27 former diplomats, military officers can't be wrong re: W

[Patrick M]

More leftist propaganda from the notoriously biased Bloomberg media machine.

Bush Censure by Envoys May Be a First, Historians Say

June 18 (Bloomberg) -- The statement by 27 former diplomats and military officers on Wednesday calling for the defeat of U.S. President George W. Bush may be unprecedented.

"Their prominence and seniority and influence when in their diplomatic or military posts, and their number, is really remarkable," said Richard Kohn, the Pentagon's chief Air Force historian from 1981-1991 and now chairman of the war and defense curriculum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The group, which includes Democrats and Republicans, said Bush's foreign policy and the war in Iraq have damaged U.S. security. Its statement may sway voters already concerned by reports of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers and the conclusion by a bipartisan commission that Saddam Hussein had no connection to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The commission, appointed by the president to investigate the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, dismissed any link between the al-Qaeda terrorist organization and Hussein's regime in a separate report yesterday. Bush responded that the commission was referring specifically to the attacks, and said Hussein and al-Qaeda did have contacts.

`Credibility Damaged'

"Bush's credibility has been damaged by Iraq," said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Schwab Soundview Capital Markets in Washington. "Kerry has greater potential to get traction on issues like this," he said, referring to the Democratic presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.

"From the outset, George W. Bush adopted an overbearing approach to America's role in the world, relying upon military might and righteousness, insensitive to the concerns of traditional friends and allies, and disdainful of the United Nations," said the group, Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, in a statement Wednesday. They said Bush, 57, should be defeated, without explicitly endorsing Kerry, 60, a four-term senator.

The group included Jack Matlock Jr., President Ronald Reagan's ambassador to the Soviet Union; retired Admiral William Crowe, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman under Reagan; Charles Freeman, President George H. W. Bush's ambassador to Saudi Arabia; and retired Air Force Chief of Staff Merrill McPeak, who is advising Kerry's campaign.

"I can't remember anything comparable to that," said historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., who was an adviser to President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat. "I can't remember a precedent." Schlesinger, 86, won the Pulitzer Prize for his 1965 book, "A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House."

`Some Naysayers'

The Bush campaign said at least 20 of the signatories have been active politically before and at least 13 have contributed to Democrats. The president's supporters said the statement wouldn't make a difference.

"There's always some naysayers that get rounded up by the opposition," said Edwin Meese, 72, who served as attorney general under Reagan. "I don't think it'll have much effect at all in the election, in as much as their statements seem inconsistent with their past positions."

Bush's approval rating among adults in the U.S. climbed in the last month as more Americans said the military effort in Iraq was going well, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center.

Bush Gains

The survey, conducted June 3-13, found the president's overall approval rating rose to 48 percent, from 44 percent in May. He also gained in the presidential race against Kerry, pulling into a statistical tie after trailing the Massachusetts senator by 5 percentage points, according to data released by the Washington-based Pew Center.

Professors such as Michael Munger, chairman of the political science department at Duke University, and former diplomats and military officials said the group's charges won't resonate with most voters. The people paying the most attention are the so- called swing voters, who can go either way, they said.

"These are people who don't get their crank turned by the main issues," Munger said. "Iraq bears no resemblance to Vietnam militarily, but it may start to resemble Vietnam politically. What is the mission? When will it end?"

In the latest Los Angeles Times poll, Kerry led Bush by a margin of 51 percent to 44 percent. Fifty-five percent of voters said they disapproved of Bush's handling of the war in Iraq, up from 46 percent in March. The June 5-8 poll of 1,230 registered voters nationwide had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Open Season?

Crowe laid the groundwork for such a group when he endorsed Bill Clinton, a Democrat, for president in 1992, said Thomas Keaney, executive director of the foreign policy institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. At the time, it was rare even for a retired military officer to speak out, he said.

"Today that is more and more prevalent," said Keaney, a retired Air Force Colonel who has also been a professor at the National War College. For diplomats and ex-military officials, political acts "ought to remain extraordinary," Keaney said. "It will hurt if the code changes, if it becomes open season."

In the Vietnam War era, the types of people speaking out were lower-ranked officers or soldiers without commissions, said Phyllis Bennis, a fellow with the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington research group that promotes democracy and human rights. Kerry, a Navy lieutenant in Vietnam who earned three Purple Hearts for injuries, a Silver Star for gallantry in action and a Bronze Star for valor, was one of those protesters.

The War Issue

"I don't remember a group of this stature before this war," Bennis said. "The war is a crucial issue for every voting bloc -- those that are uncertain where they stand will take this as a very serious consideration."

In the late 1950s, high-ranking retired military officials publicly denounced President Dwight Eisenhower's military strategy against the Soviet Union, said Christopher Preble, director of foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, a Washington public policy group that advocates limited government and libertarian issues. They acted as individuals, he said.

"We have seen this on specific issues at times, expressing some unhappiness, but not a broad blast at the administration like this," said Casimir Yost, director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University.

The U.S. group may have been following counterparts in the U.K. In an open letter released April 26, 52 former U.K. ambassadors and international officials criticized Prime Minister Tony Blair for his support of the U.S. administration's policies in Iraq and in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Powell Response

Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday said the U.S. group's statement was politically motivated. "I disagree with their point of view," Powell, 67, said in an interview with the Arab television channel Al-Jazeera. "They wish to see President Bush not reelected. I do not believe that will be the judgment of the American people."

The Bush campaign has more than 80,000 veteran and military volunteers and 49 Medal of Honor recipients who support the president, spokesman Scott Stanzel said. There are just 130 living recipients of the highest U.S. military award, according to the Web site http://www.medalofhonor.com .

"We are not surprised that John Kerry has the support of people who share his belief that the threat of terror is exaggerated," Stanzel said. "This is a group of partisan individuals who have been previously active in politics. They certainly have a right to express their Democratic views, but we're not concerned with their activity."

Veterans' Role

Military issues have gained more attention in the 2004 election because of Iraq and Kerry's efforts to organize 1 million veterans to help him.

"To be involved in an act that will be seen by many as political if not partisan is for many of us a new experience," said Phyllis Oakley, a career diplomat who served as assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research under President Clinton and signed the statement. "As career government officials, we have served loyally both Republican and Democratic administrations."

Bush, commenting yesterday on the Sept. 11 commission report, said "there was a relationship" with al-Qaeda. "This administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al-Qaeda. We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda," he said.

That nuance may be lost on voters, said Ted Carpenter, an analyst at the Cato Institute. "The Bush message that Iraq was in league with terrorists is fairly simple to understand, but he will not get the distinction between his message and the commission's message," Carpenter said. "The commission report will have an impact; it will resonate with undecided voters."

Vice President Dick Cheney, 63, reiterated the administration's position in a CNBC interview last night, calling the evidence of a connection between the terrorists and Iraq "overwhelming."

[Rspaight]

"We are not surprised that John Kerry has the support of people who share his belief that the threat of terror is exaggerated," Stanzel said.

No, no, no. For the last time, it's not the threat of *terror* that was exagerrated, it was the threat of *Iraq*. We want you to attack terrorists, not unrelated countries and their civilians. Sheesh. Silly Republicans.

Ryan