26 Ex-U.S. Diplomats Urge Bush's Ouster
Wed Jun 16, 6:48 PM ET
news.yahoo.com
By HARRY DUNPHY, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A group of 26 retired U.S. diplomats and military
officers said Wednesday that President Bush should
be voted out of office in November for damaging U.S. national security
interests and America's standing in the international community.
"Today we see that structure crumbling
under an administration blinded by ideology
and a callous indifference to the world
around it," said Phyllis Oakley, former
assistant secretary of state for intelligence
and research. "Never before have so many
of us felt the need for a major change in the
direction of our foreign policy."
Retired Gen. Merrill A. "Tony" McPeak,
former Air Force chief of staff, said the Bush
administration anticipated a rosy reception
after a military victory in Iraq (news - web
sites) but "we were totally unprepared for
the post-combat occupation. So we see
here unfolding before us a total disaster."
Charles Freeman, former ambassador to
Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf war, said
the administration's handling of wider
relations with the Islamic world was
particularly damaging to U.S. interests in
the long run.
The group, which calls itself Diplomats and
Military Commanders for Change, did not
explicitly endorse Democrat John Kerry
for president in a
statement outlining its views. But one of its
members said Sunday "it goes more or less
without saying."
The statement suggested Bush's policies
had left the United States isolated in the
world.
Secretary of State Colin Powell
reacted sharply to the allegation,
noting that Bush has gone to the United Nations
repeatedly in search of support from the international community.
"We are in Iraq with many other nations that are contributing troops. Are
we isolated from the Brits, from the Poles, from the Romanians, from the
Bulgarians, from the Danes, from the Norwegians?" he asked.
Powell said the authors of the statement "wish to see President Bush
not re-elected. I do not believe that will be the judgment of the American
people." He commented in an interview with the Qatar-based al-Jazeera
television network.
The Bush-Cheney campaign said at least 20 members of the group have
been involved in partisan political activities in the past.
"It is not surprising that John Kerry has the support of a group of people
who share his belief that the threat of terror is exaggerated,"
Bush-Cheney spokesman Steve Schmidt said in a statement. "This is a
group that shares John Kerry's pre-September 11th world view and
supports John Kerry's failed ideas for treating terrorism as a matter
mainly for law-enforcement and intelligence."
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said people who leave
the Foreign Service can say what they want.
"This is a group of people who have taken a stand, made a statement.
They are free to do so," he said. "I think this administration has a record
that it is happy to stand on," he added.
Among the group are 20 ambassadors, appointed by presidents of both
parties, other former State Department officials and military leaders
whose careers span three decades.
Prominent members include retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar,
commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East during the administration of
Bush's father; retired Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., ambassador to Britain
under President Bill Clinton (news - web sites) and chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff under President Ronald Reagan (news - web sites); and
retired Adm. Stansfield Turner, former head of the Central Intelligence
Agency (news - web sites).
Hoar is a prominent critic of the war in Iraq, and Crowe and Turner have
endorsed Kerry.
Also included is Jack F. Matlock, who was appointed by Reagan as
ambassador to the Soviet Union and retained the post under the first
President Bush, and William C. Harrop, the first President Bush's
ambassador to Israel and four African countries.
Normally, former diplomats and military commanders
avoid making political statements, especially in an
election year. But last month 53 former diplomats
accused the Bush administration of undermining U.S.
credibility in the Middle East by its strong support for
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites). |
