Ex-officials lash Bush policies

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bob Porter <bob () bobporter com>
Date: June 16, 2004 2:33:02 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Ex-officials lash Bush policies
Reply-To: bobporter () bobporter com

Interesting that this is missing from the US News services given the  
stature
of all of these men from Ex-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff to  
Ex-CIA
head.

======================================================================== 
==
Former US diplomats and generals condemn a foreign policy they see as  
marked
by ideology and indifference.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/click/rss/0.91/public/-/2/hi/americas/ 
3810895.stm

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

"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.


HAVE YOUR SAY
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


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/3810895.stm

Published: 2004/06/16 17:33:16 GMT

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