US should pull out of Iraq now says former CIA chief John Deutch

[Theregular]

WASHINGTON (AFX) - The US should cut its losses, pull out of Iraq promptly and never again use its military might to build a nation according to its own values, former CIA chief John Deutch wrote in The New York Times.

US military presence in Iraq is harming US interests in the Arab world, detracts attention from other 'important security challenges... North Korea, Iran and international terrorism,' and weakens the US military, said Deutch, who before heading the Central Intelligence Agency (1995-1996) was deputy defenCe secretary (1994-1995).

'Those who argue that we should 'stay the course' because an early withdrawal... would hurt America's global credibility must consider the possibility that we will fail in our objectives in Iraq and suffer an even worse loss of credibility down the road,' he said.

'I do not believe that we are making progress on any of our key objectives in Iraq,' he said, adding that even when the Iraqi government appears to be functioning, 'the underlying destabilizing effect of the insurgency is undiminished.'

Deutch's call comes amid plummeting US public support for the war, an insurgency which sees a daily death toll hitting Iraqi civilians and security personnel alike, and some 1,750 US soldiers dead since March 2003.

However, another recent survey shows that a majority of Americans backed US President George Bush's vow to maintain US troops in Iraq until the country can govern and control itself.

Rather than spend years, money and lives in Iraq to achieve 'minimum conditions for withdrawal' -- security and a representative self-government -- Deutch argues that a quick withdrawal now will avoid a lot of grief to come.

'Our best strategy now is a prompt withdrawal plan consisting of clearly defined political, military and economic elements,' including urging Iraq and its neighbours to recognize that it will be in everyone's interest to allow Iraq to 'evolve peacefully and without external intervention', Deutch said.

http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2005/07/15/afx2140520.html

 

[kurtsprincess]

Perhaps this is why he only lasted for a year as Deputy Defense Secretary (under Clinton - 1994) and only a year as head of CIA (under Clinton - 1995). What is he up to nowadays? Writing his memoirs to support himself.

Gotta tell you.......all the anti-Bush novels are selling like hotcakes, so if I were going to be a political pundit or novelist, I would write anything I could negative about the current Administration. Liberals are eating it up like candy!!!

 

[CSM]

'Those who argue that we should 'stay the course' because an early withdrawal... would hurt America's global credibility must consider the possibility that we will fail in our objectives in Iraq and suffer an even worse loss of credibility down the road,' he said.

Good Gosh, you mean the possibility of failure should be enough reason not to even try????? If that were true, no great human endeavor would ever get accomplished.

 

[Annie]

http://www.asianam.org/John Deutch.htm

"Senate Looks into Former CIA Head's Pardon," 2/16/01 Dallas Morning News, p. 6A. (Washington Post)
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence launched an inquiry Thursday into former President Bill Clinton's pardon of former CIA chief John Deutch, sending a letter to CIA Director George Tenet to determine whether he or anyone else in U.S. intelligence was consulted.
A senior intelligence official responded Thursday night that no one in the CIA knew of the pardon in advance. The official said that Mr. Deutch's CIA security clearances - suspended in August 1999 as punishment for home computer security violations - have been permanently revoked.
Mr. Clinton pardoned Mr. Deutch on Jan. 20 for mishandling hundreds of highly classified documents on unsecured home computers linked to the internet.
The pardon caught Justice Department officials by surprise. It came less than a day after Mr. Deutch had signed a plea agreement in which he admitted to a misdemeanor and agreed to pay a $5,000 fine.
As a result of the pardon, said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the intelligence committee, "Deutch essentially walked away from what is one of the most egregious cases of mishandling classified information that I have ever seen short of espionage."
Mr. Deutch could not be reached for comment.


"In Final Act, Clinton Issues Pardons," January 20, 2001 Associated Press. Clinton pardons John Deutch but not Wen Ho Lee.

"Prosecutors negotiating to get guilty plea from ex-CIA chief: The deal would have Deutch admit a misdemeanor for keeping U.S. secrets on a home computer," January 20, 2001 Orange County Register (AP)
Prosecutors have offered former CIA Director John M. Deutch a deal under which he would plead guilty to keeping government secrets on unsecured home computers but receive no prison time, officials said Friday.
However, Deutch might be barred from regaining his security
clearances, they added.
Deutch, CIA director from May 1995 to December 1996, stored
and processed hundreds of files of highly classified material on unprotected home computers that he and family members also used
to connect to the Internet, according to an internal CIA investigation. The Defense Department's inspector general found similar conduct during Deutch's prior service at the Pentagon.
Justice Department prosecutors were offering Deutch a deal under which he would plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of
transferring classified information to an unauthorized location,
according to three government officials familiar with the case.
Although that charge carries a top penalty of a $1,000 fine and up
to one year in jail, Deutch would avoid incarceration, the officials
said, requesting anonymity. He also would avoid more serious
felony charges of mishandling government secrets.
Now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Deutch was stripped of his security clearances by CIA director
George Tenet in 1999. As a former deputy defense secretary,
Deutch also had Pentagon clearances, but he gave them up last
year.
Officials said with a guilty plea, Deutch likely would be barred from regaining those clearances and that that had been discussed in the negotiations.
Officials said a deal could be concluded soon but probably not
before the Clinton administration ends today...Lots More...