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The New Yorker's Release on Jeffrey Goldberg's Scowcroft Article: "Breaking Ranks"
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Here is the release today from The New Yorker on the important article by Jeffrey Goldberg on Brent Scowcroft:
Brent Scowcroft on the War in Iraq and the Bush AdministrationIn "Breaking Ranks" (p. 54), in the October 31, 2005, issue of The New Yorker, Jeffrey Goldberg reports on the growing divide between the Bush Administration and its Republican critics. The criticism from Brent Scowcroft, the national security adviser to George H.W. Bush, has been particularly pronounced, Goldberg writes. Scowcroft recalls advice he gave the first President Bush at the conclusion of the first Gulf War, when there was pressure to remove Saddam Hussein.
It would have been easy to reach Baghdad, Scowcroft said, but what then? "At the minimum, we'd be an occupier in a hostile land. Our forces would be sniped at by guerrillas, and once we were there, how would we get out? What would be the rationale for leaving? I don't like the term 'exit strategy' -- but what do you do with Iraq once you own it?" Scowcroft then said of Iraq, "This is exactly where we are now. We own it. And we can't let go. We're getting sniped at. Now, will we win? I think there's a fair chance we'll win. But look at the cost."
Scowcroft has known George W. Bush for decades, but since the beginning of the Iraq war, he has been frozen out of the White House. "On the face of it," Goldberg writes, "this is remarkable," because Scowcroft's best friend is the former President Bush; the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, was a Scowcroft protege; and Vice-President Dick Cheney is also a friend. "The real anomaly in the Administration is Cheney," Scowcroft told Goldberg.
"I consider Cheney a good friend -- I've known him for thirty years. But Dick Cheney I don't know anymore." When, in an e-mail, George H.W. Bush was asked about Scowcroft's most useful qualities as an adviser, the former President wrote that he "was very good about making sure that we did not simply consider the 'best case,' but instead considered what it would mean if things went our way, and also if they did not."
According to friends of the elder Bush, the "estrangement of his son and his best friend has been an abiding source of unhappiness," Goldberg writes. Scowcroft said he hoped for a better relationship with the son, and adds, "I like George Bush personally, and he is the son of a man I'm just crazy about." Of the differences between father and son, Scowcroft said, "I don't want to go there."
Colleagues have paid particular notice to the relationship between Scowcroft and Rice, who worked closely during the first Bush Administration. Friends of Scowcroft recall a dinner in September of 2002, when discussion of the impending war in Iraq became heated. As Goldberg reports, Rice finally said, irritably, "The world is a messy place, and someone has to clean it up."
Goldberg talks to the former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky, whose book, "The Case for Democracy," came to national attention when George W. Bush told the Washington Times, "If you want a glimpse of how I think about foreign policy, read Natan Sharansky's book." In the book, Sharansky criticizes Bush's father for a speech he gave in 1991, in Ukraine, opposing a break with the Soviet Union -- a speech critics labelled "Chicken Kiev."
Sharansky tells Goldberg that soon after his book was published, he was invited to the White House to see the President. He says, "So I go to the White House and I see my book on his desk. It is open to page 210. He is really reading it. And we talk about democracy. This President is very great on democracy. At the end of the conversation, I say, 'Say hello to your mother and father.' And he said, 'My father?' He looked very surprised I would say this."
Sharansky went on, "So I say to the President, 'I like your father. He is very good to my wife when I am in prison.' And President Bush says, 'But what about Chicken Kiev?'"
The Administration, Goldberg writes, "remains committed to the export of democracy, and is publicly optimistic about the future in Iraq." Paul Wolfowitz, an architect of the Iraq war, tells Goldberg, "Wilson thought you could take a map of Europe and say, 'This is the way things are going to be.' That was unrealistic, but the world has changed a lot in a hundred years. The fact is that people can look around and see the overwhelming success of representative government."
"For Scowcroft," Goldberg writes, "the second Gulf war is a reminder of the unwelcome consequences of radical intervention, especially when it is attempted without sufficient understanding of America's limitations or of the history of a region." Scowcroft says, "I believe in the fallibility of human nature. We continually step on our best aspirations. We're humans. Given a chance to screw up, we will."
The October 31, 2005, issue of The New Yorker goes on sale at newsstands beginning Monday, October 24th. Selections from the magazine, as well as additional features, are available at www.newyorker.com.
More later on the article itself.
-- Steve Clemons
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thanks... the most telling quote, to me, is "I consider Cheney a good friend -- I've known him for thirty years. But Dick Cheney I don't know anymore."
speaks volumes...
i've linked...
http://takeitpersonally.blogspot.com/2005/10/excerpt-from-scowcrofts-new-yorker.html
is there direct link to full article available yet?
