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Retired Diplomats, Military Commanders Fault Bush's Leadership
Administration Unable to Handle Global Leadership, Former Ambassadors, Generals Say
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post
The Bush administration does not understand the world it faces and is unable to handle "in either style or substance" the responsibilities of global leadership, an eminent group of 27 retired diplomats and military commanders charged today.
"Our security has been weakened," the former ambassadors and four-star commanders said in a statement read at a packed Washington news conference.
"Never in the two and a quarter centuries of our history has the United States been so isolated among the nations, so broadly feared and distrusted."
The statement fit onto a single page, but the sharp public criticism of President Bush was striking, coming from a bipartisan group of respected former officials united in anger about U.S. policy.
The commentary emerges at a time when public doubt about the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Bush's handling of national security has grown and faith in Bush's leadership has fallen, as measured by opinion polls.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the administration "has a record that it's happy to stand on." He said United States fights terrorism with "diplomatic, military, intelligence and law enforcement means."
As for the group of former government officials drafting a strong statement, Boucher said it is "within their rights, within their freedom. Well, it's a free country. They can do that if they want, just like any other citizens. "
Also today, the panel investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks said it found "no credible evidence" that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had worked with al Qaeda on the Sept. 11 attacks or any other missions in the United States.
Significant players in the Bush administration have worked to connect Hussein in the public's mind with Sept. 11 and anti-American terrorism, an effort that largely succeeded. As recently as this week, Vice President Cheney said Hussein had "long-established ties" with al Qaeda.
"Why the vice president continues to make that claim beats me. I have no idea," said Phyllis Oakley, a signatory of the anti-Bush statement and a former director of the State Department's intelligence office.
Oakley and the other 26 signatories described Bush administration "manipulation of uncertain intelligence about weapons of mass destruction" and "a cynical campaign to persuade the public that Saddam Hussein was linked to al Qaeda and the attacks of Sept. 11."
The new group, which calls itself Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, believes Bush must be replaced for the United States to regain credibility and strengthen valuable foreign alliances.
They said they did not coordinate their message with the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry, but they made clear that they support the Massachusetts senator's quest.
Gen. Merrill A. "Tony" McPeak, former U.S. Air Force chief of staff, said he was the Oregon chairman of Republican Robert J. Dole's presidential campaign in 1996 and joined Veterans for Bush in 2000. Now he is advising Kerry.
"This administration has gone away from me, not vice versa," McPeak told reporters.
A consistent theme of the statement and the news conference at the National Press Club was that the Bush administration has taken steps that have alienated allies and undermined U.S. interests -- ultimately making the world a more dangerous place for Americans.
Noting the arrests without trial of Muslims since Sept. 11 and the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman criticized a "post 9/11 atmosphere of hysteria."
"I think we will in time come to be very ashamed of this period in history," Freeman said, "and of the role some people in the administration played in setting the tone and setting the rules."
Donald McHenry, former ambassador to the United Nations, answered a question about the effectiveness of U.S. public diplomacy, a special focus of the Bush administration, especially in the Muslim world.
"You can embark on all the public diplomacy you wish, but if there is no substance to the policy, it's very difficult to sell," McHenry said. '
"You can't sell product no matter how extensive your P.R. efforts are if the product is lousy," McHenry continued. "I think that, unfortunately, is the situation in which the United States finds itself in many parts of the world."
The former diplomats and military commanders said the United States suffers from "close identification" with autocratic governments in the Muslim world and "the perception of unquestioning support for the policies and actions of the present Israeli government."
The group called for greater balance.
Among those who signed the statement are Adm. William J. Crowe, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Ronald Reagan, and Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, appointed by George H.W. Bush to lead U.S. forces in the Middle East.
The participants include a pair of former ambassadors to the Soviet Union, two former ambassadors to Israel, two former ambassadors to Pakistan and Adm. Stansfield Turner, onetime director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Bush from the outset "adopted an overbearing approach to America's role in the world, relying on military might and righteousness, insensitive to the concerns of traditional friends and allies, and disdainful of the United Nations," the statement says. "Motivated more by ideology than by reasoned analysis, it struck out on its own."
