(Wall Street Journal) James Taranto - Remember Michael Scheuer, the former CIA analyst who penned an anonymous book called Imperial Hubris attacking the Bush administration's approach to terrorism. Last week Scheuer turned up as a speaker at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, with Nick Lemann, dean of the Columbia University journalism school, acting as master of ceremonies. Scheuer elaborated on his theory about Israel's role on fomenting terror: Scheuer: "I always have thought that there's nothing too dangerous to talk about in America, that there shouldn't be anything. And it happens that Israel is the one thing that seems to be too dangerous to talk about. And I wrote in my book that I congratulate them. It's probably the most successful covert action program in the history of man to control - the important political debate in a country of 270 million people is an extraordinary accomplishment. I wish our clandestine service could do as well." "The clandestine aspect is that, clearly, the ability to influence the Congress - that's a clandestine activity, a covert activity. You know to some extent, the idea that the Holocaust Museum here in our country is another great ability to somehow make people feel guilty about being the people who did the most to try to end the Holocaust. I just find the whole debate in the United States unbearably restricted with the inability to factually discuss what goes on between our two countries." So let's see if we have this straight: The Council on Foreign Relations gives a public forum, hosted by a dean from an Ivy League university, to a guy who expounds crackpot theories about "clandestine" Jewish efforts to control America - including the Holocaust Museum! - and the "debate" is "unbearably restricted"?
2005-02-11 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive