Imperialists and Republicrats Join War Criminal George Shultz for 90th Birthday In SF

Imperialists and Republicrats Join War Criminal George Shultz for 90th Birthday In San Francisco
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/22/DDG01GT8PB.DTL
George Shultz offers plenty to plumb from 90 years

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Not only was the 90th birthday celebration that Protocol Chief Charlotte Shultz hosted Dec. 13 for her hubby, former Secretary of State George Shultz, hands down the party of the year, but it also deftly told the tale of Shultz's nine storied decades.

"Henry (Kissinger) thought it was the best ever," Charlotte Shultz said. "But it wasn't the party, it was the subject. George has given us 90 wonderful years to work with."

Scholar, statesman, hero, gentleman, family man, diplomat, friend and Marine, Shultz, among his many postings, has served in three U.S. secretary positions (State, Treasury, Labor) and ranks as the nation's third-longest-serving secretary of state (and possibly its most dapper).

So some 300 family, friends and colleagues turned out at a private club to celebrate him as his wife, resplendent in a red gown, led the troops to dinner with a surprise assist from the 1st Marine Division Band at Camp Pendleton.

While the guest list was heady stuff (and we'll get to that in a minute), the evening was filled with warmth, laughter and Charlotte Shultz's signature down-home hospitality.

"It's probably no secret that I like parties," she said, kicking off the festivities. "My criteria is a party should be for a friend, have a theme and be a celebration of that person. Well, this one was a piece of cake.

"George is my best friend. It helps if you give a party for a friend that you either like or love," she continued, her voice filled with emotion. "And I love this friend."

Peter Duchin and his orchestra kept the dance floor hopping. Charlie Rose convened a star-studded Shultz tribute panel. Designer Stanlee Gatti created a glowing, golden-hued atmosphere filled with urns of white Polo roses, illuminated globe centerpieces, gold-embroidered linen napkins, and personalized guest gift bags filled with Shultz's books, his PBS special and a photo tribute created by Shultz's assistant, Susan Southworth.

And "Beach Blanket Babylon" producer Jo Schuman Silver dreamed up detailed, toe-tapping, big-hatted musical skits of Shultz's life, replete with such oversize characters as Margaret Thatcher, Richard Nixon and Mikhail Gorbachev. "With so many politicos here, I was nervous how they'd respond to some of the skits," Schuman admitted. "So it was a relief when I saw (former Secretary of Defense) Donald Rumsfeld laughing his head off."

Among a razzle-dazzle roster of Republican Party pooh-bahs (and a few good Dems): three former secretaries of state - Kissinger, James Baker, Condoleezza Rice; former Defense Secretary William Perry; former Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady; former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker; former Gov. Pete Wilson and former Sen. Sam Nunn.

Other power players on hand: Attorney General-elect Kamala Harris; Lt. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom; Da Mayor Willie Brown; IMG Chairman Teddy Forstmann and N.Y. Times columnist Tom Friedman.

Among our local lights: Betty and Stephen Bechtel Jr.; Ann and Gordon Getty; Helen and Charles Schwab; Dede Wilsey; Joachim and Nancy Bechtle; Kay and Sandy Walker; Ann Caen;Wilkes Bashford; Maryon Davies Lewis; Ret. Gen. Mike Myatt; Harriet Quarre; Cynthia and John Gunn; Barbara and John Callander; Kay and Frank Woods; Debby and Peter Magowan; Genie Callan; Cathie and Pitch Johnson; Sonya Molodetskaya; Ann and Charlie Johnson; Lucy Jewett; T.J. Foster; Barbara and Justice Ron George; Protocol Director Matthew Goudeau; Stephane McKeen; George Fullerton and Paul Pelosi.

Onstage, Rose presided over a panel featuring Baker, Rice, Volcker, Nunn, Perry, former Stanford President Gerhard Casper, Stephen Bechtel, grandchildren Kelly and Tyler Shultz and Kissinger.

"If I had George Shultz as my booker, I'd be better," Rose joked. "And if Charlotte were my producer, I'd have one hell of a program."

Describing Shultz as his role model, Baker enumerated the many ways he emulated his mentor, from Princeton and the Marines to the same governmental postings.

"Now lest any of you think I'm some sort of a sycophantic copycat, I want to tell you there is a limit to what I will do in following my role model," Baker said. "You will never see me with a tattoo on my butt of a Princeton tiger."

