The Saudi-Manchurian candidate
Gabriel Schoenfeld blows the whistle on President Obama's decision to name Charles "Chas" Freeman, Jr. as chairman of the National Intelligence Council. This is the outfit responsible for prodcing National Intelligence Estimates.
Freeman is a shocking choice. He has a long and deep association with Saudi Arabia. In particular, he became president of the Middle East Policy Council in 1997. The MEPC is a mouthpiece for the Saudi government, which finances it. In this capacity, the MEPC has published an abridged version of the notorious essay by John Mearsheimer and Walt, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," which argues that American Jews have a stranglehold on the U.S. Congress, and use it to advance Israeli interests at the expense of those of the U.S. According to Schoenfeld, Freeman has expressly endorsed this thesis. It looks like Samantha Power won't be lonely in the Obama administration.
An attack on the "Israel Lobby" by this tool of Saudi interests is actually rather amusing, or would be but for Obama's decision to put Freeman in charge of a potentially key intelligence group. Will the left be offended by the appointment of King Abdullah's lapdog? I feel confident that, with the possibility of a few exceptions, it will not be.
If all of this weren't disconcerting enough, Schoenfeld also points out that Freeman is an unabashed supporter of the Chinese tyrants. And not out of Hillary Clinton style pragmatism, either. Freeman has written (in a "confidential" internet discussion) in favor of the Tiananmen Square massacre, calling it "a monument to overly cautious behavior on the part of the leadership, not an example of rash action." He added, "I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by disidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be."
It sounds like Obama would not have done worse if he had appointed William Ayers to head the National Intelligence Council.
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