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Retired Officials Say Bush Must Go
Los Angeles Times ^ | 06/13/2004 | Ronald Brownstein

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.

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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.

Article.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: brownstein; clintonistas; considerthesource; demdiplomats; dmcc; election; harrop; hoar; joehoar; joephoar; josephhoar; josephphoar; larouche; mcpeak; merrillamcpeak; merrillmcpeak; williamcharrop; williamharrop
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To: Owen

Best get your flame suit on. You said something negative about the Bush campaign.


41 posted on 06/13/2004 9:17:56 AM PDT by raybbr (My 1.4 cents - It used to be 2 cents, but after taxes - you get the idea.)
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To: Hawk44
Al Gore has announced that the world is round.

I guess he should know, he invented the world.

42 posted on 06/13/2004 9:19:14 AM PDT by Mark17
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To: middie
Gen. Zinni is just about the last of the breed of Marine who places mission above politics and winning battles above the internecine struggle for appropriations for new gee-whiz weapons that have little efficiency against a non-state enemy in a low intensity conflict.

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.

43 posted on 06/13/2004 9:28:08 AM PDT by jwalsh07
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To: middie
That may have been true at one time. But, then, let's also blow the trumpets for General McClellan, leader of the Copperheads, who did his utmost to undermine the efforts of Lincoln.

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.

44 posted on 06/13/2004 9:30:03 AM PDT by Zechariah11
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To: middie
Gen. Zinni is just about the last of the breed of Marine who places mission above politics and winning battles above the internecine struggle for appropriations for new gee-whiz weapons that have little efficiency against a non-state enemy in a low intensity conflict. Zinni is cast in the mold of "Chesty" Puller vis-a-vis the Marine toady we see at TV briefings regurgitating the Rumsfled misapplication of fighting doctrine.

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.

45 posted on 06/13/2004 9:42:20 AM PDT by Dick Vomer (liberals suck......... but it depends on what your definition of the word "suck" is.)
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To: TankerKC

Bring back the crew-neck undershirts!


46 posted on 06/13/2004 9:43:15 AM PDT by glaux
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To: Hawk44

This looks like out-of-work government bureaucrats applying for jobs in a not-to-be Kerry administration.


47 posted on 06/13/2004 9:47:23 AM PDT by playball0
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To: All

Didn't Brownstein used to write for Pravda? He's as big a commie as they come.


48 posted on 06/13/2004 9:49:00 AM PDT by Luke21 (IK)
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To: Hawk44

I wish the LA Times would just hurry up and die.
What a yawner.


49 posted on 06/13/2004 9:53:54 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Hawk44

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.


50 posted on 06/13/2004 9:57:28 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: just me
Those signing the document, which will be released in Washington on Wednesday, include 20 former U.S. ambassadors

Does anyone notice a pattern of former ambassadors supporting Kerry

Hmmmmmm

51 posted on 06/13/2004 9:57:35 AM PDT by Mo1 (That's right Old Media .... WE LOVED PRESIDENT REAGAN)
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To: AQGeiger
All hold-overs from the days of "moral equivalency". A bunch of old geezers who still can't accpet that Reagan popped their little bubble, and proved that Communism was, indeed, an evil empire to be eradicated, not tolerated.

The Statists never learn...

52 posted on 06/13/2004 10:00:21 AM PDT by nobdysfool (Faith in Christ is the evidence of God's choosing, not the cause of it.)
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To: Owen; Dog Gone
Why is the campaign perpetually failing to have equivalent stories created for the press?

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!

53 posted on 06/13/2004 10:05:10 AM PDT by Mister Baredog ((Part of the Reagan legacy is to re-elect G.W. Bush))
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To: Hawk44
It's their #1 story, top right hand corner of page 1.

Blatant media bias to treat opinions as the biggest story of the day.

I despise this paper.

54 posted on 06/13/2004 10:07:17 AM PDT by Mister Baredog ((Part of the Reagan legacy is to re-elect G.W. Bush))
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To: raybbr
Best get your flame suit on. You said something negative about the Bush campaign.

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."

55 posted on 06/13/2004 10:10:14 AM PDT by Zechariah11
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To: Last Dakotan
One senior Republican strategist familiar with White House thinking said he did not think the group was sufficiently well-known to create significant political problems for the president.

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.

56 posted on 06/13/2004 10:12:20 AM PDT by Mister Baredog ((Part of the Reagan legacy is to re-elect G.W. Bush))
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To: raybbr; Owen
Best get your flame suit on. You said something negative about the Bush campaign.

Perhaps the LA Slimes will want to interview Owen?

Just tell them he's a senior Republican strategist. LOL!

57 posted on 06/13/2004 10:17:25 AM PDT by Mister Baredog ((Part of the Reagan legacy is to re-elect G.W. Bush))
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To: Hawk44

"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


58 posted on 06/13/2004 10:18:45 AM PDT by MarkL (The meek shall inherit the earth... But usually in plots 6' x 3' x 6' deep...)
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To: Zechariah11
Hey, I agree with Owen.

Look at this thread and see how I got flamed. (And some support)

59 posted on 06/13/2004 10:30:28 AM PDT by raybbr (My 1.4 cents - It used to be 2 cents, but after taxes - you get the idea.)
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To: Mister Baredog

>
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.


60 posted on 06/13/2004 10:41:50 AM PDT by Owen
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