Condoleezza Rice spoke of how Shultz's many, successful careers amazed everyone.

"But you really amazed me last year at Cypress Point when you parred 17 and 18, just weeks after you had a hole in one at the San Francisco Golf Club," Rice said. "Now that was amazing."

Within a room filled with impressive titles, Nunn wondered what to call Shultz: Secretary? Professor? Doctor?

"But before he was all those things, George was a Marine. There's an old Army joke, 'What do you call a Marine who can read and write? Commandant,' " Nunn joked. "So I started using the term 'Commandant Shultz.' But everybody thought I was talking about Charlotte. So I think the only thing we can call George is 'Mr. Irreplaceable.' "

Siblings Kelly and Tyler Shultz, both Stanford students, spoke fondly of the many talents they've learned from the man they call "Greatdad": how to wear bow ties, how to dance, how to drive a golf cart faster than a Prius, how to open a door for a lady, how to value family, how to serve and love your country, and how to stay forever young.

Kissinger recalled the dark days of 1973 when a White House lawyer came to him and said, "We're facing a horrendous problem: We're likely to lose the two people who are running the White House."

"I replied, 'Let's call George Shultz.' And that's been my motto for 40 years since," Kissinger said. "He's a man who defines a problem as a duty and resolves it. George is a leader who takes you from where you are to somewhere you've never been."

The rousing "BBB" finale featured guest star Frederica von Stade serenading Shultz with patriotic favorites as SFFD's finest rolled in a many-layered Perfect Endings confection, based on Shultz's mother's beloved spice cake recipe, ablaze with 90 candles and sparklers.

"We'll be sending out 'save the date' cards for 2020," hostess Shultz announced of her husband's 100th. "Dec. 13 will be on a Sunday. But we're going to start at 5 p.m. as the theme will be longer because George will have done so many more things in those years."

Taking the floor, Secretary Shultz was delighted. He paid tribute to his wife and family, which includes 11 grandchildren and his first great-granddaughter, Clara. He spoke eloquently on the country's current problems from the economy and energy to the continued post-Cold War nuclear weapons threat.

"What's so good about a peace kept by the ability to wipe each other out?" he wondered. "It doesn't make any sense. All of these things we're working on, trying to make some kind of contribution as best I can."

Shultz joked that there's something about a 90th birthday that makes people respond by patting the honoree on the head and saying, "Nice game."

"Well, I'm here to tell you, I'm still in the game," Shultz said to wild cheers. "With all my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to take around and all these things to do, life is full and I intend to live it to the hilt."

Chronicle society correspondent Catherine Bigelow's columns appear Wednesday in Datebook, Sunday in Style and at sfgate.com. E-mail her at missbigelow [at] sfgate.com.

Right-wing US group lobbies for war on Iraq
http://wsws.org/articles/2002/nov2002/iraq-n23.shtml


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_for_the_Liberation_of_Iraq
Committee for the Liberation of Iraq
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI) was described as a "non-governmental organization" which described itself as a "distinguished group of Americans" who wanted to "free Iraq from Saddam Hussein". In a news release announcing its formation, the group said its goal was to "promote regional peace, political freedom and international security through replacement of the Saddam Hussein regime with a democratic government that respects the rights of the Iraqi people and ceases to threaten the community of nations." It had close links to the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), important shapers of the Bush administration's foreign policy.
The Washington Post reported in November 2002 that "the organization is modeled on a successful lobbying campaign to expand the NATO alliance. Members include former secretary of state George P. Shultz, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former senator Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.). ... While the Iraq committee is an independent entity, committee officers said they expect to work closely with the administration. They already have met with Hadley and Bush political adviser Karl Rove. Committee officers and a White House spokesman said Rice, Hadley and Cheney will soon meet with the group." [1]
With the successful removal of Saddam Hussein, the committee appears to have disbanded, and its once-prominent website no longer exists. However, its offices still remain on Pennsylvania Avenue and 10th Street.
The film Syriana portrays a similar group, using the same initials, but bearing the name 'Committee for the Liberation of Iran'.
[edit]Personnel

