Posted on 06/13/2004 7:19:48 AM PDT by Hawk44
Edited on 06/13/2004 7:22:11 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON A group of 26 former senior diplomats and military officials, several appointed to key positions by Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) and George H.W. Bush, plans to issue a joint statement this week arguing that President George W. Bush (news - web sites) has damaged America's national security and should be defeated in November.
Latimes.com home page Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times
AFP Slideshow: Former President Ronald Reagan Dies at 93
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.
"It is clear that the statement calls for the defeat of the administration," said William C. Harrop, the ambassador to Israel under President Bush's father and one of the group's principal organizers.
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 (news - web sites).
Some of those signing the document such as Hoar and former Air Force Chief of Staff Merrill A. McPeak have identified themselves as supporters of Sen. John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. But most have not endorsed any candidate, members of the group said.
Best get your flame suit on. You said something negative about the Bush campaign.
I guess he should know, he invented the world.
Zinni is no longer an active duty Marine, he is a partisan. He remains mute on Clintons excursions into Serbia and Kosovo absent UN approval or authorization from Congress while condemning the WOT theatre in Iraq for the same basis.
He was asked about a comment that paraphrased went like this: "We know the Iraqis have WMD, we know they are dangerous and we know they have bad intentions for citizens of the United States and therefore it will be the policy of this nation to remove Saddam and the Ba'athists from power".
Zinni roundly condemned the statement abut when informed it was made by President Clinton in 1999, Zinni hemmed and hawed and backtracked on his condemnation.
At that point I knew General Zinni was just another partisan.
I'm sure Zinni is basking in the limelight of an adoring media and relishes the approbation. He's getting far more love than ever before. He's probably getting more party invites and maybe an affectionate glance by some media babes -- far better than before. Overall, not a bad payday for a Judas.
He's allowing himself to be used, which is the same as being a tool against Bush. He also made reference to his good friend "Shinseki" as a role model for the Kosovo conflict and how it should be conducted in the Mid East.
Like I said, he's the "useful idiot"... he was a great Marine, probably a great Marine General but has been 'retired' and is bitter and getting used by the libs to bash Bush.
I agree with him in that the cause of the Mid East conflict is poverty/ tyrannical upper class that fails to allow any hope out of the poverty. He is also dead on about Islamic/Mullah revolution ultimately failing due to lack of freedom it will provide to the masses.
the current administration is busting every dictatorship and will let the chips fall where they may. I think that all westerners will be forced out of Saudi and that corrupt government will collapse as well. Scary, scary times.
My son and his friends will be fighting a low intensity war for the next 30-40 years.... the normal state of affairs for our civilization. Peace is an aberration, War is the normal state of affairs.
Bring back the crew-neck undershirts!
This looks like out-of-work government bureaucrats applying for jobs in a not-to-be Kerry administration.
Didn't Brownstein used to write for Pravda? He's as big a commie as they come.
I wish the LA Times would just hurry up and die.
What a yawner.
Actually, I find this story encouraging.
I have been hoping that Bush was quietly emptying the State Department of some of the entrenched socialists and appeasers, and cleaning the Clinton debris out of the feminized, panty-waist Pentagon. It appears he is doing just that.
Does anyone notice a pattern of former ambassadors supporting Kerry
Hmmmmmm
The Statists never learn...
IMO it's strategery. They're saving their energy for a more timely "full engagement."
"Misunderestimation", it's working so far.
BTW, Owen/Dog Gone did you guys really sign up to FR on the same date back in 1998? Kewl!
Blatant media bias to treat opinions as the biggest story of the day.
I despise this paper.
I hope you keep an eye on this thread to see if that glib statement comes to pass. If not, then you probably don't know that much about the forum. His criticism of the Bush campaign is pretty accurate so I doubt he'll be "flamed."
Is there an IQ test one has to take to be a "Republican strategist"? As in those with too high a number cannot apply.
OR does the LA Times just make up that part, I am convinced they do, who could prove it wasn't so?
If they don't identify the source DON'T believe them, they have a clearcut agenda.
Perhaps the LA Slimes will want to interview Owen?
Just tell them he's a senior Republican strategist. LOL!
"Senior diplomats?"
I've felt for a very long time that one of the worlds most anti-American organizations is based in "Foggy Bottom." The US State Department! It seems to me that they're always working in the interests of the foreign governments.
Remember, they were strongly against President Reagan's foreign and military policies too.
Mark
Look at this thread and see how I got flamed. (And some support)
>
BTW, Owen/Dog Gone did you guys really sign up to FR on the same date back in 1998? Kewl!
>
Weird. Don't know the guy. Probably a bump in registering back then during the Lewinsky scandal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.