I think that this is a good thing, for a number of reasons.
Charles Freeman, the Obama administration’s choice to head the National Intelligence Council, has withdrawn from consideration after facing strong opposition from Senate Republicans.
Freeman is the latest in a string of Obama administration appointees and nominees to withdraw in the past few weeks.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told The Hill that Freeman has withdrawn his nomination and that Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair agreed to accept the decision. Blair released a statement late Tuesday announcing Freeman’s decision.
The withdrawal came hours after Freeman agreed to testify before the Senate intelligence panel on Thursday to answer questions raised in recent days. All seven Republicans on the panel had sent a letter to Blair raising concerns about Freeman’s experience and objectivity.
Earlier on Tuesday Feinstein told The HIll she was keeping an open mind on Freeman’s appointment.
“I’ve talked to director Blair about it. Director Blair feels this is not a policy job, that he’s well qualified for what he wants him to do,” Feinstein said. “I feel presidents should have their choice if possible of appointments. I’ve read Mr. Freeman characterized in a number of different of ways. We’d like an opportunity to talk with him and get our own fix on these views. How strongly their held, whether in fact there is bias.”
via TheHill.com – Controversial intelligence pick withdraws.
The reason why I say this, is because of this little quote right here: (H/T HotAir.com)
MR. FREEMAN: 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.
Ed Morrisey provides that perfect reply to this, that I agree with 100%:
Uh, what? Starting in 1993, al-Qaeda conducted a series of attacks on American targets, including the World Trade Center, Khobar Towers, two American embassies in Africa, and the USS Cole. We didn’t attempt to bomb them until 1998, when we missed them entirely, thanks to a collapse in operational security. We didn’t bomb the Saudis or Yemenis at any point, the two nationalities to which Osama bin Laden can lay claim, or Egypt, where Ayman al-Zawahiri was born.
The point is here that this guy was obviously among the anti-Zionist crowd, like these guys here.
Let me be absolutely clear, I am not a huge fan of the Evangelical Zionist crowd; whom are famous for thier doctrinal error and unholy alliances with unbelievers and unsaved, but to have someone who obviously was trying to blame Israel and America for the 9/11 attacks, was not very smart move by the Obama Administration.
So, in this case, yeah, I believe this was a good thing for this clown to remove his name for consideration. Maybe he will get a job with the American Free Press crowd, God knows, that is where he belongs. 🙄
….and before any Conspiracy theory meatballs come in here and try and chide me, feel free, with a push of one button, I can ban your stinking IP address and you won’t even be able to view this blog. So, bring it on boys, I wanna weed out the idiots. 😡
Others: Weekly Standard, Ben Smith’s Blogs, Michelle Malkin, War in Context, The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room, Wall Street Journal, Newshoggers.com, The Strata-Sphere
(Via Memeorandum)