The fog at Foggy Bottom (State Dept employees contempt for Bush)

Washington Times ^ | 5/21/03 | Op Ed

[Mark Felton]

Walk the halls of the State Department's main offices in Washington these days, and you'll encounter an abundance of political cartoons

[Joe Boucher]

And when Newt made issue with the dept of state he was blasted. The dept of state is working for a socialist one world.
They are anti repub. and anti American and have been forever.
Worthless bunch wasting my money.

[DPB101]

Clinton holdovers are apparently running our diplomatic relations with Brazil:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/914545/posts

If Ambassador Donna Hrinak and John Maisto in DC at State are not outright Reds, they are a deep shade of pink. Hrinak praised the global anti-war movement and set up a meeting with the Iraq's Ambassador to Brazil right before Powell asked all countries to expel Iraqi diplomats.

[Rudder]

And why does the task fall to Karl Rove? Isn't either Bush or Powell more directly in charge of the State Dept?

[Dark Wing]

ping

[Tom Bombadil]

The cartoons overwhelmingly lampoon President Bush as a simpleton who doesn't understand the "complexities" of the foreign policy.

These guys don't understand W very well and may be in for a little "shock and awe" of their own. He doesn't play patty cake with people who cross him up.....If all of this is true, look for a political explosion at the State Department soon and W is going to light the fuse.

[Elkiejg]

I'd say it's past time that State heard from freepers that we are aware of what's going on and want things changed asap - secretary@state.gov

[MissouriForBush]

I hope they clean house soon. Trust me, I am an American who has lived and now travels abroad for work. And I can tell you they need to get rid of the Clintonistas at State and embassies/consulates around the world -- pronto.

[fporretto]

The State Department was like this during the Reagan years as well. They were often quite overt about obstructing or undermining Reagan's policy directions, using their institutional assets and bureaucratic inertia to prevent the president from having his way. There are a number of revealing anecdotes about it in Armington and Ellis's book More.

Inasmuch as the conduct of foreign policy is one of the few legitimate functions of the federal government, it's extraordinarily distressing that the Cabinet department tasked with it should be so determined to thwart the White House and propitiate the enemies of the United States.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason:
http://palaceofreason.com

[mountaineer]

But at least then-Secretary of State George Schultz was able to keep something of a handle on his lieutenants and foot soldiers. Colin Powell has not.

It would seem Mr. Powell lacks the personality or, perhaps, the commitment to clean house at State.

[Rudder]

It would seem Mr. Powell lacks the personality or, perhaps, the commitment to clean house at State.

Bottom line?--you hit the nail on the head.

Behind the curtain is a massive (missive?) bureacracy inert in purpose except to save its existence.

Powell's cool, I guess. Who else could or would better challenge the bureacratic morass that is the State Dept without, at the same time, providing the liberal media a slant to piss on?

[Political Junkie Too]

The cartoons overwhelmingly lampoon President Bush as a simpleton who doesn't understand the "complexities" of the foreign policy.

I think the old-style foreign policy was a Rube Goldberg elaborate mix of intertwining interests that could stand some shaking up. Perhaps a "bull in a China shop" is what is needed to replace some of the inventory of our foreign policy.

-PJ

[gcruse]

State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher explains why blowing up Israelis different than blowing up Americans

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

Richard Boucher, Spokesman

Washington, DC; September 27, 2001

...

QUESTION: To what extent does this campaign -- as you constantly review your Middle East policy, what -- how much influence does this campaign against terrorism have in that? What's the input? How does it weigh in here? See what I mean?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't.

QUESTION: It's obviously a factor --

MR. BOUCHER: We have talked about this on and off over the last few days. We recognize that there is an influence. Some have said it affects the atmosphere, the Palestinian/Israeli issues affect the atmosphere of cooperation. But, essentially, there are, on some planes, two different things. One is that there are violent people trying to destroy societies, ours, many others in the world. The world recognizes that and we are going to stop those people.

On the other hand, there are issues and violence and political issues that need to be resolved in the Middle East, Israelis and Palestinians. But we all recognize that the path to solve those is through negotiation and that we have devoted enormous efforts to getting back to that path of negotiation.

And we have called on the parties to do everything they can, particularly in the present circumstance, to make that possible.

I guess that's about as close as I can come to the kind of sophisticated analysis I'm sure you will want to do on your own. But they are clearly issues that are different, not only in geography but also, to some extent, in their nature.

--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

[Political Junkie Too]

Exactly. What we need is Ambassador Occam.

-PJ

[Mr. Mojo]

Foreign Service sneering at a president is nothing new, of course, but such open disrespect for a commander-in-chief hasn't existed since Foggy Bottom's diplomats decried Ronald Reagan's description of the Soviet Union as an "evil empire."

It appears being dissed by the DOS is the highest of compliments.

[Timesink]

Why are these people not FIRED? Why does the White House not simply send over someone with a wussy, Sidney Blumenthal look to him - someone who looks like he'd fit in perfectly at State - to go over there and simply take notes of who's showing such overt Bush hate? Then he could hand the list over to Karl Rove and have every name on that list personally fired by George W. Bush.

[DPB101]

There is a precedent for wholesale firing. After WWII, 400 at State were canned as security risks. The American Legion kept an eye on them and discovered most of them moved to Paris and were living higher than their State income would have provided--some on the payroll of the French government. The recently released transcripts from the McCarthy hearings executive sessions go into this in some detail.

[zip]

I have been calling for housecleaning at the State Dept and DOJ for over 2 years. This is one of very few problems I have with people around GW but it is a biggie. Why doesn't the WH see the enemies within and take action???

[appalachian_dweller]

>> The State Department intentionally withheld this vital piece of information, fearing that, if the White House knew, officials there might call off the meeting. The White House was reportedly furious about this deception, but it has done nothing concrete to make sure it doesn't happen again. <<

Worrysome...
GWB needs to clean house.

[GSWarrior]

The question is why? Does Bush believe this does not merit action? Is this compassionate conservatism?