corrente

Randy Scheunemann past - and present

Josh Marshall (Talking Points Memo):

Do Your Job: Stop Ignoring Scheunemann's Past

[...] it's time for some coverage of the guy who's McCain's brain on Iraq. Remember, McCain's pitch on Iraq is that he was a critic of Bush, not a supporter, on the poor decisions and lies that got us into the current mess. In the McCain paradigm, he starts fresh with the 'surge'. That's where he takes ownership, as it were, of Iraq.

But look who's advising him on Iraq, who's crafting Iraq policy. That would be Randy Scheunemann, McCain's top foreign policy advisor. And he's the guy who today accused Barack Obama of wanting to lead America to defeat in Iraq for political gain.

Scheunemann was a core participant in the lobbying, plotting and organized campaigns of deception that led America to war in Iraq. He was a close collaborator with Ahmad Chalabi through the 1990s. He helped draft the Iraq Liberation Act, which created the new funding stream for Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress. At the start of the Bush administration he signed on as Don Rumsfeld's 'consultant' on Iraq at the Pentagon. And then when the administration started cranking up the machinery for the propaganda campaign in favor of war he went back on the outside to form and lead the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, to lead the press and lobbying campaign to make sure the war got started on schedule.

[...] Scheunemann worked closely with Chalabi for years in his efforts to get the US into war with Iraq. He was also a go-between between Chalabi and McCain. Now that he's taking such a high-profile role on the Iraq issue in the 2008, Scheunemann's history with Chalabi and the use of bogus intelligence to get the nation into war is unquestionably highly newsworthy.

[PAST]: Scheunemann was a board member and "project director" for PNAC (Project for the New American Century).

[PRESENT]: He is currently listed as a member of The Committe on the Present Danger ("third incarnation") .

Sen. Joe Lieberman is current CPD Honorary Co-Chairman. The reborn CPD (2004) is a who's who of the usual neo-conservative boosteroos and war mongers. From Frank Gaffney to Midge Decter to Newt Gingrich, Normon Podhoretz, Daniel Pipes, James Woolsey, Laurie Mylroie, Edwin Meese and on and on. All the crazies in one big dangerous nuthole.

Take a look: current CPD Members - because these are going to be the people running and influencing our foreign policy (again!) if John McCain is elected in November.

McBush/McCheney/McSame/McCain = Thats a train that must be derailed, and ...

"decommissioned and sent to the scrap heap"
(thanks to pansy in comments for that additional insight).

*