Probe Urged over Chas Freeman, Obama’s Anti-Israel Intel Pick
Adar 8, 5769, 04 March 09 04:59
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Chas Freeman(IsraelNN.com) The two leading Republican Congressmen, backed by at least one Democrat, have demanded an investigation into United States President Barack Obama’s choice of Saudi Arabia-linked and longtime anti-Israeli Chas Freeman as Obama’s top intelligence official.
Minority Leader John Boehner and party whip Eric Cantor, six other Republicans and one Democrat, Congresswomen Shelley Berkeley, wrote a letter questioning Freeman’s financial ties. President Obama has named him as the chairman of the National Intelligence Council (NIC).
Freeman is a former American ambassador to Saudi Arabia and past president of the Middle East Policy Council, and Arab lobby formerly known as the American-Arab Affairs Council. Two years ago, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah donated $1 million to the Council, whose quarterly Middle East Policy journal routinely includes anti-Israel messages.
“Given his close ties to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we request a comprehensive review of Amb. Freeman's past and current commercial, financial and contractual ties to the Kingdom to ensure no conflict of interest exists in his new position," the Congressmen wrote in a letter to the inspector general for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
New York Democrat Steve Israel earlier this week also asked the Inspector General to check into Freeman connection with the Saudis.
'Serious concerns'
Democratic Whip Cantor stated, “[Freeman’s] statements about the U.S.-Israel relationship raise serious concerns about his ability to support the Administration’s attempts to bring security, stability and peace to the Middle East. As director of the NIC, Freeman would be in charge of drafting the National Intelligence Estimate and evaluating the strategic outlook of our nation. This selection threatens to politicize the intelligence community. I urge President Obama to reconsider this decision."
Democratic Whip Cantor stated, “[Freeman’s] statements about the U.S.-Israel relationship raise serious concerns about his ability to support the Administration’s attempts to bring security, stability and peace to the Middle East. As director of the NIC, Freeman would be in charge of drafting the National Intelligence Estimate and evaluating the strategic outlook of our nation. This selection threatens to politicize the intelligence community. I urge President Obama to reconsider this decision."
The White House ignored the letter and did not directly relate to it when questioned by ABC News and instead talked in general terms about the new president’s commitment to Middle East peace.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, "I've not read those [reports]. I think anybody can look at what the president has said and what the president's views are, enumerating from the very beginning of this administration the desire to be engaged actively in the Middle East region to ensure a durable and lasting peace.”
Supporter of the Saudis
Freeman has a long record of supporting Saudi Arabia and has made statements perceived as favoring Hamas while charging that the U.S. relationship with Israel is damaging to peace. %ad%
Freeman has a long record of supporting Saudi Arabia and has made statements perceived as favoring Hamas while charging that the U.S. relationship with Israel is damaging to peace. %ad%
"We abandoned the role of Middle East peacemaker to back Israel's efforts to pacify its captive and increasingly ghettoized Arab populations,” he has commented. “We wring our hands while sitting on them as the Jewish state continues to seize ever more Arab land for its colonists. This has convinced most Palestinians that Israel cannot be appeased and is persuading increasing numbers of them that a two-state solution is infeasible.”
A Middle East Policy journal several months ago argued that the war in Iraq was launched to “make life safer for Israel.” Concerning the “two-state solution” of a Palestinian Authority state on Judea, Samaria and Gaza, he has said the “offer looks to Palestinians more like an Indian reservation than a country.”
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