Posted on 06/16/2004 2:13:00 PM PDT by yoely
A group of retired US diplomats and generals has condemned the foreign policy of the Bush administration as ideological and callously indifferent. Members of the 26-strong group of Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change demanded a major rethink in an open letter published in Washington.
"I think we will in time come to be very ashamed of this period in history," said one, Chas Freeman.
Another, Gen Merrill McPeak, talked of the "terrible disaster" in Iraq.
Never before have so many of us felt the need for a major change in the direction of our foreign policy
Phyllis Oakley former ambassador
Click here for full list of signatories "Because [of] the Pollyann-ish assumptions that were made by the administration going in there, that bouquets would be thrown at us and so forth, we were totally unprepared for the post-combat occupation," the former chief of staff of the US Air Force said.
Mr Freeman, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said the prisoner abuses at Iraq's US-run Abu Ghraib prison amounted to a "catastrophic disaster".
However, he suggested that blame for the abuses rested not with President George W Bush directly, but "some people in the administration".
'Callous indifference'
Another former ambassador, Phyllis Oakley, said the need for change was unprecedented.
"Today we see that structure crumbling under an administration blinded by ideology and a callous indifference to the realities of the world around it," she said.
"Never before have so many of us felt the need for a major change in the direction of our foreign policy."
The former officials have launched their call for change in a presidential election year, but the group is made up of both Democrats and members of Mr Bush's Republican Party.
Known critics of the administration were deliberately excluded from it.
Pressure for change
The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says the group includes some who worked for the president's father, George Bush Senior, when he was in the White House.
Bush's foreign policy has made us the object of hate world wide
Susan Taylor, Bronxville, NY
They include William Crowe, who as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was America's top military officer, and Admiral Stansfield Turner, a former director of the CIA.
The statement follows criticism last month by former diplomats who accused the administration of undermining US credibility in the Arab world by its strong support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The UK government has also come under fire, former officials attacking Prime Minister Tony Blair's support for Washington over Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Boost to Kerry
Several individual signatories to the open letter have said they will back Mr Bush's Democrat challenger, John Kerry, and others say that the document is in effect calling for the president's removal.
"It is clear that the statement calls for the defeat of the administration," said William C Harrop, former ambassador to Israel.
But supporters of the administration said the former officials who had signed the letter were simply trying to hide the inadequacy of their own policies.
Cliff May, president of the conservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told the BBC:
"Largely, they are people who were in senior official capacities before 9/11. They are people who are responsible for the policies prior to 9/11.
"Those policies I think, failed spectacularly on 9/11," he said.
THE SIGNATORIES Avis T Bohlen, President Bush's former assistant secretary of state for arms control Adm William J Crowe, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under President Reagan and ambassador to UK under President Clinton; has endorsed John Kerry Jeffrey S Davidow, President Bush's former ambassador to Mexico William A DePree, ex-ambassador to Bangladesh Donald B Easum, ex-ambassador to Nigeria Charles W Freeman, ex-ambassador to Saudi Arabia William C Harrop, President Bush Senior's ambassador to Israel Arthur A Hartman, ex-ambassador to Soviet Union and France Gen Joseph P Hoar, commander in chief of US Central Command under Bush Sr; supports John Kerry H Allen Holmes, ex-special operations chief Robert V Keeley, ex-ambassador to Greece and Zimbabwe Samuel W Lewis, ex-ambassador to Israel Princeton N Lyman, ex-ambassador to South Africa Jack F Matlock, ambassador to the USSR under President Reagan and President Bush Senior Donald F McHenry, ex-ambassador to the UN Gen Merrill A McPeak, former Air Force chief of staff; supports John Kerry George E Moose, ex-African affairs chief David D Newsom, former acting secretary of state Phyllis E Oakley, ex-intelligence and research chief James Daniel Phillips, ex-ambassador to Africa John E Reinhardt, ex-ambassador to Nigeria Gen William Y Smith, ex-deputy commander in chief, US European Command Ronald I Spiers, ex-senior UN official and ambassador to Pakistan Michael Sterner, ex-ambassador in Middle East Adm Stansfield Turner, CIA director under Carter; has endorsed John Kerry Alexander F Watson, ex-assistant secretary of state for Inter-American affairs
That's nice.
Who are they lobbyists for now?
Oh, yeah.
50 million people now live under freedom and hopefully democracy which will change the region for the better. I'm so ashamed.
anyone have the time or inclination to see how many of these have given money to Democratic party nominees lately?
Avis T. Bohlen (appointed by Clinton as Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control) :
"We are seeking to negotiate changes that would permit us on the one hand to deploy a limited National Missile Defense, but on the other would also allow us to preserve the core of the ABM Treaty and the strategic stability that it embodies.
Finally, since the end of last year, we have been consulting intensively on this subject with our allies in NATO and elsewhere.
Earlier last year, of course, we were working on ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). As you know, it was not ratified by the Senate. Recently, Secretary of State Albright created a small task force that is chaired by (Senior Arms Control Adviser) John Holum, and she appointed (retired Army) General John Shalikashvili as special advisor to her and to the President to try to lay the basis for a possible future ratification effort, to conduct a dialogue with key Senators and key public figures to talk about the issues involved.
General Shalikashvili came on board March 13 and will be continuing his efforts in the weeks ahead. At the moment he's very much in a listening mode, gathering information and views from all concerned."
http://usinfo.org/USIA/usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/arms/stories/bohlnspt.htm
Well, at the moment, John Kerry..
Which is to say they loved us when our embassies and ships were attacked without response.
These are the very men, who's policies were in effect prior to 9-11, who failed this country and allowed us to be attacked. Why on earth would we listen to what they have to say. They are total and utter failures.
I see that at least two of them have "endorsed Kerry" after their names.
These are the same people who decried Reagan's optimistic belief that he could defeat Soviet Communism. These are the same people who still view the world through the diplomatic and military paradyms and strategies of the Cold War. These people are hopelessly out of date, and hopelessly out of touch with reality. These people are all bucking for a job in the Kerry Administration, and God help us if they ever get back into a policy making role.
Bush is letting the body bags get dusty. This isn't the way a war is supposed to be. We need more bodies. More gore. More drama. This is wrong. We need more failures. Less headway. More setbacks. Less regime change. Then we return to normalcy. The goal is not to be the most successful wartime president in history. The goal is to fight a war the old fashioned way.
I can't say, but I bet their initials are "Saudi Arabia."
Maybe we should surrender or just "Run away!"
There's a reason why this group of "diplomats and generals" are retired.
And these are the people who left Bush the terrorist mess in the Middle East to begin with!
Buncha no name losers. HA!
This stalwart group prefers kerry (a traitorous self-serving phony-hero anti-America pro-u.n. anti-weapon-systems most-liberal senator) over Bush as president? They are stupid beyond belief. How did any of these dangerous morons ever get into important positions???
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