Fw: [Peace-discuss] Obama knuckles under again

[unionyes]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "unionyes" <unionyes at ameritech.net>
To: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at illinois.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 5:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Obama knuckles under again


> LIEBERMAN ?
>
> What the hell is he doing on ANY committee ?
> He campaigmed for McCain.
>
> Oh i forgot, he was scolded for 5-minutes and he said he made a mistake, 
> and then all was forgiven, with no loss in seniority or committees
>
> This just shows the duplicity of the democrats, 95 % of them in the U.S. 
> Congress are on the same corporate team as the republicans.
>
> Why do we mice keep voting for different shades of cats, when neither 
> represent us.
>
> David J.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at illinois.edu>
> To: "Peace-discuss" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 4:50 PM
> Subject: [Peace-discuss] Obama knuckles under again
>
>
>> Chas Freeman pulls out
>> By BEN SMITH | Updated: 3/10/09 5:32 PM EDT
>>
>> Ambassador Charles W. Freeman Jr., the appointee to chair Obama’s 
>> National Intelligence Council, withdrew his name from consideration.
>>
>> The controversial appointee to chair President Barack Obama’s National 
>> Intelligence Council walked away from the job Tuesday as criticism on 
>> Capitol Hill escalated.
>>
>> Charles W. Freeman Jr., the former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, had been 
>> praised by allies and by the director of national intelligence, Dennis 
>> Blair, as a brilliant, iconoclastic analyst. Critics said he was too hard 
>> on Israel and too soft on China, and blasted him for taking funding from 
>> Saudi royals.
>>
>> Freeman “requested that his selection to be Chairman of the National 
>> Intelligence Council not proceed,” Blair’s office said in a statement. 
>> “Director Blair accepted Ambassador Freeman’s decision with regret.”
>>
>> The withdrawal came after Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) grilled Blair at a 
>> Senate Armed Service Committee hearing Tuesday. Lieberman cited his 
>> “concern” about “statements that [Freeman] has made that appear either to 
>> be inclined to lean against Israel or too much in favor of China.”
>>
>> In particular, Freeman has described “Israeli violence against 
>> Palestinians” as a key barrier to Mideast peace, and referred to violence 
>> in Tibet last year — widely seen in the U.S. as a revolt against Chinese 
>> occupation — as a “race riot.”
>>
>> His writing drew criticism of members of Congress, but Blair said the 
>> words were taken “out of context” and allies warned that Obama was 
>> allowing domestic politics to skew intelligence analysis and continuing 
>> the Bush Administration’s stance of sidelining critics of Israeli policy 
>> toward Palestinians.
>>
>> “If they withdraw his appointment prior to the conclusion of [Freeman’s 
>> formal vetting] that would be seen as abject caving in on people who are 
>> extreme partisans of Israel,” Nicholas Veliotes, a former Ambassador to 
>> Egypt, and one of 17 former diplomats who signed a letters supporting 
>> Freeman, said Tuesday before the withdrawal was announced.
>>
>> But Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), one of Freeman's leading critics, said the 
>> appointee could have "withstood" the attacks on policy grounds, but 
>> ultimately was torpedoed by the fact that he headed an institute funded 
>> by Saudi royalty and sat on the board of a Chinese state oil company.
>>
>> "The administration made yet another mistake not doing its homework 
>> before nominating someone to a senior position of unique sensitivity, and 
>> then learned from the press further and further embarrassing details," 
>> Kirk said. "He was heavily encumbered by multiple conflicts of interest 
>> involving Chinese, Saudi and other business dealings that all should have 
>> been disclosed long before."
>>
>> http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19856.html
>> _______________________________________________
>> Peace-discuss mailing list
>> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.557 / Virus Database: 270.11.9/1993 - 
>> Release Date: 3/10/2009 7:19 AM
>>
>>
>