More On Freeman
Monday, March 09, 2009 By: RJC Communications Staff
More quotes from Chas Freeman and updates on opposition to his appointment. For background, see
here and
here.
Thanks for Matt Welch at Reason's "Hit and Run" blog for finding a speech Chas Freeman gave at the SAIS China Forum event commemorating the 30th anniversary of Mao's death. Here is a sample of what Freeman had to say about the Chinese dictator who killed millions of his own people:
Mao Zedong had a force and energy which none but men of equally great spiritual conviction could withstand. His animal appetites, we now know, matched his intellectual vigor. He was an object of adulation to his subjects and of mingled admiration and dread to his subordinates and intimates. While Mao lived, the brilliance of his personality illuminated the farthest corners of his country and inspired many would-be revolutionaries and romantics beyond it.
Few indeed loved Chairman Mao's style of governance, but all but a few of those who despised it most loved the People's Republic he had founded more and hated him less than they feared him.
Welch accuses Freeman of "clientitis; it exhibits not a 'startling propensity to speak truth to power' but rather a startling propensity to lob bouquets at dictators."
Freeman's China speech includes descriptions of Mao's charisma and mainland China's peaceful intentions toward Taiwan. It also includes this jaw-dropping paragraph:
China does seem determined to invest in modernizing its still relatively backward armed forces to be able to deter others from attacking it as we and many of its neighbors have in the past. Speculation that China should and will aspire to be a "peer competitor" of the US military is, however, made in the USA, not made in China. Threat analysis is, of course, the mother of all defense spending, and Americans are really good at both. Having a potentially formidable high-tech enemy is a great fund-raiser for the hyper-expensive advanced weaponry our military-industrial complex prefers to make and our armed forces love to employ. And, in all fairness to purveyors of the China threat, China may yet emulate us by developing the means to invade faraway countries and use gunboat diplomacy against them, or actually do both. But back in the real world, so far, it hasn't; and there is no hard evidence that it plans to.
Freeman's comments on China have roused advocates for Chinese human rights to express their opposition to his appointment. The Washington Times noted over the weekend:
Advocates for Chinese human rights are urging President Obama to reject the nomination of Charles W. "Chas" Freeman Jr. as chairman of the National Intelligence Council, citing Mr. Freeman's defense of the Chinese government's crackdown on democracy activists.
The letter challenges the narrative of many of Mr. Freeman's defenders, who argue that pro-Israel groups have sought to torpedo the nomination because Mr. Freeman has criticized Israeli policies and chaired an educational institution that received Saudi funds.
The 87 signatories of the letter to Mr. Obama include several Chinese citizens who participated in the 1989 demonstrations in Tiananman Square, including Dan Wang, Gang Liu and Danxuan Yi.
"Mr. Freeman has a longstanding record of defending China's authoritarian regime," the letter says. "In his view, for example, China's nationwide democracy movement in spring of 1989, which protested government corruption and embraced international norms of human rights, was only the 'propaganda' of 'dissidents.'"
Opposition to Freeman's appointment continues to grow on Capitol Hill as well.
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) has written to the President to express his concerns. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports:
Another member of Congress is going public with his unhappiness about the appointment of Charles "Chas" Freeman as chair of the National Intelligence Council. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) has sent a lengthy letter to President Obama detailing his problems with the appointment. Wolf, a longtime activist on human rights, is particularly upset about Freeman's ties to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation and the regimes that company deals with, and concludes his letter by saying "Mr. Freeman is not the right person for this job and for the good of our country I urge you to reconsider your choice."