by Paul Smith
The Obama administration has named Charles “Chas” Freeman as chairman of the National Intelligence Council, the organization responsible for compiling intelligence from 16 different government agencies to produce National Intelligence Estimates.
The right-wing is up in arms about Freeman’s appointment due to his previous statements expressing some tepid solidarity with Palestinian issues. He was also the US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1989-1992, and since that time, some claim he has lobbied to Washington on behalf of the Saudi royal family.
However, some news has recently surfaced which should render Freeman completely unfit to hold any position in American government.
It has come out that in 2006, Freeman sent a message as a part of a group email discussion expressing his feelings on the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989, and his remarks are nothing short of shocking and despicable.
For those unfamiliar, the Tiananmen Square Massacre was the violent culmination and crackdown of student protests in China during the summer of 1989 by the Chinese military.
The protests, led mainly by students and intellectual dissidents, were non-violent demonstrations which called for more democratic measures to be taken by the Chinese government along with a better adherence to issues of human rights.
The largest of the protests took place in Tiananmen Square, the large plaza in China’s capital city of Beijing. After the demonstrations lasted for seven weeks and attracted hundreds of thousands of protesters, the Chinese government sent in the military to put an end to it.
The result, according to the Chinese Red Cross, was 2,600 dead civilians and thousands more injured.
Many may remember the iconic image of the man fearlessly standing before the row of tanks on the day after the massacre.
So, what did Freeman have to say about this horrific incident? Here are a couple of gems from Freeman’s message:
“… the truly unforgivable mistake of the Chinese authorities was the failure to intervene on a timely basis to nip the demonstrations in the bud …”
“… [the] response to the mob scene at Tiananmen stands as a monument to overly cautious behavior on the part of the leadership, not as an example of rash action.”
“I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be. Such folk, whether they represent a veterans’ ‘Bonus Army’ or a ‘student uprising’ on behalf of ‘the goddess of democracy’ should expect to be displaced with dispatch from the ground they occupy. I cannot conceive of any American government behaving with the ill-conceived restraint that the Zhao Ziyang administration did in China, allowing students to occupy zones that are the equivalent of the Washington National Mall and Times Square …”
Wow… just wow. Apparently in Freeman’s mind, having the military kill thousands of its own citizens staging a nonviolent protest is an example of “overly cautious behavior” and showing “ill-conceived restraint.”
The only logical inference one can gather from Freeman’s half-cocked ramblings is that he seems to think the real mistake the Chinese government made in 1989 was not killing more people more quickly.
Freeman also seems to express his disdain for the US Constitution, and that pesky First Amendment which guarantees “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
I suppose Freeman thinks the proper response to the Million Man March in 1995 or the Vietnam protests of the 60’s and 70’s would have been to send the National Guard in guns blazing.
And this was not some drunken off-the-cuff remark Freeman made 20 years ago, this was something he wrote (presumably sober) less than three years ago.
Get this man out of my government immediately.
I don’t need to know anything more about him. I don’t care if he proves to be the most brilliant statesman of his generation. His remarks on this issue are absolutely reprehensible.
I am not typically fond of the “gotcha” game in American politics which culls some obscure old quote someone said out of context to try and ruin his career.
This is not “gotcha.” This is gravely serious.
Get this man out of my government.
June 4th of this year will mark the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.