Administration Unable to Handle Global Leadership, Former Ambassadors, Generals Say
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post
The Bush administration does not understand the world it faces and is unable to handle "in either style or substance" the responsibilities of global leadership, an eminent group of 27 retired diplomats and military commanders charged today.
"Our security has been weakened," the former ambassadors and four-star commanders said in a statement read at a packed Washington news conference.
"Never in the two and a quarter centuries of our history has the United States been so isolated among the nations, so broadly feared and distrusted."
The statement fit onto a single page, but the sharp public criticism of President Bush was striking, coming from a bipartisan group of respected former officials united in anger about U.S. policy.
The commentary emerges at a time when public doubt about the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Bush's handling of national security has grown and faith in Bush's leadership has fallen, as measured by opinion polls.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the administration "has a record that it's happy to stand on." He said United States fights terrorism with "diplomatic, military, intelligence and law enforcement means."
As for the group of former government officials drafting a strong statement, Boucher said it is "within their rights, within their freedom. Well, it's a free country. They can do that if they want, just like any other citizens. "
Also today, the panel investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks said it found "no credible evidence" that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had worked with al Qaeda on the Sept. 11 attacks or any other missions in the United States.
Significant players in the Bush administration have worked to connect Hussein in the public's mind with Sept. 11 and anti-American terrorism, an effort that largely succeeded. As recently as this week, Vice President Cheney said Hussein had "long-established ties" with al Qaeda.
"Why the vice president continues to make that claim beats me. I have no idea," said Phyllis Oakley, a signatory of the anti-Bush statement and a former director of the State Department's intelligence office.
Oakley and the other 26 signatories described Bush administration "manipulation of uncertain intelligence about weapons of mass destruction" and "a cynical campaign to persuade the public that Saddam Hussein was linked to al Qaeda and the attacks of Sept. 11."
The new group, which calls itself Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, believes Bush must be replaced for the United States to regain credibility and strengthen valuable foreign alliances.
They said they did not coordinate their message with the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry, but they made clear that they support the Massachusetts senator's quest.
Gen. Merrill A. "Tony" McPeak, former U.S. Air Force chief of staff, said he was the Oregon chairman of Republican Robert J. Dole's presidential campaign in 1996 and joined Veterans for Bush in 2000. Now he is advising Kerry.
"This administration has gone away from me, not vice versa," McPeak told reporters.
A consistent theme of the statement and the news conference at the National Press Club was that the Bush administration has taken steps that have alienated allies and undermined U.S. interests -- ultimately making the world a more dangerous place for Americans.
Noting the arrests without trial of Muslims since Sept. 11 and the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman criticized a "post 9/11 atmosphere of hysteria."
"I think we will in time come to be very ashamed of this period in history," Freeman said, "and of the role some people in the administration played in setting the tone and setting the rules."
Donald McHenry, former ambassador to the United Nations, answered a question about the effectiveness of U.S. public diplomacy, a special focus of the Bush administration, especially in the Muslim world.
"You can embark on all the public diplomacy you wish, but if there is no substance to the policy, it's very difficult to sell," McHenry said. '
"You can't sell product no matter how extensive your P.R. efforts are if the product is lousy," McHenry continued. "I think that, unfortunately, is the situation in which the United States finds itself in many parts of the world."
The former diplomats and military commanders said the United States suffers from "close identification" with autocratic governments in the Muslim world and "the perception of unquestioning support for the policies and actions of the present Israeli government."
The group called for greater balance.
Among those who signed the statement are Adm. William J. Crowe, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Ronald Reagan, and Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, appointed by George H.W. Bush to lead U.S. forces in the Middle East.
The participants include a pair of former ambassadors to the Soviet Union, two former ambassadors to Israel, two former ambassadors to Pakistan and Adm. Stansfield Turner, onetime director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Bush from the outset "adopted an overbearing approach to America's role in the world, relying on military might and righteousness, insensitive to the concerns of traditional friends and allies, and disdainful of the United Nations," the statement says. "Motivated more by ideology than by reasoned analysis, it struck out on its own."
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