Neocons Blast Bush's Inaction On 'Spy' Affair

[seemslikeadream]

Neocons Blast Bush's Inaction On 'Spy' Affair
By MARC PERELMAN
September 10, 2004

.........

"If there is any truth to any of the accusations, why doesn't the White House demand that they bring on the evidence? On the record," the

memo stated. "There's an increasing antisemitic witch hunt."

........

The barrage of news reports on the allegations of improper conduct on the part of Aipac and Pentagon officials has fueled a suspicion among neo-conservatives that they are the victims of a smear campaign quietly endorsed by the White House. The recent memo being circulated in neoconservative circles points a finger at several State Department officials, including Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, and at members of the National Security Council, including Robert Blackwill, who took over Iraq policy recently and is said to be behind the Chalabi crackdown.

The memo, in an apparent reference to a June 2003 article in The Washington Post describing administration infighting over U.S. policy toward Tehran, asserted that media leaks from the State Department sank an effort by Pentagon officials to call for more aggressive action against Iran in a key policy document called the national security presidential directive, or NSPD.

"It was bad enough that the White House rewarded the June 15, 2003 leak by canceling consideration of the NSPD," the memo stated. "It showed the State Department that leaks could supplant real debate. But while Armitage or Blackwell (sic) might be seeking to score points inside the beltway, they are feeding conspiracies in the Middle East that will sink the president's policies in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, etc."

To back up claims of antisemitism, the memo points to reports that the FBI has hired Stephen Green, a longtime critic of American-Israeli ties, as a consultant. A former United Nations official, Green has a long record of claiming that Israel uses Jewish Americans, some of them prominent, to spy on the United States. Green has said in interviews that FBI officials interviewed him at length in the past few weeks.

"Green has... been on a one-man mission to expose deep-cover Israeli agents for decades," the memo said.

more
http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?ref=perelman20040909327

[Renew Deal]

1. "There's an increasing antisemitic witch hunt."

The point is that these guys are more worried about protecting Israel than protecting the US. This isn't about jews. This is about Israel.

[CrispyQ]

4. ...and their cursed rapture & the following apocalypse.

[sniffa]

7. and the fiery death of aLL jews

at which point, bush's coaLition wiLL coLLapse.*


roughLy paraphrased from aL franken.

[Gman]

5. Its also about making Christ's second coming a reality

That's the end game with these freaks.

[IA_Seth]

2. Ridiculous

To back up claims of antisemitism, the memo points to reports that the FBI has hired Stephen Green, a longtime critic of American-Israeli ties, as a consultant. A former United Nations official, Green has a long record of claiming that Israel uses Jewish Americans, some of them prominent, to spy on the United States. Green has said in interviews that FBI officials interviewed him at length in the past few weeks.

"Green has... been on a one-man mission to expose deep-cover Israeli agents for decades," the memo said.

How does being a critic of Israeli-US relations make you anti-semitic? It is this type of bullchit that allows AIPAC to do whatever the hell they want, the minute they are questioned they cry anti-semitism and everyone quits investigating!

[Dhalgren]

3. The neoconazis: "Whaaa, whaaaaa, whaaaa!"

Screw them. Why aren't they as concerned over the Plame affair? Right, this hits them too close to home. They don't care about US national security, only about protecting their "fellow travelers".

'"Green has... been on a one-man mission to expose deep-cover Israeli agents for decades," the memo said.' Isn't this a good thing? Shouldn't a patriotic American try and expose "deep cover" foreign agents in the US?

The neoconazis are getting beat at their own game and they start crying, "Unfair!" Again, screw 'em.

[displacedtexan]

6. Neocons know that BushCo will turn on them if necessary.

Everyone inside BushCo (except those whose surname is Bush) is potentially fungible.

[Oilwellian]

8. Isn't this what we've been saying?

"The memo, in an apparent reference to a June 2003 article in The Washington Post describing administration infighting over U.S. policy toward Tehran, asserted that media leaks from the State Department sank an effort by Pentagon officials to call for more aggressive action against Iran in a key policy document called the national security presidential directive, or NSPD."

Since when did the Pentagon aggressively push for military action against other sovereign nations? When did they start dictating policy?

[UpInArms]

9. hey seemslikeadream

what do you make of this:

http://english.daralhayat.com/column/09-2004/Article-20040909-e32d18df-c0a8-01ed-0003-e35b802dd188/story.html

??

[Hornito]

10. "When did they start dictating policy?"

When the neonazicons took over the Pentagon.

[seemslikeadream]

11. DISGRUNTLEMENT WATCH, ANTI-SEMITIC CABAL EDITION.

September 09, 2004
DISGRUNTLEMENT WATCH, ANTI-SEMITIC CABAL EDITION. The Forward reports on a memo written by Michael Rubin (a former CPA official and Ahmed Chalabi loyalist who fell out with Paul Bremer and has been carping about Iraq policy from the sidelines at the American Enterprise Institute ever since) alleging the existence of "an antisemitic campaign to marginalize being conducted by the CIA and the State Department." If you read on it's clear that this vast anti-semitic conspiracy's tentacles reach into the FBI, where the Larry Franklin investigation began, and the National Security Council, where neocon bête noir Robert Blackwill is allegedly now running the show while Condoleezza Rice smiles for the cameras. And, of course, since the Franklin case has gone to the grand jury, the U.S. Attorney's office must also be involved.
Clearly, a rough time for the Jews. Although somehow we Jews who never worked with in the Pentagon on dubious Iraq- and Iran-related matters are doing okay. No one's arresting Ari Fleischer. Franklin, meanwhile, isn't Jewish (but you know how unreasonable these anti-semites are), and the only targeted Jews happen to be directly above him in the Department of Defense chain of command.

Leaving spurious charges of anti-semitism aside, however, there's a legitimate point to be made in Rubin's neighborhood here. Whatever the facts of the Franklin matter, the wider inquiry he's now cooperating with looks an awful lot like an effort to advance a policy agenda by means of the criminal justice and counterintelligence system. Either way, it's hard to see how this reflects well on the Bush administration. Either the Pentagon is chock full of spies, or else the administration's policy process is so screwed up that bureacratic rivalries have become massive witch hunts centered around spurious allegations of criminality. Most likely the truth is that there's some combination of the two going on.

Now here's the thing to consider. What if we had a president who didn't disdain nuance, detail, policy, and book-learning? The sort of president who would resolve an Iran policy dispute by asking the various players to write up their arguments, read what both sides have to say, ask a few more questions, read a few more memos, make up his mind, and then tell everyone they either need to get with the program or leave his administration. Well, then, we could have gotten this whole engage-or-don't-engage/strike-or-don't-strike dispute settled. Instead we have a president who's a captive of his advisors rather than their boss, a president who, when his advisors disagree, remains paralyzed while they fight it out amongst themselves. And the fights are getting nastier, dragging foreign intelligence services and the U.S. law enforcement apparatus into the mix. It's no way to run a
more
http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2004/09/index.html#003982