The Fringe Fires at Bush on Iraq (Ted Kennedy and paleoconservatives – comrades-in-arms)

The Los Angeles Times ^ | March 11, 2003 | Max Boot

[quidnunc]

Ted Kennedy delivered another stemwinder last week, accusing the Bush administration of lying its way into Iraq for political gain. Ho-hum. Nothing new there. But one paragraph caught my attention.

In trying to buttress his charge that the president twisted intelligence about Saddam Hussein, Kennedy cited "Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, a recently retired Air Force intelligence officer who served in the Pentagon during the buildup to the war." He quoted her as follows: "It wasn't intelligence — it was propaganda … they'd take a little bit of intelligence, cherry-pick it, make it sound much more exciting, usually by taking it out of context, usually by juxtaposition of two pieces of information that don't belong together."

Sounds pretty damning, doesn't it? Those aren't the words of a political opponent; that's the judgment of a presumably disinterested military professional. Except that Kwiatkowski's judgment doesn't look so disinterested when you examine her views more closely.

Since her retirement in March 2003, she has become a prolific contributor to isolationist publications like the American Conservative, Pat Buchanan's magazine, and lewrockwell.com, an ultra-libertarian website. Pretty much all her work is devoted to uncovering "neoconservative warmongers" who have supposedly taken over U.S. foreign policy.

She is not subtle in denouncing "Dickie Cheney, Richie Perle and Dougie Feith" (as well as, occasionally, "my pal, Max Boot"), whose "neoconservative philosophy is hateful to humanity, anti-American, statist and anti-free trade." (Anti-free trade?) She thinks the United States is a "maturing fascist state." And she predicts a dire fate for those who led us into the Iraq war: "Some folks on the Pentagon's E-ring may be sitting beside Hussein in the war crimes tribunals."

-snip-

[petitfour]

Interestingly, Prof. Bradford was very dear friend of Forrest McDonald. I was too young to pay attention to all the politics of the NEH in the early 80s. The person who followed Bill Bennett? Lynne Cheney. She was chair when Forrest McDonald was awarded the Jefferson Lectureship/Lecturer.

[quidnunc]

Linking to an article by Dennis "Justin" Raimondo isn't going to earn you many brownie points on this forum.

[Destro]

Hmm, you did say he was wrong, you did dispute the facts......

Since his article is a direct refutation of Boot, is it not worth reading to get the other side's point of view? Yet strangely you react as if threatened.

[My2Cents]

Karen Kwiatkowski was a mid-level policy analyst who, when pressed, admitted she had no inside knowledge of the information the Administration had when the decision was made to take down Saddam. Her 15 minutes of fame are about over.

[rdb3]

You mean to tell me that you are trumpeting an author who told our soldiers not to fight?

As a veteran with the 82d Airborne Division and Desert Shield/Desert Storm, I find that traitorous.

Show 'em my motto!

[rrrod]

i saw her on tv being interviewed...she is a whacko! no wonder buchanan and his goofy followers like her ...

[Destro]

Are the facts about her wrong? Since he was directly defending her against this article's smear it provided a reply that needed reading. If you can respond with facts to refute his facts then do so. Did you serve with Crazy Cabbie?

[junta]

Will you neo-cons ever stop being such sore winners? You won Iraq its yours now you can social engineer that third world pit called the middle east into a shining pillar of democracy and equality. The new consevervatives can join forces with the left and continue their work from such great places as Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti, and now Iraq, good luck to you both.

[Destro]

LOL - good one!

[junta]

I've never seen such mean vindictive people as the neo-cons. I wonder if living under communism if the commisars were as brutal in dishing out unending denunciations on such a personal level?

[1rudeboy]

Since his article is a direct refutation of Boot, is it not worth reading to get the other side's point of view?

You want the short answer? If Raimondo, then no.

[sinkspur]

Interestingly, Prof. Bradford was very dear friend of Forrest McDonald

I took two undergraduate English courses under Bradford at the University of Dallas in the early 70s.

Bradford, even then, led many of us to question his views on race.

[sinkspur]

If you paleos would give up your anti-semitism, you might be taken more seriously.

[quidnunc]

junta wrote: I've never seen such mean vindictive people as the neo-cons. I wonder if living under communism if the commisars were as brutal in dishing out unending denunciations on such a personal level?

If the Almighty did not mean for paleoconserevatives to be mocked, then why did he create them with such a foolish mien?

Paleocons are living proof that God does indeed have a sense of humor.

[adam_az]

He doesn't say they're wrong, he doesn't dispute the facts: instead, he employs a time-honored device straight out of the neoconservative playbook: he tries to smear them as being from "the fringe."

That's a childish ad hominem, I honestly expected better from you! Can you show me a copy of said playbook, and where this tactic is suggested? Or are you just using this kind of labelling to paint your opponent as being.... on the fringe?

[My2Cents]

Pat Buchanan gets 0.4% of the vote in 2000, and we're told he and his ilk are not "fringe."

[junta]

That was brilliant.

[Destro]

Guess what? I am not a paleo! Not a libertarian! and I rather die then call myself a neo-con. I am a classic Founding Fathers influenced conservative. But I will side with paleos and Libertarians befoe the neocons. As for being anti-semetic on my part? Either remove that libel or I will remove your post.

[sinkspur]

Remove the post. You're known by the company you keep. You want to use a known anti-semite, known terrorist-sympathizer like Justin Raimondo to bolster your arguments, you'll suffer from the association.