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| State Dept. loyalists say the Pentagon is usurping foreign policy | |
| 2003-05-08 | |
| More crying from the babies at Foggy Bottom. Diplomats are paid to have cool minds and even cooler temperaments, but inside the State Department, plenty of America's elite diplomats are privately seething. They are up in arms over what they see as the hijacking of foreign policymaking by the Pentagon and efforts to undercut their boss, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. "I just wake up in the morning and tell myself, 'There's been a military coup,' and then it all makes sense," said one veteran foreign service officer. The first two years of the Bush administration have seen what the diplomat called a "tectonic shift" of decision-making power on foreign policy from State to the Defense Department, one that has seen the Pentagon become the dominant player on such key issues as Iraq, North Korea and Afghanistan. "Why aren't eyebrows raised all over the United States that the secretary of Defense is pontificating about Syria?" the official, who declined to be identified, said, fuming. "Can you imagine the Defense secretary after World War II telling the world how he was going to run Europe?" he added, noting it was Secretary of State George C. Marshall who delivered that seminal speech in 1947. Leading conservatives and Pentagon officials say such comments show the State Department's failure to grasp how profoundly global politics and U.S. foreign policy interests have been redefined, especially in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. (con't see link)
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| Posted by:Anonymous |
| #6 "The world will never love us. They may respect us, they may even fear us, but they'll never love us." -- Theodore Roosevelt |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-05-08 10:44:59 |
| #5 Powell and Rumsfield are playing good cop and bad cop and doing a pretty good job of it. This "loyalist inside the State Department" is not in on the game plan and isn't wise enough to keep silent. Clear indication of what's wrong at the State Department. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2003-05-08 10:43:46 |
| #4 DOD thinks out of the box. Give Rummie and co. credit, State. Did anyone catch Nightline last Friday? An anonymous govt. official, probably State, (sitting in shadows, but you could see he was wearing glasses and his voice wasn't disguised) was sitting there moaning along the same themes as this article. Oh, the Muslim/Arab world is angrier now/Oh, it's like we just found out that Shiites are in Southern Iraq, etc. Actually, everything he said was true, but he had absolutely no suggestions on what US policy should be. Typical of State people I've met over the years while living in Arab world. See, State always has thought that we should adjust our policies so that we're popular. Just think about the "Why-do-they-hate-us-crowd" To win popularity contests, you just say yes all the time. But then those "others" start losing respect for you. Ditto State and this jerk on TV last Friday. He just wants to retire in peace. Buddy, go write a memo. A few diplomats have resigned in the last 6 months. At least they had the honesty to say they couldn't take it, so they got out. This whiner on TV the other night should do the same, but he won't because it would mean not having that diplo passport, discounts at hotels and travel agencies, etc. Rantburgers know what I'm talking about. The guy in the article is exactly the same. The world has changed, pal. Your culture at State will have to, too. I'm not too optimistice since it is PC on steroids. Powell has at least made some effort to incorporate this new mindset when he said France would have to pay a price for its intrangicence (sp?) over Iraq. Get out of the kitchen if it's too hot, quit going to the press and cry, analyze why State is so far down the totem pole inside the Beltway and go tell Powell to his face how you feel, gutless. He'll appreciate your opinion. |
| Posted by: michael 2003-05-08 09:59:07 |
| #3 *points at frank* What he said. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-05-08 09:33:55 |
| #2 Yes Marshall was Secretary of state. But the Army ran much of Europe until his 'seminal speech.' The State Dept largely sat out WWII. They are doing the same for the WOT. These careerists just do not have the stomach to be in a confrontational posture with respect to so many nations. They like delivering good news and we have little of that to deliver right now. |
| Posted by: JAB 2003-05-08 09:14:37 |
| #1 "Why aren't eyebrows raised all over the United States that the secretary of Defense is pontificating about Syria?" Well, Ivy-League-boy, possibly because your little striped-pants group managed nothing well, and quite a lot badly. Your track record shows very little success, and a lot of occasions when you seem to have forgotten whom you were representing. Rumsfeld seems to know EXACTLY who's interests he represents and has the successes in hand to have my trust |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-05-08 08:27:49 |