And there was much wailing in Riyadh

Tienanmen Massacre defender Charles Freeman has withdrawn his name as the Obama Administration’s nominee to head the National Intelligence Council. Freeman’s nomination did not require Senate confirmation. As he withdrew, Freeman blamed “the Israel lobby” for spiking his prospects, and while it’s apparent that friends of Israel like Sen. Charles Schumer weren’t fond of Freeman, the decisive veto came from Nancy Pelosi because of Freeman’s extreme apologist views for the Chinese regime’s atrocities. The Washington Post later editoralized that Freeman had been “a poor choice” and affirmed my own criticism that Freeman would politicize the analysis of intelligence, only in a way that, say, Dick Cheney’s critics might approve:

Crackpot tirades such as his have always had an eager audience here and around the world. The real question is why an administration that says it aims to depoliticize U.S. intelligence estimates would have chosen such a man to oversee them. [The Washington Post]

Shortly before Freeman withdrew, the well-connected pro-appeasement graybeard Chris Nelson alleged that Freeman’s words were taken “out of context” and that it was “a lie … no other word for it” to suggest that Freeman had defended the massacre. Well, then, let’s have some more context:

For myself, I side on this — if not on numerous other issues — with Gen. Douglas MacArthur. 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 despatch from the ground they occupy. [The Weekly Standard]

It’s one thing to hug pandas, but it’s downright unnatural to fellate them.

You remember Nelson, right? He writes a pay subscription e-mail newsletter that puts a heavy emphasis on Korea policy. Readers have forwarded me copies on occasion, and while there’s no questioning Nelson’s connections, it’s always a chore slogging through his palsied, overwritten pose and wince-inducing logic (oh, how I sacrifice for you). During leftist President Roh Moo Hyun’s tenure, Nelson had a cozy relationship with the South Korean government. Like many people in this town, I had no idea who Chris Nelson even was until he accidentally sent this “Special Report For The Embassy Of The Republic Of South Korea Players On Korea Policy In Washington, D.C.” to everyone on the address list for his news letter. The “Special Report” contained such cringers as calling one House member “a blow-hard who wastes everyone’s time.” Which, I suppose, could fairly describe the majority of them.

By the way, the requires anyone acting “subject to the direction or control of a foreign government or official” to register with the Justice Department. Nelson wasn’t registered then — I’d obtained a copy of the FARA list around that time — but it’s apparent that the FARA is about as strictly enforced in this town as the speed limit on the Beltway, and in any event, the FARA contains a gaping loophole for “legal commercial transaction[s].” Whether the South Koreans paid Nelson anything for his report, I can’t say one way or another.