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Chas W. Freeman Jr.

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Charles W. ("Chas") Freeman, Jr. (born 1943) was the United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1989 to 1992. He is also president of the Middle East Policy Council. In early 2009 it was leaked that Freeman was Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair's choice to chair the National Intelligence Council in the Obama administration. After several weeks of criticism he withdrew his name from nomination and issued a condemnation of his critics.[1][2]

Life and work

Freeman was born in Rhode Island, and lived and was educated in the Bahamas where his father was in business, returning to the United States at age 13. After studying at Yale University under a scholarship, he studied at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and entered Harvard Law School.[3]

After law school, he left to join the United States Foreign Service in 1965, working first in India and Taiwan before being assigned to the State Department's China desk. There he was assigned as the principal interpreter during United States President Richard Nixon's 1972 first visit to the People's Republic of China. He later became the State Department Deputy Director for Republic of China (Taiwan) affairs.[3] The State Department also sent Freeman back to Harvard during this time in order to complete his J.D.[citation needed]

After various positions within the State Department he was given overseas assignments as deputy chief of mission in Beijing, China and then Bangkok, Thailand, before being selected as principal deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs in 1986. During these assignments he attained a working knowledge of several languages. He became United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in November 1989, serving during Operation Desert Storm, until 1992.[3]

From 1992 to 1993 he was a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies. From 1993 to 1994 he was Assistant Secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs. From 1994 to 1995 he was Distinguished Fellow, United States Institute of Peace. In 1995 he became Chairman of the Board of Projects International, Inc., a Washington-based business development firm arranging international joint ventures. For four years, from 2004, he served on the board of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation which met only yearly; he was not involved in issues like the company's dealing with Iran or its attempt to buy the U.S. oil company Unocal.[4] He also is a member of the board of several diplomatic institutes, as well as of several corporate and non-profit advisory boards.

In 1997, Ambassador Freeman succeeded George McGovern to become the president of the Middle East Policy Council[5] which "strives to ensure that a full range of U.S. interests and views are considered by policy makers."[6] In 2006, Freeman earned $87,000 as president of MEPC. The organization received $1 million from a Saudi prince.[7] The organization has received one twelfth of its funding from the Saudi Arabian government.[8]

In the fall of 2006 the Council was the first American outlet to publish (a slightly revised version of) University of Chicago Professor John Mearsheimer and Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University Professor Stephen Walt's working paper "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy."[9] According to an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Freeman endorsed the paper's thesis and said of Middle East Policy Council's stance "No one else in the United States has dared to publish this article, given the political penalties that the Lobby imposes on those who criticize it."[10]

Freeman speaks fluent Chinese, French, Spanish, and conversational Arabic.[11]

National Intelligence Council appointment controversy

On February 26, 2009 the Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair named Freeman chair of the National Intelligence Council,[12] which culls intelligence from sixteen US agencies and compiles them into National Intelligence Estimates. Blair cited his "diverse background in defense, diplomacy and intelligence."[13]

News of Freeman's nomination met with criticism from a number of pro-Israel commentators of his views about Israel and Arab nations and his ties to Saudi Arabia and China.[14][15][16][17] The Zionist Organization of America called for rescinding "the reported appointment."[18] U.S. Representative Steve Israel wrote to the Inspector General of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence calling for an investigation of Freeman's "relationship with the Saudi government" given his "prejudicial public statements" against the state of Israel.[19] All seven Republican members of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence signed a letter raising "concerns about Mr. Freeman's lack of experience and uncertainty about his objectivity."[4][7] 87 Chinese dissidents wrote a letter to President Obama asking him to reconsider the appointment.[20] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was said to be "incensed" by Freeman's views of the Tiananmen Square massacre, reportedly urged President Obama against the selection. [21]

Freeman also had a number of defenders among liberals, libertarians and conservatives, including supporters of the state of Israel.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]

According to a Blair spokeswoman the Director welcomed the review which he believed would "put to rest any questions about Ambassador Freeman's suitability, character and financial history."[4] On March 10 Blair himself defended Freeman against criticism by Senator Joe Lieberman during a United States Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing saying of Freeman's strong views: "I think I can do a better job if I’m getting strong analytical view points to sort out and pass on to you and to the president than if I’m getting pre-cooked pablum judgments that don’t really challenge."[30][31] Nevertheless, that afternoon Freeman requested that his selection to be Chairman of the National Intelligence Council be withdrawn, which Blair accepted.[32]

Freeman then issued a full statement on his reasons for withdrawal, stating, "I do not believe the National Intelligence Council could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction in a foreign country;" he identified the country as Israel. He questioned whether the "outrageous agitation" following the leak of his pending appointment meant that the Obama administration would be able to make independent decisions "about the Middle East and related issues."[1]

Freeman also cited interference by the Israeli lobby as a reason for his withdrawl. "The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired. 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."

