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2005-01-27 Home Front: WoT
Pentagon's No. 3 Man, Doug Feith, Resigns
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Posted by Fred 2005-01-27 00:00:00|| || Front Page|| [11127 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 I am delighted that Feith is leaving. He is bad baggage for Rumsfeld and for GWB. I hope he doesn't get any golden parachute send off this summer. The guy screwed up. Condi Rice is taking heat for the incompetence of Feith, Tenet, and Wolfowitz. Wolfowitz should go as well. I'm surprised Rumsfeld kept either of them on considering that Rumsfeld was back stabbed recently by neocon standard bearers.

Is it Feith who the FBI are investigating on the qt along with Larry Franklin for possibly sharing sensitive US policy material with an Israeli lobby group? What an idiot if it's true. More bad karma for the WH. Give Feith the pink slip asap.
Posted by 2xstandard 2005-01-27 1:03:40 AM||   2005-01-27 1:03:40 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 LOL!
Posted by Shipman 2005-01-27 7:29:32 AM||   2005-01-27 7:29:32 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 So I'm guessing the first commentor's pseudonym stands for "twice as stupid as standard".
Posted by Robert Crawford  2005-01-27 8:21:07 AM|| [http://www.kloognome.com/]  2005-01-27 8:21:07 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 You just noticed?
Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-01-27 8:22:24 AM||   2005-01-27 8:22:24 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Unlike 2X sub-standard, Doug Feith is a big loss in the WoT. He was the whipping boy for the likes of Tubby Ted, Leaky Leahy, and the other leftist baboons, but I am certain he was no friend to our enemies.
Posted by Captain America  2005-01-27 9:34:03 AM||   2005-01-27 9:34:03 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 My thoughts are mixed. I dont know WHO was responspible for those mistakes which were made (and I wont bother naming them, cause I know we dont all agree on precisely what they are) - only someone whos privy to the memos and private conversations between Rummy, Wolfie, Feith, etc can really say who directed whom to do what, based on what advice, etc. My own inclination has been to blame Rummy rather than Wolfie or Feith, but I will freely admit that theres an element of ideological preference in that - I think 2x is expressing, without admitting it, a reverse of that preference. I would say that Feith is closer to the challenged policies than Wolfie, but then that depends much on which policies are challenged, which gets to CA's point.

So instead of arguing ideology and blame, heres my qs.

1. Did he jump or was he pushed?
2. Who takes his place?
Posted by liberalhawk 2005-01-27 10:17:48 AM||   2005-01-27 10:17:48 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 2X did manage to get that Joooo-bash in though...points for obsession perseverance
Posted by Frank G  2005-01-27 10:26:19 AM||   2005-01-27 10:26:19 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 The only thing I know about Feith is General Tommy Franks called him the "Fucking stupidest person on the face of the earth". I must say I repect General Franks' opinion. He thinks very highly of Condeliza Rice.
Posted by Deacon Blues  2005-01-27 12:08:50 PM||   2005-01-27 12:08:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 DB - don't doubt ya, but would LOVE to see a link on that? Is it in his book? If Franks said that, then I'm glad he's gone too
Posted by Frank G  2005-01-27 12:11:34 PM||   2005-01-27 12:11:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 p. 281 in Bob Woodward's book "Plan of Attack".
http://slate.msn.com/id/2099277/
Posted by Tom 2005-01-27 12:38:57 PM||   2005-01-27 12:38:57 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 cool, thx!
Posted by Frank G  2005-01-27 12:41:53 PM||   2005-01-27 12:41:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Bob Woodward. There's a guy who provides links to everything.

Mistakes were made by those who tried to do things. That's why the Clinton administration made no mistakes in the war on terror.
Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-01-27 12:56:04 PM||   2005-01-27 12:56:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 2X did manage to get that Joooo-bash in though...points for obsession perseverance
You own the obsession, Frank, not me.

I have never supported people holding important positions in private enterprise or in government based on of their religion nor do I fear criticizing people who are incompetent because of their religion. I don't intend to change my direct and honest approach to evaluating people to please you, Frank.

