From Juan Cole's INFORMED COMMENT:Saturday, August 20, 2005

[laststeamtrain]

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Village Voice on Feith

US foreign policy supports the withdrawal of Israeli colonizers from the Palestinian Gaza Strip. But the outgoing number 3 man at the Pentagon, the son of a founder of the proto-fascist Likud Party, has his own foreign policy and fanatically favors the aggressive expansion of Israel and further expropriation of Palestinian property. It is shameful that he is only now resigning, since he has all along opposed the roadmap to peace of the Bush administration. And while others might have had complex motives for taking out Saddam, the reams of disinformation that issued from Feith's "Office of Special Plans" are easily explained. He saw the Baath regime as a brake on his hopes for a "Greater Israel." As number 3 in the US Department of Defense, moroever, it is hard to see how he could have been insulated from the decisions that led to the torture of Arab prisoners.

If France appointed Jean-Marie LePen as its number 3 in the Ministry of Defense, there would be howls of outrage from the international community... http://tinyurl.com/d46d6

[xchrom]

1. that not once has bushco uttered one honest word

regarding iraq has become evident to everyone but the american public.

background information of character's like feith are simply not examined if they are wingers -- bork and thomas being exceptions that make the rule.

[barb162]

2. The author doesn't use a first name...is he talking about Douglas

Feith?

[laststeamtrain]

3. Yes.

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ind/feith/feith.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Feith

[barb162]

6. hilarious comment that Tommy Franks said in the Woodward

book. I read that book and recalled Franks HATED Feith and luckily the Wikipedia article you linked had the actual quote which still makes me laugh:

"Some of Feith's critics label him a chickenhawk, criticizing him for not having served in the military. One such critic is United States Army General Tommy Franks, who, according to Bob Woodward's 2004 Plan of Attack, described Feith as the "fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth" (p.281). <5><6>"

[laststeamtrain]

7. That IS quite a quote to have hung on you. Sums up, probably, what...

...a lot of uniformed military think of the Pentagon civilians right now including the boss.

I've looked at the sites of some of the organizations, like JINSA, that Feith and company consort with. It really is scary.

Feith and Libby ARE what Dwight Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex + fanatics. I can't quite understand how having people with these beliefs in high-level government posts is a good idea.

They make their fortunes at places like Rand that make their profits through war and then go into government and foment wars. That's a swinging door that needs to be closed for good.

[barb162]

8. Well if you read the Woodward book which

I thought was pretty well researched and he interviewed everyone more than once and everything is very serious... and Franks was very upset about how Rummy kept wanting him to go in lean and mean, kept at Franks about reducing the number of troops, wouldn't listen to the generals with experience, Feith acting like he knew everything, then all of a sudden Franks said that to Woodward, that quote. Franks, ummm, didn't mince words.

Ah, the Vulcans. These people like Feith, Wolfowicz, Condi Rice, etc., are there because Bush and they are all on the same page. They are all really way too arrogant for their own good.

[tocqueville]

4. the comparison with LePen is wrong

1) Le Pen is an open anti-semite
2) he is a loud "Bolton-type" figure
3) he isn't in the majority party

to appoint a Le Pen like person at the Defense Department in France would be possible only if Le Pen became president.

The main problem is that the pro-israeli stance of the US is so mainstream that persons like Feith can even be appointed at all

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Feith

[laststeamtrain]

5. Good points all I think...

...'shadowy figures' like Ledeen, Gaffney, etc are hiding in plain sight.

1)I'd like to all to come out.
2)it all is out.
3)nobody cares.

F_ck!