'Weak' Barack Obama loses another nominee

[Saqib Shah]

Tom Baldwin in Washington


President Obama is facing accusations that he failed his first test on the Middle East by allowing America's pro-Israel lobby to force out the nominee for a top intelligence post.
Charles Freeman, picked to chair the National Intelligence Council (NIC), withdrew after an internet-led campaign branded him as harbouring Arabist sympathies or being influenced by foreign governments.
In a furious message posted to friends and colleagues, Mr Freeman said that the “tactics of the Israel lobby plumb the depths of dishonour and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the wilful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods and an utter disregard for the truth”.
The aim, he suggested, was to exercise a veto over anyone who disagrees with views that chime closely with those of Israel's new Likud Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu.

“I believe that the inability of the American public to discuss, or the Government to consider, any option for US policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics has allowed that faction to sustain policies that ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel,” Mr Freeman said.

“The outrageous agitation that followed the leak of my pending appointment will be seen by many to raise serious questions about whether the Obama Administration will be able to make its own decisions about the Middle East and related issues.”

As head of the NIC he would have been responsible for drawing up reports, called estimates, representing the consensus judgment of America's 16 intelligence agencies. These have been of intense concern to Israel in recent years after the release of one heavily criticised estimate suggesting that Iran had abandoned efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.

Although only a handful of Jewish groups had come out publicly against his appointment, organisations such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) reportedly disseminated critical information about Mr Freeman. Steven Rosen, the organisation's former director who is awaiting trial on espionage charges, was particularly vocal in denouncing Mr Freeman as a “strident critic of Israel” and a follower of “old-line Arabism”.

It emerged yesterday that senior Jewish Democrats, including Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Steve Israel, had telephoned the White House to make clear that Mr Freeman's views on the Middle East made him an unsuitable candidate.

His past criticism of Israel included a speech in 2005 in which he referred to the country's “high-handed and self-defeating policies” stemming from the “occupation and settlement of Arab lands”.

Mr Freeman's financial and personal ties with the governments of Saudi Arabia, where he was once ambassador, or China - for which he was allegedly an apologist for the Tiananmen Square crackdown - have also been attacked by Republicans. Congressman Mark Kirk, the biggest recipient of Aipac donations, had called for an investigation into Mr Freeman's links to the countries.

Mr Freeman's announcement that he was withdrawing from consideration on Tuesday came hours after Dennis Blair, the Director of National Intelligence, defended Mr Freeman's record strongly.

List of failures
— The attempt by Tom Daschle to become Health Secretary was derailed over his failure to pay taxes on a chauffeur and limousine

— Nancy Killefer, chief performance officer, was forced to withdraw over unpaid taxes

— Barack Obama has lost two Commerce Secretary nominees: Bill Richardson, who became embroiled in a corruption scandal in New Mexico, and Judd Gregg, a Republican who pulled out after pressure from party colleagues to reject big spending plans

— Last week it emerged that two expected nominees for Treasury posts were bowing out of the confirmation process. Annette Nazareth and Caroline Atkinson, who were the choices for Deputy Secretary and Undersecretary of International Affairs, announced that they had stepped aside for “personal reasons”

— Sanjay Gupta, a CNN medical correspondent, also took himself out of the running to become Surgeon-General, saying: “You know, I have two daughters. Our third daughter is now imminent”

— General Anthony Zinni was to be Ambassador to Baghdad but Christopher R. Hill was appointed

Source: Times database