If you would take your anti-semitic baiting glasses off, you might notice that I faulted 4 people in total for incompetence, people who have been/should be fired. You would know better than I, Frank, since you seem to be an expert on Judaism and its membership - what about Tenet and Franklin - are they Jews as well?

in Bob Woodward's book "Plan of Attack". http://slate.msn.com/id/2099277/
Exactly. I remembered that but did not have the book handy. Feith has been an embaressment to this Administartion since day 1. I think Feith was the guy who was quoted a short while after 9/11 happened that since Afghanistan had such a challenging geography, the US might bomb Southeast Asia instead to drive home the point. Whatever the exact wording was, Feith made the Admin. look like irresponsible "let's bomb them all" jerks.

And the fact that he is being investigated by the FBI about sharing sensitive policy material along with Franklin with a foreign country's lobby group is inexcusable. Feith brings bad publicity to the DOD and this investigation is not flattering to Israel either.

That's why the Clinton administration made no mistakes in the war on terror.
How did Clinton get into this discussion? Feith's mistakes are under discussion. If you want to deflect judgement of Feith's goof-ups, we can go back to Carter's Admin, Reagan, Bush 41, if that would make everyone happier.

It is a pity that Feith is allowed to formulate the plan for re-designing our active military troop levels, considering his incompetence and considering that he has never served in the military himself. It's like me re-designing the military. What makes a civilian like Feith any more knowledgeable than the next guy on the street? Pathetic. I stand by my evaluation. The guy should have been fired yesterday.
Posted by 2xstandard 2005-01-27 1:47:40 PM||   2005-01-27 1:47:40 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 Frank, the quote is in Bob Woodward's book, "Plan of Attack". Actually, a very good read, as is General Franks' book "American Soldier". As I said I don't know anything about Feith. I'll have to get educated.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2100899/
Posted by Deacon Blues  2005-01-27 2:12:14 PM||   2005-01-27 2:12:14 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 Feith may be a complete incompetent. I just find it strange that you brought up a suggested link to the Israeli lobbying group link. LH is much more an expert on Judaism than I, a Catholic. I based my characterization from repeated readings of your comments. I stand by my evaluation.
Oh, and thx all for the links/info - if Tommy Franks has no use for Feith, I say fire him asap too.
Posted by Frank G  2005-01-27 3:07:59 PM||   2005-01-27 3:07:59 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 Let's ask Gen. Sharons opinion first. ;>
Posted by Shipman 2005-01-27 3:38:27 PM||   2005-01-27 3:38:27 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 What LH said. Feith is a lightweight. Woflowitz is a brilliant man with a string of policy successes to his credit, not least of which were singlehandedly convincing the Reagan foreign policy team to dump Ferdinand Marcos and embrace Aquino's candidacy in 1986 and warning of the Iraq threat many years before 1991 (Wolfowitz had done his PhD thesis on this topic, some twenty years earlier).

1. Did [Feith] jump or was he pushed?
2. Who takes his place?

Any time a Washington official or a business exec says he's quitting "to spend more time with his family," you know he was pushed. If they had wanted more time with their families they never would have sacrificed same for so many years to their great struggle to climb to the top of the pyramid.

As to his replacement, perhaps Scooter Libby.
Posted by lex 2005-01-27 3:41:28 PM||   2005-01-27 3:41:28 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 What lex said....pushed. Real question is why? What will be gained, moving forward?
Posted by Rex Mundi 2005-01-27 3:52:19 PM||   2005-01-27 3:52:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 id rather NOT go into detail here about AIPAC, as Im personally an acquintance (not close) of a key AIPAC person.

I would suggest googling on say, Franklin, FBI, investigation - toss in some terms like witch hunt, or antisemitism, and you may find some very interesting things about a particular FBI official. My take is that someone with an ax to grind went after Franklin for some run of the mill info sharing.
Posted by liberalhawk 2005-01-27 4:07:55 PM||   2005-01-27 4:07:55 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 "The Spies Who Aren't
By Joel Mowbray
FrontPageMagazine.com | September 17, 2004

The past couple weeks have seen a swirl of anonymous allegations of supposed spying and espionage, including implications that the Pentagon civilian staff might be teeming with double agents for the Jewish state.

Thing is, almost none of it is true.

Beyond mishandling of classified documents—not an inconsequential offense, to be sure—every other accusation leveled by unnamed State Department and intelligence officials appears part of a carefully calculated campaign to question the loyalty of several Pentagon civilian employees by name, as well as a much larger group by implication.

According to someone with intimate knowledge of the draft presidential directive that low-level Pentagon Iran analyst Larry Franklin allegedly leaked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the document contained no sources and no methods. It had no sensitive material of any kind. It was nothing more than a policy paper—just a few pages that resembled an opinion-editorial—advocating tougher diplomacy, not war, in dealing with Iran.

Why was it marked “secret?” Nearly every document emerging out of that Pentagon office was stamped secret—the lowest grade of secrecy. A memo about an office Christmas party would probably be classified secret too.

If guilty, Franklin should be appropriately punished. But what about others who are inexplicably being lumped into the same smear campaign?

Bandying about words like “espionage” and “spying,” as many news outlets have, serves the goals of the State Department and the CIA, the mortal policy enemies of the hawks at the Pentagon. But unlike previous leak campaigns, State and CIA’s latest effort may have crossed into dangerous territory.

Most politically appointed administration officials on the foreign policy team who support President Bush’s agenda seem to have at least an uneasy feeling that the anonymous smear campaign flirts dangerously close to classic anti-Semitic libels.

Others are of decidedly less mixed opinion. Says one official, “It is not a witch hunt; it is a pogrom.”

Looking at the media coverage, particularly that of the Washington Post, and the reported conduct of the investigation, it is not difficult to understand the officials’ concern.

Though Franklin is Catholic, few articles mention that he is not Jewish, and none from the Post do so. He is far down the food chain, yet almost every story identifies him as an employee of Feith, who is Jewish, even though the undersecretary for policy is some six levels removed and oversees over 1,000 subordinates.

Tarring specific so-called neoconservatives, a September 4 Post story with no other clear purpose identified by name five other Pentagon officials about whom “investigators have asked questions.” All five individuals are Jewish, and according to the piece, “have strong ties to Israel.”

Driving home the smear, the story informs readers that three of them “were co-authors of a 1996 policy paper for then-Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.” The paper in question, however, was neither commissioned nor funded by Netanyahu or the Israeli government. It was unsolicited advice, no different than the papers and op-eds written by thousands of Washington policy wonks attempting to persuade various individuals or entities, including foreign leaders or governments.

The reported track record of the FBI agent in charge of the investigation, FBI assistant director of counterintelligence David Szady, is also troubling. Szady has for years “led investigations into Jewish American CIA employees believed to be spying for Israel that have also failed to persuade the Justice Department even to investigate the cases,” reports Eli Lake of the New York Sun.

That’s not all. Stephen Green, who reportedly was interviewed by the FBI for four hours relating to this case (the FBI refused comment), is a free-lance writer on a two-decade long quest to prove that Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, and other Jews are actually embedded Israeli spies. Some twenty years of futility later, Green is suddenly all the rage with leftist blogs and “news” sites, as well as (frighteningly) some mainstream news outlets.

Until his newfound popularity on the left and in the Arab press, Green’s staunchest support had come from Institute of Historical Review (IHR), which is perhaps best known for its denial of the Holocaust. Green’s two books that purport to document Israel’s vast network of Jewish spies working in the U.S. government have received rave reviews from the Holocaust deniers.

And now Green is being utilized by the FBI.

For those curious about the origins of this seemingly sprawling investigation, a quote in the September 4 Post story seems particularly revealing: “The initial interest was: Do you believe certain people would spy for Israel and pass secret information?” which was attributed to “one source interviewed by the FBI about the defense officials.”

In other words, it appears that this investigation started without a scintilla of evidence, and it was sparked solely because of “beliefs.”

Two days earlier, the Post reported that this investigation is “more than two years old.” Yet in those two years, the Post reported on September 4, all investigators have on the five named Jews in the Pentagon are “suspicions,” which the Post also noted may not even be “specific.”

What those five officials have (courtesy of the Post), however, is a taint that will not soon disappear, regardless of their actual innocence."

Posted by liberalhawk 2005-01-27 4:25:32 PM||   2005-01-27 4:25:32 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 I think General Frank's remarks were made in the context of Feith trying to tell him how to plan Operation Iraqi Freedom more than anything else. Franks delt with him one to one a couple of times and found his knowledge of military strategy very wanting. General Franks is now retired. As for the assertion that General Franks didn't get the number of troops he requested, he states in his book that Rumsfield asked him quite often if the number of troops alloted was sufficient. General Franks was never, by his own admission, denied the troops he requested. There was a lot to do with the logistics of staging through Kuwait that also determined the number of troops.
Posted by Deacon Blues  2005-01-27 4:35:08 PM||   2005-01-27 4:35:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#22 thx LH - I remember Mowbray's article now
Posted by Frank G  2005-01-27 5:21:03 PM||   2005-01-27 5:21:03 PM|| Front Page Top

#23 Sorry, lh, I think Mowbry's defense that it's a witch hunt is bull. And what does Mowbry, a journalist, know what constitutes everyday how hum policy documents and what constitutes serious breeches of security. Give me a break.

If it were a ME lobby group and Muslim gov't officials being investigated, Mowbry would be leading the charge on automatic guilt based on the investigees Muslim religion and no one here would be calling it witch hunts/foul play.

Arguing Nazi witch hunts is getting old. It's 2005 - let's all move along and get over the they're out to us mindset. Questionable behavior regarding our national security should be investigated to the fullest degree. People in positions of power should conduct themselves in a manner that is above reproach. And Joel nobody Mowbry is a bit too full of himself after his Visa Express expose. Joel is not a lawyer with the Justice Department. Joel is not an FBI agent. Thanks but no thanks I don't need Joel the Journalist telling citizens like me with his all knowing journalistic confidence what constitutes criminal action and what doesn't.

Feith, Wolfowitz, Tenet, Franklin are all EMPLOYEES of the US taxpayer. They are not elected to office for 4 year terms and therefore do not have the confidence of an electorate. They should be held accountable for their errors in judgement and fired accordingly regardless of whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Christian. Were these US gov't EMPLOYEES hired because of their religion? The answer is "no" so religion should be a zero factor in their evaluations or their defense.

Some of you had no problem criticizing Rumsfeld in the past. I didn't hear any apologies about your remarks being misunderstood as being a religious witch hunt.

If the aforesaid US gov't EMPOLYEES were so worried about pogroms/witch hunts then they should have stayed home hiding in their paranoid little closets and not taken gov't jobs where they would have public profiles and hence be open to public scrutiny.

As for who should replace Feith, is there a need? Whose position did Feith fill? Why do we have 1500 employees pushing pencils in the DOD under his position and coming up with war plans and occupation plans that are so filled with holes that we needed to spend more millions of $ on the grand standing 9/11 commission to publish a 1000 page book on all the errors? Fire the whole works of Feith's incompetent pencil pushing minions. Would we miss any of them? I doubt it.
Posted by 2xstandard 2005-01-27 5:36:20 PM||   2005-01-27 5:36:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#24 Why are we arguing with a troll who's left droppings all over the blogosphere?

As for Tommy Franks, whatever his successes he let his freakin' lawyer prevent him from zapping Mullah Omar in Afghanistan. I can't forget that.
Posted by someone 2005-01-27 8:32:28 PM||   2005-01-27 8:32:28 PM|| Front Page Top

#25 Why are we arguing with a troll who's left droppings all over the blogosphere?
Right, moron, I mean "someone."

As for your self-important comment about not being able to "forgive" Tommy Franks, what a joke. You should be so lucky to even shine Tommy Franks shoes. Crawl back under your pathetic rock.

And by the way, "someone", aren't you being rather anti-semetic in criticizing Tommy Franks?
Posted by 2xstandard 2005-01-27 9:35:35 PM||   2005-01-27 9:35:35 PM|| Front Page Top

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