A furious battle has been going on over the last couple of weeks about the appointment of Ambassador Charles Freeman to head the office of the NIC, the entity that writes our country's National Intelligence Estimate. He has withdrawn his name apparently under pressure and/or rejection by the Obama Administration and/or Rahm Emanuel and certainly through the complaints of New York's senior senator Charles Schumer (D.-NY) and other members of Congress.In case you've missed all of this:Here is Freeman's statement about his withdrawal, the tone of which suggests he would have been the perfect person to oversee and write the estimates that guide our government's foreign policy.http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/03/10/freeman_speaks_out_on_his_exitA portion of his statement:"There is a special irony in having been accused of improper regard for the opinions of foreign governments and societies by a group so clearly intent on enforcing adherence to the policies of a foreign government in this case, the government of
Margaret O’Brien Steinfels is a former editor of Commonweal.
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