and have access to real power in Washington. Even when the horrifying Gaza assault was going on, it became evidence of anti-Semitism to find the civilian casualties morally repellent and the siege itself counter-productive. This kind of intimidation must end. And again: it is not as if Freeman is being given the job that, say Dennis Ross has. It is that a man with these views has any right to be in any American government at all. Of course he does. Obama was not elected to continue the policies toward Israel of George W. Bush.Sullivan is wrong. Here's Ed Morrissey again on why.
The central fallacy behind this thinking is that al-Qaeda is some kind of liberation movement. It’s not, and neither is Hamas or Hezbollah. These are terrorist organizations looking to impose a brutal oppression on people by the imposition of shari’a over the entirety of southwest Asia, and later the entire world.Freeman hasn't been nominated to run Health and Human Services or the EPA. He's been nominated to vet intelligence briefings for the United States government. If Mort Zuckerman had been nominated for that position, you can bet that Sullivan would object. Freeman is less qualified for that position than Zuckerman. At least Zuckerman's not morally blind. Freeman is. And apparently, so is Sullivan who finds an Israeli lobbyist behind anything remotely related to Israel.
We can’t have anyone this clueless in charge of our intelligence analyses. The Senate needs to tell Barack Obama in no uncertain terms to dump Chas Freeman, and fast.
It's not just 'Israel's supporters' (read: Jews) who are opposed to Freeman's nomination. And there are a lot of good reasons that have nothing to do with Israel why Freeman should not head the National Intelligence Council.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:33 PM
4 Comments:
Not clueless: compromised! Corrupt, bought and sold by the Arabs. Freeman is a whore with lesser morals than a 20-dollar street hooker.
A terrible man, unworthy of holding any position in government. But the Obambo government is a sewer, and you know what floats on top.
I'm sure someone will complain in front of the Senate and they might even get Freeman to make a supportive statement towards Israel.
But don't anyone be fooled for a moment in thinking that destroying the relationship between Israel and the US is not the intention of this administration. Obama went so far as to say he is a friend of Israel and that all of these current problems are the making of Hamas but it was all fiction on his part. Just like stating that
the money he is allocating for the rebuilding of Gaza isn't just money for Hamas to use to kill more Israeli's. There is NO WAY that the President does NOT know how Hamas operates and that Hamas has no interest in the welfare of the people it claims to govern. It's all over the media how Hamas took over schools, hospitals etc and caused the deaths of many of their own people for photo ops.
He is also aware that Hamas steals just about every bit of aid that makes it there for the Pals. There is no way that Obama doesn't realize that this money will be used to make more rockets, mortars, suicide belts and bomb trucks. There fore by sending it it can only be assumed that that is what he wants done with that money. Obama has sold quite the bid of goods to all those who claim to believe in him and in doing so they may have just aided in the deaths f many more Jews and quite possibly there own American countrymen.
Once upon a time conspiracy theories were associated with the fringe Right. Today, its leftist moonbats who circulate them for public consumption!
Incidentally, if Andrew Sullivan were right about the Jews controlling the vertical and the horizontal and what people see and hear, he would neither be seen from or heard.
I don't know what has happened to Andrew Sullivan - he used to be a pretty reasonable person. Over the past 4-5 years, however, he has turned into an idiot. A follower of the far left. G-d knows what has happened to that man.
Mike - given the current nature of "the relationship between Israel and the US [administration]" it ought to be destroyed. It does Israel far more harm than good. It needs to be replaced with an alliance of equals - not a patron-client system.
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