TO GIVE HIM HIS DUE...:

Lawmaker Criticizes Pick for a Key Intelligence Post (SIOBHAN GORMAN, 3/04/09, WSJ)

The ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee called on the Obama administration to withdraw its pick for the top intelligence analyst post. [...]

He has stirred controversy with several statements, including one in which he said the Chinese government acted too slowly to crack down on protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Mr. Freeman has also criticized American policies supporting Israel. [...]

Mr. Freeman is president of the nonprofit Middle East Policy Council, which he said in a 2006 interview with a Saudi media outlet owes its endowment to the "generosity of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia." That donation was $1 million, according to a Middle Eastern news service, Zawya. Several lawmakers have questioned whether the relationship suggests a conflict of interest. [...]

Another of Mr. Freeman's comments that has drawn attention is a speech from 2002, in which he criticized "America's lack of introspection after September 11." He added, "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."

He appears to be an equal opportunity hater, what with opposing Israel, blaming America, and wanting the Chinese oppressed.

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Posted by Orrin Judd at March 4, 2009 12:07 PM