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Mitt Romney's Neocon War Cabinet
Considering the op-ed in the NYTimes about Bush's negligence in the lead up to 9/11, Good Read-ers may want to look at this article in The Nation from back in May:
http://www.thenation.com/article/167683/mitt-romneys-neocon-war-cabinet
Mitt Romney's Neocon War Cabinet
Ari Berman
May 2, 2012 | This article appeared in the May 21, 2012 edition of The Nation.
Romneys team is notable for including Bush aides tarnished by the Iraq fiasco: Robert Joseph, the National Security Council official who inserted the infamous sixteen words in Bushs 2003 State of the Union message claiming that Iraq had tried to buy enriched uranium from Niger; Dan Senor, former spokesman for the hapless Coalition Provisional Authority under Paul Bremer in Iraq; and Eric Edelman, a top official at the Pentagon under Bush. I cant name a single Romney foreign policy adviser who believes the Iraq War was a mistake, says Catos Preble. Two-thirds of the American people do believe the Iraq War was a mistake. So he has willingly chosen to align himself with that one-third of the population right out of the gate.
Shortly after McCains 2008 defeat, Kagan, Edelman, Senor and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol launched the Foreign Policy Initiative, a neocon successor to PNAC. FPIs mission has been to keep the Bush doctrine alive in the Obama erasupporting a troop increase in Afghanistan and opposing a 2014 withdrawal; advocating a 20,000-troop residual force in Iraq; backing a military strike and/or regime change in Iran; promoting military intervention in Syria; urging a more confrontational posture toward Russia; and opposing cuts in military spending. Three of FPIs four board members are advising Romney.
Edelman, having worked for Dick Cheney in both Bush administrations, is Romneys link to Cheneyworld. (Edelman suggested to Cheneys chief of staff, Scooter Libby, the idea of leaking the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame to undermine former ambassador Joe Wilson for his New York Times op-ed detailing the Bush administrations falsified Iraq-Niger connection.) As ambassador to Turkey in 2003, Edelman failed to persuade Ankara to support the Iraq War. Turkish columnist Ibrahim Karagul called him probably the least-liked and trusted American ambassador in Turkish history. Edelman later moved to the Defense Department, where in 2007 he became infamous for scolding Hillary Clinton when she asked how the Pentagon was planning its withdrawal from Iraq. Hes one of nearly a dozen of Romney advisers who have urged that the United States consider an attack Iran.
Senor is best known for his disastrous stint in Iraq under Bremer, when the United States disbanded the Iraqi Army and tried to privatize the economy. In his book on Iraq, Rajiv Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post wrote of Senor, His efforts to spin failures into successes sometimes reached the point of absurdity. Senor is particularly close to the Israeli right, co-writing the 2009 book Start-up Nation: The Story of Israels Economic Miracle, which reads like an extended investment brochure. He now serves as a conduit between Romney and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mitt-Bibi will be the new Reagan-Thatcher, Senor tweeted after the New York Times ran a story about the close friendship of the two men, which dates to the late 1970s.
Ari Berman
May 2, 2012 | This article appeared in the May 21, 2012 edition of The Nation.
Romneys team is notable for including Bush aides tarnished by the Iraq fiasco: Robert Joseph, the National Security Council official who inserted the infamous sixteen words in Bushs 2003 State of the Union message claiming that Iraq had tried to buy enriched uranium from Niger; Dan Senor, former spokesman for the hapless Coalition Provisional Authority under Paul Bremer in Iraq; and Eric Edelman, a top official at the Pentagon under Bush. I cant name a single Romney foreign policy adviser who believes the Iraq War was a mistake, says Catos Preble. Two-thirds of the American people do believe the Iraq War was a mistake. So he has willingly chosen to align himself with that one-third of the population right out of the gate.
Shortly after McCains 2008 defeat, Kagan, Edelman, Senor and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol launched the Foreign Policy Initiative, a neocon successor to PNAC. FPIs mission has been to keep the Bush doctrine alive in the Obama erasupporting a troop increase in Afghanistan and opposing a 2014 withdrawal; advocating a 20,000-troop residual force in Iraq; backing a military strike and/or regime change in Iran; promoting military intervention in Syria; urging a more confrontational posture toward Russia; and opposing cuts in military spending. Three of FPIs four board members are advising Romney.
Edelman, having worked for Dick Cheney in both Bush administrations, is Romneys link to Cheneyworld. (Edelman suggested to Cheneys chief of staff, Scooter Libby, the idea of leaking the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame to undermine former ambassador Joe Wilson for his New York Times op-ed detailing the Bush administrations falsified Iraq-Niger connection.) As ambassador to Turkey in 2003, Edelman failed to persuade Ankara to support the Iraq War. Turkish columnist Ibrahim Karagul called him probably the least-liked and trusted American ambassador in Turkish history. Edelman later moved to the Defense Department, where in 2007 he became infamous for scolding Hillary Clinton when she asked how the Pentagon was planning its withdrawal from Iraq. Hes one of nearly a dozen of Romney advisers who have urged that the United States consider an attack Iran.
Senor is best known for his disastrous stint in Iraq under Bremer, when the United States disbanded the Iraqi Army and tried to privatize the economy. In his book on Iraq, Rajiv Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post wrote of Senor, His efforts to spin failures into successes sometimes reached the point of absurdity. Senor is particularly close to the Israeli right, co-writing the 2009 book Start-up Nation: The Story of Israels Economic Miracle, which reads like an extended investment brochure. He now serves as a conduit between Romney and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mitt-Bibi will be the new Reagan-Thatcher, Senor tweeted after the New York Times ran a story about the close friendship of the two men, which dates to the late 1970s.
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