To quote Louden Wainwright III: "Nice to see you got religion". Is the old gang looking for some ex post facto redemption?
A shorter Snow job:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The problem isn't with Republicanism or even Conservatism...
Rather the problem is with "Rice" and "Cheney" and the scatterbrained "W" who was mislead by an evil cabal of neocons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yeah right. I saw this line of BS coming weeks ago:
I called it Jumping the meme.
What you are witnessing is the Grand Old Party trying to save itself from the embarrassment of its current failures:
"I believe in the fallibility of human nature.
We continually step on our best aspirations. We're humans.
Given a chance to screw up, we will."
What a kindly interpretation of the biggest fuckup I've seen my country make in my lifetime.
Snowcroft's snowjob is to be expected.
They GOP every right to try to jump a sinking ship in favor of some drifting planks.
And we have every right to hold Republicans accountable.
Hmmm... I wonder how many times the word "accountability"
will appear in the article?
But then again, Snowcroft is just a human being.
He is a fallible.
He too steps on his better aspirations.
Let's forgive him the omission of the dirty "A" word...
Shalln't we?
I spent a lot of ink these days arguing on the merits of coming late with the truth. But I am willing to say that, reserving judgement on the moral status of the timing, Snowcroft (as is that of Wilkerson) testimony is very valuable.
What I would be curious is to see the treatment Jeffrey Goldberg does to the merits of 'realist' foreign policy against the imperial adventures of W and the neocons. After all, Goldberg was the author of a piece in the New Yorker, right before the invasion, that gave a lot of justification to the doctrine of preemptive global war. It was on the fictional al-qaeda stronghold at the 'triple frontera' of Argentina, Brasil and Paraguay. Of course Goldberg did not treat the piece as a fictional account. He was during those days very much a cheerleader for imperial crusades.
This is big, like Martin Luther nailing his proclamation on the church door, representing an open and official schism within conservatism/Republicanism.
Nuevo Radical Neoconism (topple governments in the Middle East and spread democracy) is now rejected by main line conservatives (indeed, seems to be the antithesis of a conservative policy). Establishing democracy in Iraq and then throughout the Middle East through military occupation only makes sense if we take a collective journey Through the Looking Glass (mushrooms indeed, but not the cloud variety).
Interesting, The New Republic has a current article suggesting that the conservative revolt over the Miers nomination is really a proxy rebellion over the Administration’s foreign policy and the Iraq war debacle.
Bush Senior and company must be outraged by Cheney. They forced him on Junior, thinking he was an old line Washington insider conservative. Instead, he became a neocon convert zealot, and ruined Junior's Presidency and the Bush legacy.
Establishing democracy in Iraq and then throughout the Middle East through military occupation
Isn't this what the USSR did with communism in Europe and the far east? Isn't this what we supposedly fought in Vietnam to prevent them from doing?
We're living in Orwell's 1984. Or is it Groundhog Day all over again?
Scowcroft publicly opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2002. I wish that more prominent Democrats - for example, those mentioned as possible Prsidential candidates in 2008 - could say the same. But they were well and truly snookered - at best.
Interesting, The New Republic has a current article suggesting that the conservative revolt over the Miers nomination is really a proxy rebellion over the Administration’s foreign policy and the Iraq war debacle.
Heh. Does The New Republic go on to express puzzlement about how the Mesopotamian adventure that it championed could go so wrong?
I wonder if Scowcroft finally sees Rice for what she is. Rice is an accomplished person, but one that gets ahead by learning the rules and sucking up to power. I'm sure she quickly memorized what it was that Scowcroft wanted to hear. Unfortunately, as THE Soviet expert in the GHW Bush administration, she missed the crackup of the FSU. Of course, a weak FSU on the verge of collapse was the last thing that the Reaganites and the military industrial complex wanted to hear was an end to the cold war, the arms race and the promise of a peace dividend. So the impending crackup of the FSU was ignored until it actually cracked up and could no longer be ignored. HTF does someone get to be a Soviet "Expert" and miss the signs of such a major event?
There are those that are good at memorizing facts and parroting them back, but have little skill at independent analysis. With Rice, we see the same thing as NSA for Bush43. The job DEMANDS an independent agent willing to tell it like it is and if there is doubt, to make sure that the president understands that there is not agreement on the best course. From Wilkerson, we learn that Rice was more interested in sucking up to W than in doing her job. Of course, if someone was in over their head, wouldn't they behave exactly as Rice behaved?
Peace is the best strategy for long-term security and properity.
I have always had a sneaking suspiscion that they never do plan to leave Iraq. As far as winning, if you believe Israel has won it's country, but they will always want to kill us.