Freeman went on to say that "The aim of this lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views, the substitution of political correctness for analysis, and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our government other than those that it favours." [33]

Views on issues

The Associated Press has characterized Freeman as "outspoken" on various issues including Israel, Iraq, and the war on terror.[34]

September 11 attacks

Freeman commented at a Washington Institute for Near East Policy meeting in 2002 that, "And what of America’s lack of introspection about September 11? Instead of asking what might have caused the attack, or questioning the propriety of the national response to it, there is an ugly mood of chauvinism. Before Americans call on others to examine themselves, we should examine ourselves."[35] In October 2005, Freeman told another Washington conference: "On the question of U.S. strikes on targets on Iran or elsewhere, I simply want to register what I think is an obvious point; namely that what 9/11 showed is that if we bomb people, they bomb back."[36]

Israel

In a 2005 speech to a conference of the The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations Freeman stated, "As long as the United States continues unconditionally to provide the subsidies and political protection that make the Israeli occupation and the high-handed and self-defeating policies it engenders possible, there is little, if any, reason to hope that anything resembling the former peace process can be resurrected. Israeli occupation and settlement of Arab lands is inherently violent."[37] He explained that he believed "US-Arab relations matter greatly to my country and because, unlike many in Washington, I do not believe in diplomacy-free foreign policy and have a healthy regard for what is now derided as “reality-based analysis.”[38]

In a 2007 speech to the Pacific Council on International Policy Freeman said that "Al Qaeda has played us with the finesse of a matador exhausting a great bull by guiding it into unproductive lunges." He cited the 2003 invasion of Iraq which "transformed an intervention in Afghanistan most Muslims had supported into what looks to them like a wider war against Islam." He held that the US had "embraced Israel’s enemies as our own" and that Arabs had "responded by equating Americans with Israelis as their enemies." Charging the US now backed Israel’s "efforts to pacify its captive and increasingly ghettoized Arab populations" and to "seize ever more Arab land for its colonists."[26][39]

Saudi Arabia

In 1991, while he was US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Freeman gave an interview listing ways that Saudi Arabia had been helpful to the US. It contributed $13.5 billion to the 1991 Gulf War effort and provided fuel, water, accommodations and transport for US forces on Saudi soil. Immediately after the war it rapidly increased its oil production, preventing the US recession "from becoming far worse." He also stated Saudi Arabia continued to insist that oil be in dollars "in part out of friendship with the United States." He warned that with the "emergence of other currencies and with strains in the relationship" Saudi Arabians might begin to question why they should do so.[3]

China

In a 2007 article on the implications of China's success or failure in integrating its people and economy, Freeman writes that Americans are too ignorant of Chinese history and that "Almost every ideological faction and interest group in our country now asserts its own vision of the People's Republic. Some do so out of fascination, others out of dread." Noting differences on moral areas like religious freedom and population control, he advises "we must not only understand why each side feels as it does, but what it is and isn't actually doing and what the real — as opposed to the imagined — consequences of what it is doing are likely to be."[40]

Publications

  • Arts of Power: Statecraft and Diplomacy, U.S. Institute of Peace Press, Washington, D.C., 1997.
  • The Diplomat's Dictionary, Second Edition, revised, U.S. Institute of Peace Press, Washington, D.C. 1997 (full text).

