Retired Officials Say Bush Must Go

[PSU84]

Retired Officials Say Bush Must Go
The 26 ex-diplomats and military leaders say his foreign policy has harmed national security. Several served under Republicans.

By Ronald Brownstein Los Angeles Times June 13, 2004

WASHINGTON — A group of 26 former senior diplomats and military officials, several appointed to key positions by Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, plans to issue a joint statement this week arguing that President George W. Bush has damaged America's national security and should be defeated in November.

The group, which calls itself Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, will explicitly condemn Bush's foreign policy, according to several of those who signed the document.

<snip>

Those signing the document, which will be released in Washington on Wednesday, include 20 former U.S. ambassadors, appointed by presidents of both parties, to countries including Israel, the former Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia. Others are senior State Department officials from the Carter, Reagan and Clinton administrations and former military leaders, including retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, the former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East under President Bush's father. Hoar is a prominent critic of the war in Iraq.

<snip>

The document will echo a statement released in April by a group of high-level former British diplomats condemning Prime Minister Tony Blair for being too closely aligned to U.S. policy in Iraq and Israel. Those involved with the new group said their effort was already underway when the British statement was released.

more at www.latimes.com

[Stew225]

1. This is terrific. It has to help shift

momentum back after the Reagan bounce.

[lovedems]

2. This is great! As much as KKKarl is going to try to invoke Raygun

for political purposes in the next several months, you have a mounting number of republicans saying, "You are no Raygun" to the chimp.

[berry]

3. I do hope these people get more attention than a similar group

that put out a largely-ignored statement a few months ago. It's very encouraging that people who have heretofore not ever made public statements like this are standing up to be counted. But it also underlines how very out-of-control this WH is.

Interesting too is that the rebuttal (by Cliff May--ugh) is to accuse all of them of being so 9-10: "This seems like a statement from 9/10 people (who don't see) the importance of 9/11 and the way that should have changed our thinking." So...the argument is that the world has changed and the new rules (that *BushCo concocted) cannot be challenged because all the critics are wrong about the way the world is. It's a weak and propagandistic argument, but the media has been saying that the world has changed since 9-11 SO much that I worry that people just take that as a given. Already that tipping point has served as the "justification" for pre-emptive war, the PATRIOT act, torture, and who knows what more. Oh, yes, most worrisome of all, the enormous expansion of presidential powers.

I'm very glad these people have taken a stand--but I want there to be multitudes standing with them.... Maybe this coming week will be a different kind of tipping point as all of the *Bush crimes command the nation's attention (after the Reagan "time out"). Not that the Sunday shows are encouraging on that point...

edit--Ahh. now I see what people mean when they talk about square brackets. I had to change them inside the quotation so the clarifying words wouldn't disappear.

[jbfam4]

4. Also see the Wash. post article

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x56470

This group is calling a news conference on Wednesday to announce it's findings..........HUMMMMM what source of distraction will the white house call on to overcome this BAD news?