Obama former intelligence nominee reveals himself as anti-Israel crackpot

Worth reading is the Washington Post’s editorial on Charles Freeman, whose statement on why he stepped aside from a top intelligence post in the Obama administration reveals him to be the anti-Israel bigot his critics were saying he is. Better than I’ve ever seen done by a mainstream liberal publication, the Post takes apart the claim—constantly heard along the entire spectrum of anti-Israel opinion, ranging from the “respectables” to the outright anti-Semites—that Americans are not allowed to dissent from Israeli policies:

But let’s consider the ambassador’s broader charge: He describes “an inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for U.S. policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics.” That will certainly be news to Israel’s “ruling faction,” which in the past few years alone has seen the U.S. government promote a Palestinian election that it opposed; refuse it weapons it might have used for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities; and adopt a policy of direct negotiations with a regime that denies the Holocaust and that promises to wipe Israel off the map. Two Israeli governments have been forced from office since the early 1990s after open clashes with Washington over matters such as settlement construction in the occupied territories.

What’s striking about the charges by Mr. Freeman and like-minded conspiracy theorists is their blatant disregard for such established facts. Mr. Freeman darkly claims that “it is not permitted for anyone in the United States” to describe Israel’s nefarious influence. But several of his allies have made themselves famous (and advanced their careers) by making such charges—and no doubt Mr. Freeman himself will now win plenty of admiring attention. Crackpot tirades such as his have always had an eager audience here and around the world. The real question is why an administration that says it aims to depoliticize U.S. intelligence estimates would have chosen such a man to oversee them.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 14, 2009 02:47 PM | Send