Mahdi Al-Bassam, Iraq Liberation Action Committee
Evan Bayh, U.S. Senator (honorary co-chair) [2]
Barry Blechman, DFI International
Eliot Cohen, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Thomas A. Dine, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, former Director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee pro-Israel lobbying group
General Wayne Downing, U.S. Army (retired), has been a lobbyist for the Iraqi National Congress
Rend al-Rahim Francke, Iraq Foundation
Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
Lt. General Buster Glosson, U.S. Air Force (retired)
James P. Hoffa, International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Bruce P. Jackson, chairman, is the former vice president of weapons contractor Lockheed Martin. He also chaired the Republican Party Platform's subcommittee for National Security and Foreign Policy whenGeorge W. Bush ran for president in 2000.
Howell Jackson, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Robert Kerrey, former U.S. Senator
Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, American Enterprise Institute
William Kristol, Weekly Standard, chairman of the Project for the New American Century
Bernard Lewis, Princeton University
Joseph Lieberman, U.S. Senator (honorary co-chair)
General Barry McCaffrey, U.S. Army (retired); former U.S. "drug czar"
John McCain, U.S. Senator (honorary co-chair)
Will Marshall, Progressive Policy Institute
Jonathan Pallant, Exeter University
Richard Perle, former Assistant Secretary of Defense, co-founder of the Project for the New American Century
Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institute
Randy Scheunemann, CLI's executive director, is former chief national-security adviser to U.S. Senator Trent Lott who has also worked for Donald Rumsfeld as a consultant on Iraq policy. While working for Lott in 1998, Scheunemann drafted the "Iraq Liberation Act" that authorized $98 million for the Iraqi National Congress.
Gary Schmitt is executive director of the Project for the New American Century
George P. Shultz, Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan
Richard Shultz, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Steve Solarz, former Member of Congress
Ruth Wedgwood, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Leon Wieseltier, The New Republic
Chris Williams, Johnston and Associates
R. James Woolsey, former CIA Director
Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of Sweden, and current Swedish minister for Foreign Affairs[1]
Right-wing US group lobbies for war on Iraq
Colonial conquest in the name of "liberation"
By Bill Vann
23 November 2002
Faced with mounting public unease and outright opposition to its preparations for an unprovoked invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration and its right-wing supporters have cobbled together a front group whose aim is to convince Americans that war is necessary to “liberate” the Iraqi people.
Members of the so-called Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI) met November 15 with President Bush’s national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and the group says it will mount “education and advocacy efforts to mobilize US and international support” for “freeing the Iraqi people from tyranny.”
A review of the CLI’s key members makes clear that it is the creature of a right-wing clique that has played a predominant role in Republican Party politics since the days of the Reagan administration. Twenty years ago, essentially the same personnel formed similar fronts: Friends of the Democratic Center in Central America (Prodemca)—to support the US-backed “contra” terrorist war against Nicaragua and promote the dictatorship in El Salvador, and the Committee for the Present Danger—to advocate the notion of a “winnable” nuclear war against the former Soviet Union.
The core of the CLI is drawn from the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a right-wing Washington think tank. Its chairman is Bruce Jackson, who is also one of the directors of PNAC. Jackson, a Reagan-era Pentagon official, left government to take a top post at the arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin. He was also a leading figure in the drafting of the Republican Party’s national security platform in the 2000 election.
The Iraq committee’s secretary is Gary Schmitt, a former Reagan White House intelligence advisor who holds the post of executive director of PNAC. CLI’s president is Randy Scheunemann, likewise a leading figure in PNAC, who previously worked as Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott’s national security advisor and served last year as a consultant on Iraq to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Other prominent Republicans who played a role in founding PNAC in 1997 were Vice President Richard Cheney and his national security adviser, I. Lewis Libby, together with Rumsfeld and four of his top aides, including Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and US Defense Policy Board Chairman Richard Perle.
The PNAC group came to power along with the Bush White House, having developed over the course of a decade detailed plans for a US invasion of Iraq that had nothing to do with the rights of the Iraqi people and everything to do with consolidating US control over the oil-rich Persian Gulf.
In September 2000, PNAC drafted a report entitled “Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century.” Many of the conceptions advanced in this document were reproduced, in some cases nearly word for word, in the “National Security Strategy of the United States,” issued last September by the Bush administration.
Both documents assert the right of the US to attack any country it chooses and carry out “preemptive” strikes to prevent the emergence of rivals to its military, economic and political dominance worldwide or in any given region.