I honestly believe the reason Condi Rice is so blind to her master's faults, is that there is a very close private relationship between them. I, being an older woman, with great insight into people have observed them both in pictures, photo ops, etc., when they were caught unaware of the camera's eye. I have found the expressions in their eyes very revealing. I am not suggesting a sexual committment but certainly a very personal one. After all, much has been made of her Freudian slip when she said "My husband" and quickly cut it off. They are frequently cited as being "joined at the hip" Am I trying to start a rumor? No, just making some observations.
Here is The Official Investigation (Pdf Format) into Ultra Hawk Doug Feiths Office describing how Slanted Intelligence was used by Bush/Cheney to take us to a Very Questionable War.
*You will Need the Adobe reader to view the full document.
Kudos to Sen. Levin for the Inquiry. --AJ
http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/congress/2004_rpt/102104inquiryreport.pdf
Basically;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This report is the result of an inquiry initiated on June 27, 2003 by Senator Carl Levin, Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), and conducted by the SASC Minority Staff. The report focuses on 1) the establishment of a non-Intelligence Community source of intelligence analysis in the office of Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith; and 2) the extent to which policy makers utilized that alternative source rather than the analyses produced by the Intelligence Community (IC) with regard to the Iraq-al Qaeda relationship. This report is highly relevant to the current Congressional consideration of intelligence reform. As the House and Senate consider legislation in response to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, it is of critical importance that any new structure or organization correct, to the greatest possible degree, one of the most serious and persistent flaws of the current system of intelligence analysis and estimates: the politicization of intelligence, or, stated another way, the shaping of intelligence to support administration policy. This report shows that in the case of Iraq’s relationship with al Qaeda, intelligence was exaggerated to support Administration policy aims primarily by the Feith policy office, which was determined to find a strong connection between Iraq and al Qaeda, rather than by the IC, which was consistently dubious of such a connection. In order to present a public case that heightened the sense of threat from Iraq, Administration officials reflected more closely the analysis of Under Secretary Feith’s policy office rather than the more cautious analysis of the IC.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also;
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woiraq09q4462462oct09,0,2261843,print.story?coll=ny-worldnews-headlines
10-9-2005
Tim Phelps of Newsday highlights the disillusionment that three key, previous ultra-hawks--Kanan Makiya, Rend Rahim (Francke), and Danielle Pletka-- are now expressing about the situation inside Iraq, including the contents of the draft constitution.
Ardent Iraqi nationalists such as former ambassador-designate to Washington Rend Rahim and noted Republican war-backer Danielle Pletka of the conservative American Enterprise Institute are publicly expressing their grim disappointment with the document.
At the Pentagon, Gen. George Casey, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, who in the spring was predicting a substantial pullout of U.S. troops within a year, recently refused to reaffirm his prediction, citing the constitution's failure to be accepted as a "national compact."
"Sectarianism and ethnic self-interest" have led to the writing of a document that divides Iraq along ethnic lines, "perhaps even dealing the death blow to the idea of Iraq that had sustained the opposition for so many years," Kanan Makiya, a Brandeis University professor and Iraqi exile, said at a conference in Washington last week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
//reference//
AEI worked closely with the Business Roundtable (RIIA, The Centre, Bilderberg, type groups) a militant, lobbying organization formed in 1974. Members of the Business Roundtable were the chief executive officers (CEOs) from 190 major corporations, including General Motors, General Electric, IBM, AT&T, and Dupont. The business of the Business Roundtable is or was business and the CEOs involved lobbied directly with the administration and members of Congress. According to journalist Sidney Blumenthal, making contributions to AEI was a pitch made at almost every policy committee meeting of the Roundtable//
URL References
http://www.aei.org/scholars/scholarID.11/scholar.asp (Demuth)
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/author.asp?id=616 (Demuth)
http://justworldnews.org/archives/001500.html (Kanan, Rend, Pletka)
http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/congress/2004_rpt/102104inquiryreport.pdf (Feith Inquiry)
http://www.globalsecurity.org/index.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/congress/2004_rpt/iraq-wmd-intell_toc.htm (Original Iraq Intel Report)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Enterprise_Institute
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/groupwatch/aei_body.html
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woiraq09q4462462oct09,0,2261843,print.story?coll=ny-worldnews-headlines
What appears, to this poster, is a Failed Political Experiment concocted by the powers of Corporate America. Actually Most objectives were met. Bush, Rove, Cheney, all disposable muppets.
The "Centre" will now drift from Neo-conism and morph into another. Likely it will be some type of Neo-Federalism.
Remember this. It is two Political factions operating under one economic powerhouse 'Sub-units and a Centre'
One reason to not name Offical A.
To give him time to think.
Everybody (him) knows who he is.
Will Libby seek the ideninity pre-trial?
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