Heavyweight rebuke for Bush's
foreign policy By Andrew Tully
WASHINGTON - The 26 former US diplomats and
military leaders who were due to issue a joint statement
on Wednesday accusing President George W Bush of hurting
American foreign policy includes former ambassadors
appointed by presidents from both major US political
parties and retired career military leaders.
Some members of the group, called "Diplomats and
Military Commanders for Change", are quoted in
newspapers as saying Bush's policies have undone the
diplomatic results they and their colleagues have worked
hard to achieve during their careers. They are also
reportedly urging Americans to vote Bush out of office
in November.
Specifically, they cite the US-led
war in Iraq, which they call unilateral, and the
now-strained alliances with countries such as France and
Germany. The Iraq war put the United States at odds with
many of its closest allies. Admiral Stansfield Turner, a
former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and
Admiral William Crowe, a former chairman of the US
military's joint chiefs of staff, are part of the group.
Another member, Phyllis Oakley, a former state
department official, has commented: "What has caused us
to speak out in what could be seen as a partisan or
political way is simply our deep, deep concern about the
future security of the United States."
The
group's statement comes two months after a similar
criticism was issued by former British diplomats. They
criticized their prime minister, Tony Blair, for his
close alignment with Bush's foreign policy.
The
US group says it was not formed to provide support for
Democratic Senator John Kerry, who is expected to
challenge Bush for the presidency in November. It says
its members simply want to alert voters to what they
believe is "the damage Bush's policies have done to
America's long-standing alliances and hard-won
prestige".
Bush's re-election campaign has
refused to respond to the group until the release of its
statement, but an anonymous strategist for Bush's
Republican Party, in an interview with the Los Angeles
Times, expressed bewilderment at the charge of
unilateralism.
The strategist cited the
unanimous vote by the United Nations Security Council on
June 8 in favor of a US-drafted resolution on the
transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis at the end of the
June. He expressed doubt that the group's statement
would influence voting in the upcoming November 2
election.
Larry Sabato agrees. Sabato is a
political analyst at the University of Virginia. He
tells RFE/RL the group may appear to be bipartisan, but
it is heavily weighted toward the Democratic Party.
Many, he says, are known to be Democratic partisans,
despite their previous affiliation with the Republican
Party.
Sabato singled out Crowe, who was
chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under both
president Ronald Reagan and the current president's
father, president George H W Bush, both Republicans. He
later supported president Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and
has endorsed Kerry's challenge of Bush in the coming
election.
Sabato says, "I looked carefully at
that list. It's heavily laden with Democrats or
Republicans who defected some time ago. For example,
[one of them is] Admiral Crowe, who turned on [the first
president Bush] back in 1992 and endorsed Clinton over
the man he had served - president Bush - and was awarded
with the ambassadorship to Great Britain."
Sabato dismisses the group's assertion that it
does not endorse Kerry. "Just because these people are
not working on a daily basis for Kerry or formally
advising him doesn't mean they're not for him. It's a
very partisan thing, and it's perfectly all right. It's
a partisan election year. But to present it as being
non-partisan or some kind of trend is, I think, taking
it way too far," Sabato says.
But Alan Lichtman,
a professor of political history at American University
in Washington, says he believes there is such a trend.
Lichtman tells RFE/RL he sees evidence of a global
movement - both among voters and political elites -
against ruling parties, particularly those that
supported the war in Iraq. He says he thinks that
sentiment is shared by a growing number of Americans.
He says groups like Diplomats and Military
Commanders for Change are speaking out because they see
Bush ignoring old alliances and relying on US military
power to back up unilateralist policies. Lichtman says,
in his opinion, these retired diplomats and military
leaders are right in believing Bush is squandering the
hard work to which they have devoted their careers.
"Bush has fundamentally changed American foreign
policy. The pre-emptive doctrine is radically new in the
way Bush is applying it. And obviously, when you change
policy this radically, it is going to have enormous
repercussions around the world and, of course, in the
United States, because you challenge presumptions held
by policymakers and public officials for some time,"
Lichtman says.
Lichtman rejects the Republican
strategist's argument that the way the US acted in Iraq
had the support of other countries and that it is
building even broader support for its occupation of Iraq
through the UN.
"The fact that now, during this
very difficult period, the United States has been able
to get a UN resolution on the transfer of power to
Iraqis does not in any way undermine the essentially
unilateral thrust of American policy in Iraq and the
broader unilateralism followed by this administration,
which has rejected a number of international treaties,"
Lichtman says.
Lichtman cites the rejection of
the Kyoto treaty on the environment, the US withdrawal
from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and its 18-month
imposition of tariffs on imported steel, which punished
many US trading partners, including the European Union.
The signatories: Avis T Bohlen,
Bush Jr's former assistant secretary of state for arms
control. Admiral William J Crowe, chairman of
the joint chiefs of staff under Reagan and ambassador to
the UK under Clinton; has endorsed Kerry. Jeffrey
S Davidow, Bush Jr's former ambassador to Mexico.
William A DePree, ex-ambassador to
Bangladesh. Donald B Easum, ex-ambassador to
Nigeria. Charles W Freeman, ex-ambassador to
Saudi Arabia. William C Harrop, Bush Sr's
ambassador to Israel. Arthur A Hartman,
ex-ambassador to the Soviet Union and France.
General Joseph P Hoar, commander in chief of
US Central Command under Bush Sr; supports John Kerry.
H Allen Holmes, ex-special operations chief.
Robert V Keeley, ex-ambassador to Greece and
Zimbabwe. Samuel W Lewis, ex-ambassador to
Israel. Princeton N Lyman, ex-ambassador to
South Africa. Jack F Matlock, ambassador to
the USSR under Reagan and Bush Sr. Donald F
McHenry, ex-ambassador to the UN. General
Merrill A McPeak, former Air Force chief of staff;
supports Kerry. George E Moose, ex-African
affairs chief. David D Newsom, former acting
secretary of state. Phyllis E Oakley,
ex-intelligence and research chief. James Daniel
Phillips, ex-ambassador to Africa. John E
Reinhardt, ex-ambassador to Nigeria. General
William Y Smith, ex-deputy commander in chief, US
European Command. Ronald I Spiers, ex-senior
UN official and ambassador to Pakistan. Michael
Sterner, ex-ambassador in the Middle East.
Admiral Stansfield Turner, CIA director under
Carter; has endorsed Kerry. Alexander F
Watson, ex-assistant secretary of state for
Inter-American affairs.
Copyright (c) 2004,
RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut
Ave NW, Washington DC 20036
