Thursday, February 26, 2009

OShocka

Gabriel Schoenfeld blows the whistle on President Obama's decision to name Charles "Chas" Freeman, Jr. as chairman of the National Intelligence Council. This is the outfit responsible for prodcing National Intelligence Estimates.

Freeman is a shocking choice. He has a long and deep association with Saudi Arabia. In particular, he became president of the Middle East Policy Council in 1997. The MEPC is a mouthpiece for the Saudi government, which finances it. In this capacity, the MEPC has published an abridged version of the notorious essay by John Mearsheimer and Walt, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," which argues that American Jews have a stranglehold on the U.S. Congress, and use it to advance Israeli interests at the expense of those of the U.S. According to Schoenfeld, Freeman has expressly endorsed this thesis. It looks like Samantha Power won't be lonely in the Obama administration.