Open Thread

7 Comments

1. 

   Oui on June 23, 2008 at 5:54 pm

   .

   Doug Feith: Israel didn’t push for Iraq War

   “The relationship between Bush and Israel was so strong and so friendly that the Israeli government was not going to join Germany and French in opposing the US,” Feith said, and added that “what you heard from the Israelis was not any kind of advocacy of war with Iraq.”

   The hawks just wanted to defang Iraq as a favor to Ariel Sharon in Israel

   A Dangerous Appointment: Profile of Douglas Feith

   In the late 1970s, for example, he criticized then President Jimmy Carter’s Camp David effort to bring about a “comprehensive peace”–a concept he decried as false since it required Israel to weaken itself by surrendering “Judea and Samaria” to the Arabs. Feith’s logic was that

   • Arabs have no legal rights in Palestine;
   • Palestinians are not a “national group as such” and, therefore, have no special claim to Judea and Samaria;
   • Jordan is the Palestinian state for the Arabs; and
   • No pressure should be brought against Israel for building settlements in Judea and Samaria, since it is their right to do so.

   Operating from this framework, Feith argues that the notion that “the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict is the issue of the stateless Palestinians” is a clever Arab trap designed solely to weaken Israel by threatening its relationship with the United States and its hold over Judea and Samaria.

   …
   In 1996, Feith, together with Richard Perle wrote an advisory paper for the newly elected Likud Prime Minister. In that piece, entitled “A Clean Break: a New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” they advised Netanyahu to: “make a clean break from the peace process;” reassert Israel’s claim to its land by rejecting “land for peace” as the basis of peace; strengthen Israel’s defenses to better confront Syria and Iraq; and forge a new and stronger relationship with the United States based on self-reliance and mutual interest.

   …
   As disturbing as Feith’s views may be, his political associations cause even greater concern. In recent years, Feith has frequently been featured in the activities of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA). Known for its virulent anti-Arab incitement, the ZOA regularly attacks all Arab American political activity and demonizes politicians who hire Arab Americans or even associate with community organizations. The ZOA also frequently attacks American Jews whom they feel are not in line with their extremist pro-Likud philosophy.

   "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

2. 

   dada on June 23, 2008 at 6:26 pm

   dougie’s big day, eh:

   They’ve Gotta Have Feith

   Former Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith had agreed to testify before a House Judiciary subommittee on interrogation techniques used on detainees, but when June 18 rolled around, Feith was nowhere to be found…

   sternly worded letter to follow.

   someday, someone’s gonna punch one of these pnaclowns out.

3. 

   idredit on June 23, 2008 at 6:35 pm

   Feith is facing a House Judiciary subcommittee subpoena which he’ll most likely ignore.

   A waste of time.

   Since these guys don’t believe in the rule of law, just round them up as enemy combatants against the Constitution and by extension the country which they were appointed to defend. Ship them all to Gitmo.

4. 

   dada on June 23, 2008 at 6:38 pm

   … and speaking of who was…has been…or is conspiring to produce a nucular [sic] weapon; the findings from this investigation should be very interesting:

   UN nuclear team to inspect bombed Syria desert site

   DAMASCUS (AFP) – Senior UN atomic experts are set to begin a three-day visit to Syria on Sunday to inspect a mysterious site bombed by Israel last year amid US allegations that it was a nuclear facility.

   The team led by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) deputy chief Olli Heinonen left Vienna in the morning but there was no immediate indication in Damascus about their arrival as Syria kept the visit under tight wraps.
   .
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   “What will be waiting there, we will see when we get there,” he added.
   .
   .
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   IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei stressed in an interview with an Arab news channel ahead of the visit that there was no evidence of Syrian nuclear foul-play.

   we will see indeed.

5. 

   Bright Creature on June 23, 2008 at 6:49 pm

   We should probably renationalize the news.  The news corps have been losing money for years anyway.. so its time we made the news a service again.

   I’d love to hear the squeels of protest over that ^^

6. 

   RustyPipes on June 23, 2008 at 6:55 pm

   Well, seeing that someone has already hilighted Feith’s experience in the 70’s back when a “missile gap” was offered as an excuse for nuclear buildup in the Cold War — a missile gap which later proved to be non-existent at the fall of the Soviet Union, certainly puts his talk of an “intelligence gap” into perspective:

   Rice deserves credit for stressing here the gaps and uncertainties in U.S. intelligence.

   While there were gaps in U.S. intelligence, the administration repeatedly chose the interpretation that was the most favorable to its case for war. In fact, almost a year before her 2002 interview, Rice’s staff “had been told that the government’s foremost nuclear experts seriously doubted that the tubes were for nuclear weapons.”

   Additionally, as Michael Isikoff and David Corn wrote in “Hubris,” speechwriter Michael Gerson — who came up with the phrase — clearly intended the metaphor to be used to sell the American public on the alleged nuclear danger of Saddam. It was also used by President Bush on Oct. 7, 2002, not to debate intelligence gaps, but to push for war:

   Since Feith was one of the political appointees pushing the faulty intelligence, he has plenty of motivation to continue this spin long after the case.

7. 

   mainsailset on June 23, 2008 at 7:05 pm

   Someday, if we ever have the luxury of looking back on these times, we may well declare that Feith was at the top of this class. Only evil outperformed him.