References

  1. ^ a b Charles W. Freeman, Jr., Message from Charles Freeman, Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2009. Freeman, Charles. Message from Charles Freeman. The Wall Street Journal. 2009-03-11. URL:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123672847973688515.html. Accessed: 2009-03-11. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5fCJmmtuM) Please note that the short ("opaque") form of the WebCite® URL should be used only in addition to citing the original URL in your bibliographic reference. Alternatively, please use the "transparent" (but very long!) WebCite® URL: http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB123672847973688515.html&date=2009-03-11
  2. ^ "Nominee Ends Bid for Key Job in Intelligence" article by Mark Mazzetti in The New York Times March 10, 2009
  3. ^ a b c d Richard H. Curtiss, Personality: Charles W. Freeman US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April 1991, 57.
  4. ^ a b c Walter Pincus, GOP Senators Question Intelligence Pick's Ties, Washington Post, March 10, 2009; A05.
  5. ^ Biography from the Middle East Policy Council.
  6. ^ Middle East Policy Council "About" page.
  7. ^ a b Lake, Eli, "Foreign ties of nominee questioned", Washington Times, March 5, 2009.
  8. ^ Eric Fingerhut, The Freeman fight: Was it all about Israel?, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 10, 2009.
  9. ^ John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt (2006). "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy". Middle East Policy. XIII (3): 29–87. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4967.2006.00260.x. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Gabriel Schoenfeld, Obama's Intelligence Choice, Wall Street Journal, February 25, 2009.
  11. ^ Biography of Chas W. Freeman. The Globalist. Accessed March 8, 2009.
  12. ^ Ben Smith, Freeman's In, Politico.com, February 26, 2009.
  13. ^ Memorandum from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, February 26, 2009.
  14. ^ Steve J. Rosen, Alarming appointment at the CIA, Middle East Forum, February 19, 2009.
  15. ^ Jeffrey Goldberg, Saudi Advocate to Run the National Intelligence Council?, The Atlantic, February 23, 2009.
  16. ^ Gabriel Schoenfeld, Obama's Intelligence Choice, Wall Street Journal, February 25, 2009.
  17. ^ Michael Goldfarb in The Realist Chas Freeman, Weekly Standard, February 24, 2009, includes text of email.
  18. ^ Eric Fingerhut, ZOA wants Freeman appointment rescinded, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 25, 2009.
  19. ^ Eric Fingerhunt, Rep. calls for Freeman investigation (UPDATED), Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 28, 2009.
  20. ^ Lake[1]
  21. ^ Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball [2]
  22. ^ Robert Dreyfuss, Chas Freeman for NIC: Lots at Stake, The Nation, February 25, 2009.
  23. ^ David J. Rothkopf, The right choice to be analyst-in-chief, Foreign Policy, February 25, 2009.
  24. ^ Stephen Walt, Have they not a shred of decency?, Foreign Policy, February 28, 2009.
  25. ^ M.J. Rosenberg, Only In America: Steve Rosen, Under Indictment, Leads Fight Against Key Obama Pick, TPMCafe, February 26, 2009.
  26. ^ a b Quoted from October 2007 speech to the Pacific Council on International Policy by Jim Lobe in Amazing Appointment — Chas Freeman as NIC Chairman, Antiwar.com, February 20, 2009.
  27. ^ M.J. Rosenberg, Jonathan Chait And The Usual (Neocon) Suspects, TPMCafe, March 3, 2009.
  28. ^ [[Ben Smith (journalist)|]], Freeman hits 'Israel lobby' on way out, Politico, March 10, 2008
  29. ^ Paul Craig Roberts, Obama's Budget, CounterPunch, March 2, 2009.
  30. ^ Jake Tapper, Blair Defends Chas Freeman to Lieberman, ABC News, March 10, 2009; transcript.
  31. ^ Pamela Hess, Officials: Iran does not have key nuclear material, Associated Press, March 10, 2009.
  32. ^ Embattled top US intel pick Freeman withdraws: official, Agence France-Presse, March 10, 2009.
  33. ^ Aljazeera, [3], aljazeera, March 11, 2009.
  34. ^ "Outspoken former US ambassador quits analyst post" March 10, 2009.
  35. ^ Jennifer Rubin, Re: The Jewish Left Celebrates, Commentary Magazine, February 27, 2009.
  36. ^ "A Shia Crescent: What Fallout for the U.S.?", Middle East Policy Council, October 14, 2005.
  37. ^ http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/02/24/obamas_nic_pick_raises_eyebrows Obama's NIC pick raises eyebrows
  38. ^ Chas W. Freeman, Jr., Remarks to the 14th Annual US-Arab Policymakers Conference, The National Council on US-Arab Relations, September 12, 2005 in Washington, DC.
  39. ^ Chas W. Freeman, Jr., Text of speech "Diplomacy in the Age of Terror", Remarks to the Pacific Council on International Policy at the American Academy of Diplomacy, October 4, 2007, Los Angeles, California.
  40. ^ Chas W. Freeman, China in the Times to Come, The Globalist, May 21, 2007.
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