As one of the few people who sees the most sensitive intelligence, it is noteworthy when Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the new Intelligence Committee chairman, back-hands this momma's boy from Connecticut named George W. Bush. We should take notice because it is in the context of the military buildup in the Gulf in regards to Iran, Patriot missile units deployed, two aircraft carriers, and a hostile neo-con in the WH.
He lays it on the line:
Rockefeller was biting in his criticism of how Bush has dealt with the threat of Islamic radicalism since the Sept. 11 attacks, saying he believed that the campaign against international terrorism was "still a mystery" to the president. "I don't think he understands the world," Rockefeller said. "I don't think he's particularly curious about the world. I don't think he reads like he says he does." [Link]
And he doesn't spare Bush's neo-con puppetmasters either:
Rockefeller said he believed President Bush was getting poor advice from advisers who argue that an uncompromising stance toward the regime in Tehran will serve U.S. interests. "I don't think that policymakers in this administration particularly understand Iran," he said.
The comments of Rockefeller reflect the mounting concerns being voiced by other influential Democrats, including the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, about the Bush administration's approach to Iran. The Democrats have warned that the administration is moving toward a confrontation with Iran when the United States has neither the military resources nor the support among U.S. allies and members of Congress to carry out such a move.
As one of only a handful of lawmakers with access to the most classified intelligence about the threat from Tehran, Rockefeller's views carry particular weight. He has also historically been more tempered in his criticism of the White House on national security issues than some of his Democratic colleagues.
Compare this to Rockefeller's restraint while discussing Bush's illegal databasing of hundreds of thousands of American's phone calls...
Not curious about the world? Doesn't understand the world? Doesn't read?
Just... wow.
That sounds like an elder statesman slapping down a petulant little child rather than discussing the aptitude of the president of the United States....
Update Good comment by MLDB:
A supplemental for this article
An ex-State Department speechwriter today told the Wall Street Journal that his former boss Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lacked a clear understanding of modern Middle Eastern history.
and
"The administration's reservoir of historical analogies seems limited to the 1914-1991 period. And it's all about Europe," said Adam Garfinkle, a former Rice speechwriter who edits the foreign-policy journal The American Interest. "No one in a senior position in this administration seems to have even the vaguest notion of modern Middle Eastern history."
A few more highlights can be found here
Ignorance kills