Ex-Security Adviser Rips Bush Diplomacy

AP via Yahoooo ^ | 10/16/04 | AP

[I_saw_the_light]

x-Security Adviser Rips Bush Diplomacy

U.S. National - AP

WASHINGTON - The national security adviser under the first President Bush says the current president acted contemptuously toward NATO and Europe after Sept. 11 and is trying to cooperate now out of desperation to "rescue a failing venture" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Brent Scowcroft, a mentor to the current national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), also said in an interview published in England that Bush is inordinately influenced by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"Sharon just has him wrapped around his little finger," Scowcroft told London's Financial Times. "I think the president is mesmerized."

Scowcroft said the Bush administration's "unilateralist" position was partly responsible for the post-Sept. 11, 2001, decline of the trans-Atlantic relationship.

"It's in general bad," he said. "It's not really hostile, but there's an edge to it."

Early on, he said, "We had gotten contemptuous of Europeans and their weaknesses. We had really turned unilateral."

Although slightly diminished since then, the unilateralist policies remain fundamentally little changed, Scowcroft said. Recent overtures to cooperate in Afghanistan and Iraq with the United Nations and NATO were "as much an act of desperation as anything else ... to rescue a failing venture."

On Israel and Sharon, the former security adviser said Sharon calls Bush after strongly retaliating for a Palestinian suicide attack and says: "`I'm on the front line of terrorism,' and the president says, `Yes, you are.'"

Scowcroft said Sharon "has been nothing but trouble

[I_saw_the_light]

What the heck is this all about?

[ambrose]

Scowcroft is of the James Baker/Bush41 Israel-bashing school of diplomacy.

[verity]

Scowcroft has zero influence and probably manifests his resentment in this manner.

[Hildy]

This is why I didn't vote for the relection of the elder Bush. He and his cabinet were no friend to Israel.

[jim macomber]

"Scowcroft said the Bush administration's "unilateralist" position was partly responsible for the post-Sept. 11, 2001, decline of the trans-Atlantic relationship."

B***s**t. Our "unilateralist" position is more effect than cause.

[Terpfen]

Scowcroft said Sharon "has been nothing but trouble"

And therein lies the mentality of the career workers at the State Department, and much of the political elite in this country. If Israel would only go away, they could get on with their business of conducting normal relations with murderers, tyrants, and thieves. But because of Israel, they have to stand for an absolute--and of course, in diplomacy, everything is negotiable.

Go Israel!

[sinkspur]

What the heck is this all about?

Scowcroft despises Israel. He was THE man responsible in Bush 41's administration for the horrible relationship that Bush's father had with the state of Israel.

Scowcroft, from what I've seen, panders to Arabs, much like Holbrooke.

And he's just about as worthless as Holbrooke.

Of course, this slam is well-timed for him to get quoted on the Sunday shows.

I hope Bush41 calls him and tells him their friendship is over.

[dennisw]

[Janan Ganesh]

Scowcroft is the worst kind of do-nothing, ultra-realist cynic. He didn't even want a decisive American victory in the Cold War - he wanted to preserve some kind of Russian superpower (Soviet or not) for reasons of "stability", which is why James Baker was sent to Kiev in '89 to say "save the USSR".

GWB won't be losing any sleep over this.

[RexBeach]

Gen Scowcroft is a RINO. Period.

So, what, he thinks Mr. Kerry is right? Baloney.

[SE Mom]

I don't have enough background on Scowcroft to make an intelligent criticism- however- I do remember an editorial he wrote just before we went into Iraq. It was a scathing piece about GWB and his approach to all things foreign.

My sense is the oldtimers of GHWB's administration are still in a pre-9/11 state of mind. They look back longingly when we skated around the tough issues, formed alliances based on practical issues rather than necessarily shared values. I think GWB's rhetoric unsettles these guys.

None so blind as those who WILL not see.

[Restorer]

On Israel and Sharon, the former security adviser said Sharon calls Bush after strongly retaliating for a Palestinian suicide attack and says: "`I'm on the front line of terrorism,' and the president says, `Yes, you are.'"

This is inaccurate how?

[NonValueAdded]

Jeez, what the heck is he doing? Does he think a Kerry administration would do it better? Is he afraid that 43 will accomplish what x41 failed to do and therefore make him look bad in the process? He should be smart enough to realize how his comments will be received this close to the election. He must know the Reagan Commandment. Or did GWB pass him over for an ambassadorship that Scowcroft coveted?

[I_saw_the_light]

just found this-its news to me although maybe not to some of you. He's on Kofi's High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. That explains it to me.
http://www.un-globalsecurity.org/panel.asp

[flashbunny]

GHWB didn't have the most brilliant cabinet staff, or regular staff, period. Their incompetence and kowtowing to the RINO's and liberals are what cost them the election. Not perot, not clinton. They lost it all themselves.

[Tallguy]

Brent Scowcroft is a Cold War dinosaur -- great in his own time but adrift in the present. I'd like to ask Gen. Scowcroft if he thinks that Europe was going to continue merrily following the US's lead in world affairs once the big-bad Soviet threat was gone? The war in Iraq is just an excuse for the Franco-German entente to stick it to Uncle Sam, nothing more.

BTW, I'd like to be a fly on the wall when Bush41 calls up Gen. Scowcroft and says, "WTF were you thinking, Brent?"

[speedy]

The last gasps of the dying multilateralist UN-loving Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party. Scowcroft belongs to the era of Clifford Case and William Rogers and Henry Cabot Lodge Republicans. He's just steamed because he's nowhere near the decision-making process any more.

[mojito]

If Afghanistan is a "failing venture" for Scowcroft, I wonder what his definition of success might be? This guy might as well wear a button that says "Antisemitic Creep" so everyone could see where he stands without his having to open his evil mouth.

[Condor51]

thanks for posting this.

I bookmarked the properties so I can use it if you're not around at the needed time. Hope you don't mind :-)

[Steel and Fire and Stone]

Remember, Bush '41 lost his bid for re-election. Remember also, that most of those "in the know" blamed Bush's Cabinent and "advisers", like Scowcroft, for the loss.

Having his daddy's GOP establishment people in Kerry's corner is the best thing that could of happened to '43. You could say that '41 didn't inspire much loyalty, either.

SFS