Thursday, 19 March 2009

Charles Freeman
FIRST POSTED MARCH 16, 2009

Charles Freeman is a career diplomat who rose quickly through the ranks. Now he has been banished to the wilderness, taking with him a good few high hopes for a new regime in Washington's Middle Eastern foreign policy.

As the man who translated for President Nixon in his 'realpolitik' trip to China, in 1972, and who then rose to be ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Freeman's fate has been a mere sideshow overshadowed by President Obama's struggles with the economy.

At first, nobody noticed when the new director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, nominated Freeman for chairmanship of the National Intelligence Council, the man who sorts fact from fable before advising the President.

Freeman thinks both sides are to blame for the mayhem in the Middle East

It is a crucial role, particularly in US dealings with the Middle East. And Freeman's views on Israeli policy towards Palestinians in particular and Arabs in general have presented an insurmountable obstacle.

Freeman thinks that both sides are responsible for the mayhem in the Middle East. He blames Israel for seizing Palestinian land and destroying their homes, just as he blames Palestinians for provoking battles by rocketing civilians and deploying suicide bombers.

"Left to its own devices," he argued in 2006, "the Israeli establishment will make decisions that harm Israelis, threaten all associated with them and enrage those who are not." And today he says: "Israel is driving itself towards a cliff, and it is irresponsible not to question Israeli policy and to decide what is best for the American people."

This might sound rational, or even self-evident, but not to a surprising number of very powerful people in Washington and New York, who stepped out from behind the curtains to "derail" Freeman with remarkable effectiveness.

It turns out that ‘precooked pablum judgements’ are just what is wanted

Their success has been seen as the first real blow to land on Obama from the scattered remains of the neo-cons who pulled Dubya Bush's strings, and were supposed to have been consigned to history by the American voter. It also exposed the nastiest spat for years between the assorted organisations which make up the Israel Lobby and anyone deemed to be opening a chink in the armour of beleaguered Israel.

Dennis Blair told the Senate that Freeman was just what the country needed because his "inventive mind" and seasoned views would produce accurate intelligence rather than "precooked pablum judgements".

However it turns out that precooked pablum judgements are just what is wanted. Senator Charles Schumer of New York, a Democrat, called the White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel and