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Freeman Affair Reveals Problems for Obama and the Media
By Roger Aronoff
March 25, 2009

Page 3 of 5

In a speech he gave in 2005 he said, "as long as the United States continues unconditionally to provide the subsidies and political protection that make the Israeli occupation and the high-handed and self-defeating policies it engenders possible, there is little, if any, reason to hope that anything resembling the former peace process can be resurrected."

Upon his withdrawal, Freeman blasted the "Israel Lobby" in a blog post (web site) on the Foreign Policy website. Then Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus wrote about Freeman's comments on March 12, in a rather sympathetic piece, (web site) highlighting Freeman's theories about the "Israel Lobby." But the Post fired back in an editorial, (web site)saying that "It wasn't until Mr. Freeman withdrew from consideration for the job, however, that it became clear just how bad a selection Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair had made. Mr. Freeman issued a two-page screed on Tuesday in which he described himself as the victim of a shadowy and sinister 'Lobby' whose 'tactics plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency' and which is 'intent on enforcing adherence to the policies of a foreign government.' Yes, Mr. Freeman was referring to Americans who support Israel―and his statement was a grotesque libel."

Freeman made the assertion that there is an "inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for U.S. policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics." The Post, while making no admission of its own paper's flawed coverage of this story, found that rather bizarre. "That will certainly be news to Israel's 'ruling faction,' which in the past few years alone has seen the U.S. government promote a Palestinian election that it opposed; refuse it weapons it might have used for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities; and adopt a policy of direct negotiations with a regime that denies the Holocaust and that promises to wipe Israel off the map. Two Israeli governments have been forced from office since the early 1990s after open clashes with Washington over matters such as settlement construction in the occupied territories."

Added the Post: "What's striking about the charges by Mr. Freeman and like-minded conspiracy theorists is their blatant disregard for such established facts."

Joe Klein of Time magazine thinks Freeman's criticism of "the Israel Lobby" is a bit "imprecise." Klein says "He was the victim of a mob, not a lobby. The mob was composed primarily of Jewish neoconservatives―abetted by less than courageous public servants like Senator Chuck Schumer, who has publicly taken credit for the hit."

The blog Powerlineblog.com did a great job covering this story, when the mainstream media wouldn't. They wrote that "Freeman's parting shot is valuable as symptom and evidence of the nature of his derangement. He is preoccupied with Israel and the Jews." This piece (web site) on Powerline includes links to many of the important aspects of this story.

>> Continued -- Page 1 2 3 4 5

 

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