The PNAC document states in part: “The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.”
What is the substance of this “need”? The authors of the document—some of whom now direct the Pentagon and play influential roles within the Bush administration, while others masquerade as the “Committee for the Liberation of Iraq”—declared that the conquest of Iraq was aimed at producing “a global security order that is uniquely friendly to American principles and prosperity,” and “an international security environment conducive to American interests and ideals.”
In short, the document advocates the use of US military superiority to seize by force whatever US corporations and banks desire, including Iraqi oil.
In one of the more chilling sections of the document, PNAC urges Washington to ignore the international ban on biological weapons and move ahead to develop “new methods of attack.” It looks forward to a new era in which “advanced forms of biological warfare that can ‘target’ specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool.”
In other words, a scientifically perfected form of race war could become an instrument of imperialist conquest. Were such a weapon available today, it could presumably be used to “liberate” Iraq by murdering its entire Arab population while leaving US troops and the country’s oilfields unscathed.
PNAC’s offspring, the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, performs a secondary function of backing one faction in the conflict within the Bush administration over the role to be played by the so-called Iraqi opposition. This fractious coalition of royalists, political opportunists, crooked businessmen and ex-military commanders hopes to reenter Baghdad in the wagon train of a US invasion.
The leading figures within the CLI back the position of the civilian leadership of the Pentagon, which calls for the Iraqi National Congress and allied organizations to be set up as a provisional government once US troops have occupied the country. Both the State Department and the CIA have reportedly opposed the plan, insisting that there is no base of support for these elements and that installing them in power would result only in civil war.
According to press reports, this internecine debate has become so poisoned that a rule has been established that no US meeting can take place with the Iraqi exiles unless officials from both the State and Defense departments are present.
In addition to the usual suspects from the inbred world of neo-conservative think tanks and Republican Party platform committees, the membership of the CLI includes two figures worth noting. The first is the former Democratic Senator from Nebraska and current president of the New School for Social Research in New York, Bob Kerrey. The second is the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), James P. Hoffa.
The participation of Kerrey in an organization run by leading Republican operatives might, on first sight, appear odd. His preoccupation with the Iraq issue, however, dates back to his tenure in the Senate.
Kerrey was one of the most prominent Democrats to join with Republicans Trent Lott and Jesse Helms in pushing through the Iraq Liberation Act in 1998, which set “regime change” as the policy of the US government and funneled some $98 million into the coffers of the Iraqi National Congress.
In September, Kerrey wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journalentitled “Finish the war. Liberate Iraq. We’ve already invaded. Now Saddam must go.” His essential argument was that a US war to conquer the country would be cheaper than continuing the low-level air war over the so-called “no-fly zones” and the surrounding of Iraq by military deployments in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf.
Kerrey dragged out the allegation that the reputed ringleader of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Mohammed Atta, had met with an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague. In fact, intelligence officials in both the US and the Czech Republic have repeatedly dismissed this story as a fabrication.
Kerrey’s presence on the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq gives some indication of the kind of “liberation” the US is planning for the Iraqi people. The former senator stands accused by the government of Vietnam of “war atrocities” in 1969, when, as a Navy lieutenant, he led a squad of SEAL commandos into a hamlet in the Mekong Delta and carried out the massacre of 21 women, children and elderly men.
The war criminal, turned senator, turned university president has no doubt joined the CLI as part of his preparations to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. He is promoting himself as a foreign policy “hawk” in an effort to win the support of the more right-wing sections of the party.
As for Hoffa, his interest in the fate of the Iraqi people is something new, but he is a man who knows something about “regime change.” Over the past two years he has cultivated close relations with the Bush White House in an effort to end 13 years of federal oversight of the Teamsters union. Last January he was a guest of honor at Bush’s “axis of evil” State of the Union address, sitting beside Laura Bush.
When the administration announced its TIPS program—a proposal to recruit postal workers, meter readers and other civilians as spies in the “war on terrorism”—Hoffa boasted that the 500,000 Teamsters truckers would serve as the “eyes and ears” of the Bush administration on the nation’s roadways.
These then are the self-appointed liberators of Iraq—advocates of imperialist aggression and germ warfare, former war criminals and corrupt union bureaucrats. Nothing could provide a clearer indication of the criminal character of the war of aggression that Washington is preparing.