Douglas Feith Death Watch: Day 1

[weldon_berger]

How long will Doug Feith last?

He's already under fire from congressional Republicans looking for someone to blame for the pre-war intelligence fiascos, and apparently the Department of Defense was not especially impressed either by the memo he wrote or the leaking of it to the Weekly Standard.

This sure seems like a desperate attempt on Feith's part, with the help of long-time friend and Standard editor Bill Kristol, to save Feith's job. I think it's doomed—in fact I think it has probably accelerated the process—and I'm guessing that Feith won't last much past Christmas.

The really pathetic aspect of the whole affair is that the members of their little club still apparently believe all the Ahmad Chalabi fairy tales Feith collected and passed along to the White House.

As noted elsewhere, the Washington Post already has a Walter Pincus article up in which the ubiquitous senior administration official said the memo "summarized raw intelligence reports but did not analyze them or address their accuracy."

So: any bets? When will Feith be gone, and will he take anyone else down with him?

[E_Zapata]

1. Dang......I thought he was terminally ill by your thread title.......

oh well.....

I wish god would lighten the load of fascists.

No bets here......these dudes don't seem to go away; they just reincarnate into something else........

Welcome to DU!

[weldon_berger]

4. I really do think he's toast.

He's already taking flack from a number of congresscritters, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone tries to pin the leak directly on him; everyone is aware of his relationship with Kristol and I can't imagine that the Standard would have run the piece without clearing it with Feith. Actually, I'd be surprised if the memo didn't arrive at the magazine with the sexy parts hi-lited. Plus this is such a transparently self-serving leak, which won't go over well with Mistress Rove and his team of enforcers.

One can hope, anyway.

[ShaneGR]

2. My take on general public opinion

All of these revelations will simply be piling on. By next summer the Bush Administration will be seen as nothing more than a pathetic foreign policy failure who have gotten us into an unwinnable war.

In history, they will be remembered for incompetance and secrecy.

[weldon_berger]

6. $200 million can buy a lot of amnesia,

so I'm not as hopeful that the true nature of our circumstances will sink in. I just think Feith has wandered into a thresher.

[punpirate]

3. Feith, like his ideological clone,

John Bolton, will survive, simply because the press will refrain from revealing him to be the idiot with an agenda that he is.

This latest gaffe is all part of continuing attempts to skew the news in favor of Cheney and his continuing assertions that the White House was right about Saddam Hussein all along. The operative word here is repetition--repeat lies often enough that they are believed as truth. Wear down the public with lies and they will eventually believe them. It worked before... why shouldn't it work now? So goes the strategy.

Cheers.

[weldon_berger]

5. Too many people out for blood, I think.

He's so closely identified with the Chalabi intelligence fiascos, and so many Republicans are so desperate to find a scapegoat for the "post-war" mess, and the memo, a national security violation, went to press on the same day as 17 troops died in the helicopter crash ... pretty steep odds. I hope, anyway. Pick 'em off one at a time.

[Merlin]

7. No way they will jettison him. Bush has no shame.

Firing Feith would be an admission of error in Iraq. The shrubbies will never open that door. It would be the first step in a downward spiral for the neocons. With him gone, the focus would shift to Dumsfeld, Wolfowitz, etc.

The ideological fervor of this misadministration will keep these clods in place throughout the election cycle. That means they will remain sitting ducks for us.

[Snellius]

8. The DoD rebuke was surprisingly quick, short, and stern

The DoD doesn't normally respond to such stories so vehemently. It seems that Rummy (Wolfie?) himself may have authorized this press release, directly following Bush's strict orders - after the Plame affair - to plug intelligence leaks.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 15, 2003

DoD Statement on News Reports of al-Qaida and Iraq Connections

News reports that the Defense Department recently confirmed new information with respect to contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq in a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee are inaccurate.
...
Individuals who leak or purport to leak classified information are doing serious harm to national security; such activity is deplorable and may be illegal."

http://www.dod.mil/releases/2003/nr20031115-0642.html

[UTUSN]

9. Well, He *Has* Been Fired Before...

******QUOTE*****

http://new.globalfreepress.com/NeoCons/03/07/27/2225247.shtml

.... During the first Reagan Administration, Feith served under Richard Allen on the White House National Security staff. It was Allen who reportedly gave Israel the "green light" to undertake its devastating 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

When Allen was replaced at the White House by William Clark, Feith was fired from his post. There were allegations, at the time, of his bias toward and involvement with Israel. ....

*****UNQUOTE****

[UTUSN]

10. Faux Is Still Flogging the FEITH Memo Sunday Morn

The reporter has this sheepish look while he reads off yesterday's copy, adding that this memo was "vetted by FOUR (count'em, 4) intelligence officers". Didn't hear a mention of the DoD.