Talk:Douglas J. Feith
| This article must adhere to the policy on biographies of living persons, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if there are other concerns about edits related to a living person, please report the issue to the biographies of living persons noticeboard. If you are connected to one of the subjects of this article and need help with issues related to it, please see this page. |
| WikiProject Biography / Politics and Government | (Rated C-class) | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
Links from this article with broken #section links (check): |
| This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Douglas J. Feith article. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
| WikiProject Pennsylvania | (Rated C-class, Mid-importance) | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||||||||||
| WikiProject Philadelphia | (Rated C-class, Mid-importance) | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
This topic contains controversial issues, some of which have reached a consensus for approach and neutrality, and some of which may be disputed. Before making any potentially controversial changes to the article, please carefully read the discussion-page dialogue to see if the issue has been raised before, and ensure that your edit meets all of Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Please also ensure you use an accurate and concise edit summary. |
 |
This talk page is automatically archived by MiszaBot I. Any sections with no replies in 90 days may be automatically moved. Sections without timestamps are not archived. |
 Archives |
|---|
[edit] Rewrite
| Sections removed from the article for rewriting. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sections removed from the article for rewriting. | ||
[edit] Professional praise[edit] Former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld"Doug Feith, of course, is without question, one of the most brilliant individuals in government. He is – he's just a rare talent. And from my standpoint, working with him is always interesting. He's been one of the really the intellectual leaders in the administration in defense policy aspects of our work here."[1] When Feith left the Defense Department in 2005, Secretary Donald Rumsfeld highlighted the following accomplishments:[2]
In his speech, Rumsfeld said:
[edit] Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Ret.) Air Force General Richard MyersRichard Myers credited Feith with a "great perspective" and "great respect for the military." In planning the war with Iraq, Feith "looked at implications of various actions that others might not think about", Myers said. "Doug is very bright and brings a very good strategic view to the table. He has solved some real problems."[3] [edit] Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine General Peter PaceUnited States Marine Corps General Peter Pace, now the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, worked closely with Feith, co-chairing with him the Defense Department's Campaign Planning Committee (CAPCOM). At Feith's farewell-from-government ceremony on August 8, 2005, Pace as then vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said:
The New Yorker May 9, 2005 (p. 36) interviewed Pace about Franks' criticism [see below] and reported: "Pace, who calls Feith a 'true American patriot,' said he did not understand Franks' attack. 'This is not directed at any individual,' Pace said, 'but the less secure an individual is in his thought processes and in his own capacities, the more prone they were to be intimidated by Doug, because he's so smart.'" Pace believes "Early on, [Feith] didn’t realize that the way he presented his positions, the way he was being perceived, put him in a bit of a hole. But he changed his ways." The same article reported on Rumsfeld's reaction to Franks:
[edit] National Security Advisor Stephen HadleyIn a letter to Feith on the day of his resignation from government, August 8, 2005, Stephen Hadley wrote:[6]
[edit] Professional criticism
[edit] Director of the CIA, Michael HaydenAt Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden's Senate confirmation hearing, Senator Carl Levin asked nominee Hayden about Feith's Office of Special Plans:
The June 27, 2006 Wall Street Journal ran an article called "Hayden Corrects the Record." It pointed out that though Levin drew this comment from Hayden when the General was speaking extemporaneously, Hayden corrected the record afterward to clarify that his comments were not meant to say that Feith's work was wrong, misleading or inaccurate. According to the Wall Street Journal, "General Hayden has now publicly confirmed what he had previously said in private conversations with Mr. Feith and with Arizona Senator Jon Kyl: To wit, that he did not intend those remarks as Senator Levin has spun them. In a letter to Mr. Kyl, General Hayden concedes that as former Director of the National Security Agency "I did not have any significant personal contact with Mr. Feith or his office and only occasionally saw the product of their work." Hayden's letter adds that "the issues I attempted to address were focused on broad questions of analytic tradecraft, not characterizing the work of Mr. Feith's office let alone attempting to address questions of lawfulness or even appropriateness. My comments about ‘wrong,’ ‘inaccurate,’ and ‘misleading’ were attached to a broader discussion of analytic challenges and not to any specific activities, including those under Mr. Feith." [edit] Former National Security Advisor Condoleezza RiceAccording to the long-running Washington newsletter, The Nelson Report, edited by Christopher Nelson, quoting an anonymous source, Feith was standing in for Rumsfeld at a 2003 interagency 'Principals' Meeting' debating the Middle East, and ended his remarks on behalf of the Pentagon. Then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said, "Thanks Doug, but when we want the Israeli position we'll invite the ambassador."[10][11] [edit] Former Secretary of State Colin PowellIn Bob Woodward's book Plan of Attack, then-United States Secretary of State Colin Powell called Feith's operation at the Pentagon the "Gestapo" office, alleging that it amounted to a separate, unchecked governing authority within the Pentagon.[12] Soon after publication of the book, Powell said:
