Losing Feith

Julian Sanchez | January 27, 2005

The man Gen. Tommy Franks called "the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth" will be leaving the DOD this summer.

Comments

gaius marius|1.27.05 @ 9:40AM|#

agreed, mr barton. he's a big fish in that cesspool.

but he isn't going far. one of the hallmarks of neoconservatism is their impeccable loyalty. perle, wolfowitz, the kristols, feith, ledeen -- they're a ideological fratenity, and most of them probably acquiesce at least in principle to the flow of information to israel as a "good thing". feith is a member of the brotherhood. i suspect he will retain an important voice.

|1.27.05 @ 9:46AM|#

Extensive profile on Feith's military and Israeli connections: http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ind/feith/feith.php

sage|1.27.05 @ 10:07AM|#

I wonder what Gen. Franks meant by that.

drf|1.27.05 @ 10:19AM|#

how long will it be until the usual crowd comes in to defend or mitigate?

|1.27.05 @ 10:26AM|#

drf, a charmingly transparent attempt to seem fiercely independent"..Your attempt to exclude yourself from "the usual crowd" reminds me of Al Hunt in his old column.

What will the bleating Quislings (in an endearing sense, I assure you) do if there's 80%-ish turnout this weekend?

|1.27.05 @ 10:28AM|#

Sanchez, may we refer to you as "Julie" i.e., like Bill Duke to Gere in American Gigolo?

drf|1.27.05 @ 10:36AM|#

huh?

"usual crowd" = those who defend the current administration through and through.

but... "thank you"...

i guess.....

(what are you talking about????)

|1.27.05 @ 10:38AM|#

drf, you remembered "defend" and "mitigate," but how could you leave out "change the subject" and "call names?"

drf|1.27.05 @ 10:39AM|#

d'oh. forgot those. but i like calling names, too. remember - i'm trying to be independent here. ;)

|1.27.05 @ 10:42AM|#

Come now, my good man....your consistent anti-administration reactions place you in the same "usual crowd," just in a different part of the corral. You're the flip side of the same coin, hence my chuckle...but by all means keep holding your fist up and proclaiming 'dissent!!" apparently for its own sake.

|1.27.05 @ 10:43AM|#

Yes, Joe, you may be right...I would be really pissed if someone called me "Al Hunt."

Sorry, drf.

drf|1.27.05 @ 10:48AM|#

anti administration reactions: when it comes to the war, you bet. against the theocratic ideas? right on. the thought of the "ownership society" - fantastic. tabling kyoto? excellent! pissing off the euros? love it. jabbing the UN? go for it!

it's just those two areas where the reaction is knee jerk. but had they showed the WMDs or any proof that the original reasons for the war were true, i'd give them their props.

BUT claiming i'm not part of THAT crowd? nope. i'm a consistent reason reader, hitter-and-runner, and part of the thoreau-fyodor-rick B crowd. i mix it up with GG sometimes about europe, and it's fun making little alliances with people on certain days and issues.

but you're being very cute with the "my good man" and the Jeeves style of writing. i like the mexico city style way of radicalizing what i wrote.

are you one of the blind defenders of the war and torture and wanting to "do" syria?

drf|1.27.05 @ 10:50AM|#

LOL snake: it would be even worse to be called "mike" there... :)

|1.27.05 @ 10:55AM|#

keep holding your fist up and proclaiming 'dissent!!" apparently for its own sake.

Why would you assume it's "for its own sake"? It's more like, for the sake of principle. The influence of the neocon's "Israeli government first" agenda in this administration, and the harm that it has done is a matter of record.

fyodor|1.27.05 @ 11:02AM|#

What will the bleating Quislings (in an endearing sense, I assure you) do if there's 80%-ish turnout this weekend?

At the hazard of assuming to represent the bleating Quislings, I'll answer your question.

Applaud loudly and hope against hope that it portends more substantial good things around the corner. Such as a significant diminuition in the insurgency.

|1.27.05 @ 11:05AM|#

Yeah, not every thing that this administration does is objectionable on libertarian grounds. Much is, but not all.

drf|1.27.05 @ 11:08AM|#

but apparently it's impossible to be critical of the (rather vast) non-libertarian record of the current administration AND be for the success of free and fair elections and to have a stable iraq and the us troops home (whoops - is that actually a goal of the administration?)

either way, those of us who are against the war and against torture obviously can't be for ultimate success in iraq (defined above).

oh well.

|1.27.05 @ 11:18AM|#

Wow. 18 comments, and not a bloody word about the Office of Special Plans...

|1.27.05 @ 11:27AM|#

Point taken drf, I appreciate your differentiation but still have some problems with your a la carte approach: In other words, you must either accept the Bush administration in totality, or you're in league with Al Qaeda.

I'm kidding. One has to be able to make fun of one's own side.

By the way, Rick, A buddy of mine is burning CDs of a bootleg of Protocols of the Elders of Zion from Egyptian TV...

Also, Pat Buchanan's book in which he suggests it was not in Hitler's strategic interests to attack the U.S. is 1/2 pric at Amazon.

(Hee, Hee!!)

drf|1.27.05 @ 11:36AM|#

"fair enough. but i'd feel better if you'd have that drink with me now". (to quote/paraphrase from the maltese falcon)

actually - i have evidence from lou dobbs that offshoring helps al qaeda :)

cheers,
drf

|1.27.05 @ 12:24PM|#

Evan Williams:

Dead on brother.

The first thing that went through my mind when I saw "Doug Feith" was the New Yorker piece on OSP (well second thing, after "stupidest guy on the face of the earth").

Whether you are for or against the war in Iraq, the removal of Feith should be welcome news. He's nothing more than cancer.

|1.27.05 @ 12:29PM|#

Whether you are for or against the war in Iraq,


And that my friends is why there is no honest debate on this issue any longer.

There can be only a "for" or an "against".

|1.27.05 @ 1:02PM|#

TPG:

Three things are certain:

1. You are correct that the country has, for all intents and purposes, lined up in two opposing camps on this issue.

2. Honest debate prior to invasion would certainly have given policy makers and the public a better picture of what we were thinking of getting into, perhaps sparing us the current divided climate.

3. Feith was instrumental in dangerously taking the honesty out of whatever debate occured.

|1.27.05 @ 3:27PM|#

The justice department investigation of the Israel spy ring inside the Bush administration must be heating up. The Axis of Treason Israeli spies in the Pentagon