Michael Ledeen and Karl Rove

Veteran neo-con advisor moves on Iran
By Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON - When The Washington Post published a list of the people whom Karl Rove, President George W Bush's closest advisor, regularly consults for advice outside the administration, foreign policy veterans were shocked when Michael Ledeen popped up as the only full-time international affairs analyst.

"The two met after Bush's election," the Post reported cheerfully, quoting Ledeen about Rove's request that "any time you have a good idea, tell me". "More than once, Ledeen has seen his ideas, faxed to Rove, become official policy or rhetoric," noted the newspaper. "When I saw that, I couldn't believe it," said one retired senior diplomat. "But then again, with this administration, it seemed frighteningly plausible."

(Snip---omitted because of 4-paragraph rule: mention of Ledeen's involvement in "what was the beginning of the Iran-Contra affair".)

He is also close to key figures in the administration, particularly Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Douglas Feith, whose pro-Likud politics he largely shares; Vice President Dick Cheney's powerful chief of staff, I Lewis Libby; and Elliott Abrams, the director for the Near East on the National Security Council. To that list can now apparently be added Rove, who is as close to Bush as it is possible to get.

(snip)

Throughout his career, Ledeen has insisted that war and violence are integral parts of human nature and derided the notion that peace can be negotiated between two nations. He was a fierce opponent of the Oslo peace process. "I don't know of a case in history where peace has been accomplished in any way other than one side winning a war imposing terms on the other side," he said two years ago.

(snip)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EF26Ak03.html

Pardon me for tearing my hair out, but... NO F**KING WONDER this administration just seems to get more and more horrible, in ways that defy even the most pessimistic expectations!

He should be drawn and quartered in a public arena.