Obama’s intelligence pick linked to Saudi Arabia
On Thursday night, Rep. Mark Steven Kirk of Illinois began circulating a letter to the inspector general of the Office of the Director for National Intelligence urging a review of Mr. Freeman’s organization.
“Given his close ties to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we request a comprehensive review of Ambassador Freeman’s past and current commercial, financial and contractual ties to the Kingdom to ensure no conflict of interest exists in his new position,” the letter said.
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia said, “Chas Freeman’s past associations and positions on foreign policy are deeply alarming. His statements about the U.S.-Israel relationship raise serious concerns about his ability to support the administration’s attempts to bring security, stability and peace to the Middle East.”
by Eli Lake, Washington Times, Feb. 27, 2009
Former US Saudi Amb. Charles Freeman, Obama NIC appointee
The appointment of Chas W. Freeman Jr. - who served as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War and has major expertise regarding China - brought praise from some quarters but criticism from elements of the pro-Israel community and from congressional Republicans.
Since 1997, Mr. Freeman has been president of the Middle East Policy Council (MEPC), a Washington think tank. In 2007, he accepted a $1 million donation from Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud that, according to a press release at the time, was meant for “future projects” for the council.
MEPC Vice President Anne Joyce said the donation was intended to fund an endowment for the council, which, she said, aims to further U.S.-Arab relations and widen the range of debate in Washington from what the group sees as an excessively pro-Israel focus.
Ms. Joyce said the council’s annual budget was about $700,000.
In his new position - which does not require Senate confirmation - Mr. Freeman will oversee production of national intelligence estimates and other analyses that represent the consensus judgments on which national security policy is based. (Continue Reading this Article)
Donation?!!!!!!!!!!!
Small change methinks. There’s lots more of that kind of money being handed out all over the world… Funny how the media never talk about it… Oh, wait a minute, could be they’re also feeding at this trough.
So much for getting rid of corruption in Washington. You get rid of the corrupt ones by hiring them to top positions.
Comment by keelie — February 27, 2009 @ 6:47 am
When the purges begin in medium to high places in the US Government, I would suggest to American Jews to cut and run. All the relevant pieces are being placed on the chess board and it looks as bad as many predicted for Israel and even the Jews. Waiting too long might mean having to leave with nothing.
Comment by yamit82 — February 27, 2009 @ 7:24 am
Yamit, that won’t be ncecessary if in fact the liberal left minded American Jews would swing to the conservative right. You use to and still say Jews need to stop running, stand up and be heard, make an impact in America. Besides, leave to where? Since they are so disconnected to Israel you don’t suppose they even know where it is.
Comment by rongrand — February 27, 2009 @ 8:07 am
Rongrand: Some do, and those who come will be saved, that’s the bottom line. Has little to do with Loyalty to America. It has everything to do with saving a large part of the Jewish nation still in voluntary exile.
Throughout our history, Jews several times largely abandoned Judaism. From the golden calf to widespread paganism of the era of Judges to movie star worship of our days, Jews often lapsed from the religious high stand. Many Jews welcomed the Antiochus’ Hellenistic reforms; Jews of the Roman world’ Diaspora intermingled with pagans enough that the donors’ lists of unearthed synagogues include pagans; the modern assimilationist reform movement is not unique. Judaism was changed drastically throughout the history: from the liberal worship at home altars – to the First Temple Judaism; an Ark-less worship in the Temple devoid of the Divine Presence; ending the line of prophets and closure of the direct link to God; the polluted Second Temple, violated by pagan brutes such as Pompeus; the Temple-less rabbinical Judaism; the Shulchan Aruch religion of a “wall around the wall around the law.” But there is a critical difference: at every other turn, Jews honestly re-shaped Judaism to serve God in the changing circumstances, but modern reformists created a pagan ethics movement which uses emasculated Jewish terms. The reformism is related to Judaism in the same way as prison slang, full of Hebrew words, is related to the Biblical Hebrew. Rabbinical Judaism allowed the Temple-less Jews to live Jewish; modern reformism allows them to assimilate American.
The voluntary devastation of the Jewish population is not historically unique. Most Jews refused to leave Egypt during the Exodus, Babylonia with Ezra, or America – for Israel. In Nehemiah’s time, Jews intermarried prodigiously. Today, too, we see some positive trends: many conservative Jews reject the reform’s leanings and embrace Orthodoxy; religious Jewish populations in Israel and the West are growing. But the proportions today are totally different.
For all the exaggerations of ancient historians, Jews constituted a respectable percentage of the civilized world then. Jewish presence was considerable in Europe just seventy years ago. A century ago, the number of Jews and Arabs in the world was about equal, around twenty million each. Today, the Arabs at 300 million are twenty times the number of Jews. Such disparities are not realistically recoverable. Moreover, globalization, mobility, and open societies threaten the Jewish survival. In the earlier times, assimilation was slow: some Jews baptized, some gentiles married into the Jewish people. The trends were slow, giving the Jews enough time to adapt and react, to re-group and restructure our Jewishness. Today, we cannot keep pace with assimilation: the entire American Jewry perished in only two generations; the intermarriage rate among the young atheists hits 90%.
Comment by yamit82 — February 27, 2009 @ 12:28 pm
Any chance for guy like me finding a place in Israel? That is of course a nice warm most of the year place.
By the way I am still looking for the youtube clip on the Israeli IDF and the end coming.
Comment by rongrand — February 27, 2009 @ 12:44 pm
If the Diaspora really ended, Jews would be hated more than ever. The upside is they would have the power to decide their own fate.
Comment by NormanF — February 27, 2009 @ 2:33 pm
Bitch. Those who are loudest in their proclamations of a sinister Israel lobby are themselves in the pockets of the arabs.
The biggest myth is the power of the pro-Israel lobby. This myth was created to distract attention away from the far more extensive and well-funded arab lobby. This is the lobby which really has an undo and insidious influence on our government’s Mideast policy decisions. The only thing keeping a modicum of balance is the support the American people themselves have for Israel which gets expressed through their elected representatives in Congress. However, unfortunately, our foreign policy is controlled by unelected officials in the State Department and throughout the foreign policy establishment, not having to concern themselves with the voices of real Americans and who know lucrative careers as pro-arab lobbyists await them after they leave government.
Comment by Laura — February 27, 2009 @ 5:12 pm
The bottom line is that freeman is an outright traitor to America.
Comment by Laura — February 27, 2009 @ 5:13 pm