An unnamed Bush administration official said to reporters from Newsday that "Secretary of State Colin Powell complained directly to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld several days ago about Feith's policy shop conducting missions that countered US policy."[14] [edit] Former Director of the CIA, George TenetThe chapter "No Authority, Direction, or Control" of George Tenet's memoir deals with the prewar government debate about alleged connections between Iraq and al-Qaeda. According to the Washington Post, Tenet's memoir paints an "unflattering portrait of Feith as a man eager to manipulate intelligence to push the country to war."[15] Tenet refers to Feith's office as "Team Feith", writing that he saw their criticisms about the CIA's Iraq-al Qaeda work as "complete crap." He added that "when the Pentagon inspector general issued a report in February 2007 calling some of Feith's efforts 'inappropriate', Feith shot back. He said peddling his alternative intelligence was simply an exercise in 'good government.' Nonsense (Tenet wrote). This was an example of bad government" (Tenet, page 348). Feith reviewed Tenet's memoir and responded to the allegations about his work in the Wall Street Journal on May 4.[16] On Tenet's account of the bureaucratic differences over Iraq-al Qaeda issues, Feith writes: "Mr. Tenet devotes a chapter to the matter of Iraq and al Qaeda, giving it the title: 'No Authority, Direction or Control.' The phrase implies that we argued that Saddam exercised such powers – authority, direction and control – over al Qaeda. We made no such argument. Rather we said that the CIA's analysts were not giving serious, professional attention to information about ties between Iraq and al Qaeda. The CIA's assessments were incomplete, nonrigorous and shaped around the dubious assumption that secular Iraqi Baathists would be unwilling to cooperate with al Qaeda religious fanatics, even when they shared strategic interests. This assumption was disproved when Baathists and jihadists became allies against us in the post-Saddam insurgency, but before the war it was the foundation of much CIA analysis." [edit] Former Commander Coalition Forces in Iraq, General Tommy Franks (USA Ret)Before the war in Iraq, the Iraqi National Congress proposed recruiting a brigade of Free Iraqi Forces to enter Iraq with the Americans. Feith supported the idea behind the project. United States Army General Tommy Franks did not, as reported in the book Cobra II: "Franks remained unenthusiastic, to say the least. After a briefing from [Feith's aide Bill] Luti on his pet project, Franks turned to Feith in a Pentagon corridor, letting him know where he stood: 'I don't have time for this fucking bullshit,' Franks exclaimed."[17] Franks, according to Plan of Attack, says of Feith: "I have to deal with the fucking stupidest guy on the planet almost every day." (p.281).[18][19] In his autobiography, American Soldier, Franks describes a conversation with his subordinates who were upset with Rumsfeld, Feith and Paul Wolfowitz; Franks tells them, "Here's the deal, guys. I know OSD - Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Feith - are demanding a lot. But they are not the enemy. Don't start thinking good guys-bad guys. We're all on the same side." They could see I was serious. "I'll worry about OSD, all of them - including Doug Feith, who's getting a reputation around here as the dumbest fucking guy on the planet", I continued. "Your job is to make me feel warm and fuzzy. Look, we're all professionals. Let's earn our pay."[20] On the April 14, 2006 edition of Hardball with Chris Matthews, Franks changed his assessment of Feith:
[edit] Former Coalition Provisional Authority Official, Lieutenant General Jay Garner (USA Ret)The former Director of the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for the Coalition Provisional Authority, General Jay Garner, reported to Feith for five months following the invasion of Iraq. As quoted in Thomas E. Ricks's book Fiasco, Garner said of Feith: "I think he's incredibly dangerous. He's a smart guy whose electrons aren't connected, so he arc lights all the time. He can't organize anything." [edit] Former CENTCOM Deputy Commander, Lieutenant General Michael DeLong (USMC Ret)In an interview with PBS on February 14, 2006, General Michael DeLong was asked about the information coming from Feith's office in the lead-up to the Iraq war. He replied:
|
Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{Reflist}} template or a <references /> tag; see the help page.
- Biography articles of living people
- C-Class biography articles
- C-Class biography (politics and government) articles
- Unknown-importance biography (politics and government) articles
- Politics and government work group articles
- WikiProject Biography articles
- C-Class Pennsylvania articles
- Mid-importance Pennsylvania articles
- C-Class Philadelphia articles
- Mid-importance Philadelphia articles
- Automatically assessed Philadelphia articles
- Wikipedia controversial topics
