Glenn Greenwald: The sleazy advocacy of a leading "liberal hawk"

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/11/12/galbraith#story_full_86f3b994cf0a21be07c1966badd632b7

The sleazy advocacy of a leading "liberal hawk"
Peter Galbraith's vast, undisclosed financial interests in the policies he spent years advocating as an "expert."
By Glenn Greenwald


The New York Times today details the unbelievably sleazy story of Peter Galbraith, one of the Democratic Party's leading so-called "liberal hawks" and a generally revered Wise Man of America's Foreign Policy Community. He was Ambassador to Croatia under the Clinton administration in the mid-1990s and, in March, 2009, the Obama administration (specifically, Richard Holbrooke, Galbraith's mentor) successfully pressured the U.N. to name Galbraith as the second-in-command in Afghanistan. The NYT does a good job today of adding some important details to the story, but it was actually uncovered by Norwegian investigative journalists and reported at length a month ago in pieces such as this one by Helana Cobban. In essence, this highly Serious man has corruptly concealed vast financial stakes in the very policies and positions he has spent years advocating while pretending to be an independent expert.

Galbraith was one of the most vocal Democratic supporters of the attack on Iraq, having signed a March 19, 2003 public letter (.pdf) -- along with the standard cast of neocon war-lovers such as Bill Kristol, Max Boot, Danielle Pletka, and Robert Kagan -- stating that "we all join in supporting the military intervention in Iraq" and "it is now time to act to remove Saddam Hussein and his regime from power." As intended, that letter was then praised by outlets such as The Washington Post Editorial Page, gushing that "foreign policy thinkers, veterans of both Democratic and Republican administrations, has signed on to a statement of policy on Iraq that makes sense on the war." Throughout 2002 and 2003, Galbraith appeared in numerous outlets -- including repeatedly on Fox News and with Bill O'Reilly -- presenting himself as a loyal Democrat firmly behind the invasion of Iraq. In 2002, he was an adviser to Paul Wolfowitz on Kurdistan.

After playing a key role in enabling the invasion of Iraq, Galbraith first became one of a handful of U.S. officials who worked on writing the Iraqi Constitution, and after he resigned from the government, he then ran around posing as an independent expert on the region and, specifically, an adviser to the Kurds on the Constitution. Galbraith was an ardent and vocal advocate for Kurdish autonomy, arguing tirelessly in numerous venues for such proposals -- including in multiple Op-Eds for The New York Times -- and insisting that Kurds must have the right to control oil resources located in Northern Iraq. Throughout the years of writing those Op-Eds, he was identified as nothing more than "a former United States ambassador to Croatia," except in one 2007 Op-Ed which vaguely stated that he "is a principal in a company that does consulting in Iraq and elsewhere." When he participated in a New York Times forum in October, 2008, regarding what the next President should be required to answer, he unsurprisingly posed questions that advocated for regional autonomy for Iraqis generally and Kurds specifically, and he was identified as nothing more than the author of a book about the region.

snip//

Here we have yet another example of one of America's most Serious and respected "experts" advocating various policies while maintaining huge, undisclosed financial and personal interests in his advocacy. He was given access to every major media outlet virtually on demand to do so -- the NYT, The Washington Post, NPR, CNN, Fox -- all while those interests remained concealed. His uniting with the country's most extreme neocons to support the Bush administration's attack on Iraq didn't prevent the Obama administration from pushing him to be hired as the U.N.'s number two official in Afghanistan. He continued to be revered by leading establishment Democrats as an important and respected expert. In other words, Peter Galbraith is a perfect face showing how America's Foreign Policy Community and our political debates function.

[trumad]

1. The "we invaded them to take their oil" crowd...

were 100 percent right. Period!

[ShortnFiery]

2. *Liberal Hawk* is a contradiction in terms. n/t

[bertman]

3. While I don't agree with that, ShortnFiery, I understand your sentiment. I'm about as

liberal as one can be, but I was a hawk on invading Afghanistan. Regarding Iraq, I was a dove.

But what is truly SHAMEFUL is that Galbraith has been portrayed as an independent analyst. Just one more piece of evidence that goes toward convicting the Democratic Party as being just the other wing of the MONEY PARTY.

Thanks for posting this, babylonsister.

Recommend.

[Daveparts still]

4. Exactly

True Liberals are anti-war, it is part and parcel of the identity crisis going on in the Democratic party. Pro-life Democrats, "New" Democrats, "Blue dog" Democrats, Conservative Democrats and Liberal Hawk Democrats are in reality moderate Republicans.

[DemReadingDU]

5. yes, how true that is