30-05-2013, 12:05 AM
Michael Ledeen
Michael Arthur Ledeen (Ph.D.) is considered to be a neo-conservative. Ledeen was a Ronald Reagan appointee and is outspoken on U.S. foreign policy. He worked as a consultant to the National Security Council, Department of State (81-82), and Department of Defense (82-86).
Other Affiliations
"Total War" Advocate
Although many Americans had not heard of Michael Ledeen, a May 9, 2003, Pacific News Service article reported that Ledeen is one of President George W. Bush's "most agressive foreign policymakers."
Ledeen is "a former employee of the Pentagon, the State Department and the National Security Council. As a consultant working with NSC head Robert McFarlane, he was involved in the transfer of arms to Iran during the Iran-Contra affair -- an adventure that he documented in the book Perilous Statecraft: An Insider's Account of the Iran-Contra Affair. His most influential book is last year's [2002] The War Against the Terror Masters: Why It Happened. Where We Are Now. How We'll Win.
"Ledeen's ideas are repeated daily by such figures as Richard Cheney, Donald H. Rumsfeld and Paul Dundes Wolfowitz. His views virtually define the stark departure from American foreign policy philosophy that existed before the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001. He basically believes that violence in the service of the spread of democracy is America's manifest destiny. Consequently, he has become the philosophical legitimator of the American occupation of Iraq."
Ledeen also has called for "regime change beyond Iraq" and believes that it is also "time for a free Iran, free Syria and free Lebanon.'
"With a group of other conservatives, Ledeen recently [2003] set up the Coalition for Democracy in Iran (CDI), an action group focusing on producing regime change in Iran.
"Quotes from Ledeen's works reveal a peculiar set of beliefs about American attitudes toward violence. 'Change -- above all violent change -- is the essence of human history,' he proclaims in his book, Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli's Iron Rules Are as Timely and Important Today as Five Centuries Ago. In an influential essay in the National Review Online [4] he asserts, 'Creative destruction is our middle name. We do it automatically ... it is time once again to export the democratic revolution.'
"Ledeen has become the driving philosophical force behind the neoconservative movement and the military actions it has spawned. His 1996 book, Freedom Betrayed; How the United States Led a Global Domocratic Revolution, Won the Cold War, and Walked Away, reveals the basic neoconservative obsession: the United States never 'won' the Cold War; the Soviet Union collapsed of its own weight without a shot being fired. Had the United States truly won, democratic institutions would be sprouting everywhere the threat of Communism had been rife.
"Consequently, Ledeen has excoriated both the State Department and the United Nations for their preference for diplomatic solutions to conflict; and the CIA for equivocating on evidence that would condemn 'America's enemies' and justify militant action.
"'No one I know wants to wage war on Iran and Syria, but I believe there is now a clear recognition that we must defend ourselves against them,' Ledeen wrote on May 6 in the Toronto Globe and Mail.
"Though he appears on conservative outlets like the Fox television network, Ledeen has not been singled out for much media attention by theBush administration, despite his extensive influence in Washington. His views may be perceived as too extreme for most Americans, who prefer to think of the United States as pursuing violence only when attacked and manifesting primarily altruistic goals toward other nations."
Beliefs
Quote from Foundation for Democracy in Iran web site: 31 Oct. 2001: "American Enterprise Institute scholar Michael Ledeen, writing in theWall Street Journal on Oct. 31, believes the ongoing anti-regime demonstrations in Iran, which have been widely ignored by the Western press, constitute 'an event of world-historical potential' that are 'unprecedented in the history of the Islamic Republic.'"
Michael Ledeen's role in the Reagan administration
In the book Reagan Presidency, Michael Ledeen described his role in the Reagan administration thus: "I was a kind of intelligence courier for the White House: I would go and talk to various people in Europe. There are certain kinds of conversations that an American president will want to carry on outside of official channels. I carried some of those private messages. My other responsibility was that I worked with [Oliver]North on counter-terrorism. I read all the intelligence on terrorism, and North and I would discuss it." [5] National Review columnist, Adam G. Mersereau [7]. Ledeen is justifiably angry about the misattribution, and blamed a Brown University professor, William Beeman, for it [8]. Brown has admitted the error and apologized [9]. The misattribution has been widely repeated on the Internet Future of Iraq
[*]Iran-Contra II
[*]weapons of mass destruction
[/LIST]External links
Profiles
Ledeen's books include Universal Fascism, which speaks favorably of fascism as a "revolutionary movement," and Gabrielle D'Annunzio, a glowing biography of the eccentric Italian fascist. [14]
By Michael Ledeen
Michael Arthur Ledeen (Ph.D.) is considered to be a neo-conservative. Ledeen was a Ronald Reagan appointee and is outspoken on U.S. foreign policy. He worked as a consultant to the National Security Council, Department of State (81-82), and Department of Defense (82-86).
Other Affiliations
- Fellow, American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
- Associated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Cofounder, The Coalition for Democracy in Iran (CDI)
- Commissioner, U.S.-China Commission (2001)
- Contributing editor, National Review Online [1]
- Contributor, Jewish World Review [2]
- Director, Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon [3]
- Ledeen's daughter is Simone Ledeen, who went to work for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq in October 2004 and ended up in a position of considerable responsibility.
- One of Ledeen's sons is Daniel Ledeen, who has written as an intern for The New York Sun and who gained brief notoriety when he ambushed Michael Moore at a press conference with a question alleging distribution of Fahrenheit 9/11 by Hezbollah.
"Total War" Advocate
Although many Americans had not heard of Michael Ledeen, a May 9, 2003, Pacific News Service article reported that Ledeen is one of President George W. Bush's "most agressive foreign policymakers."
Ledeen is "a former employee of the Pentagon, the State Department and the National Security Council. As a consultant working with NSC head Robert McFarlane, he was involved in the transfer of arms to Iran during the Iran-Contra affair -- an adventure that he documented in the book Perilous Statecraft: An Insider's Account of the Iran-Contra Affair. His most influential book is last year's [2002] The War Against the Terror Masters: Why It Happened. Where We Are Now. How We'll Win.
"Ledeen's ideas are repeated daily by such figures as Richard Cheney, Donald H. Rumsfeld and Paul Dundes Wolfowitz. His views virtually define the stark departure from American foreign policy philosophy that existed before the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001. He basically believes that violence in the service of the spread of democracy is America's manifest destiny. Consequently, he has become the philosophical legitimator of the American occupation of Iraq."
Ledeen also has called for "regime change beyond Iraq" and believes that it is also "time for a free Iran, free Syria and free Lebanon.'
"With a group of other conservatives, Ledeen recently [2003] set up the Coalition for Democracy in Iran (CDI), an action group focusing on producing regime change in Iran.
"Quotes from Ledeen's works reveal a peculiar set of beliefs about American attitudes toward violence. 'Change -- above all violent change -- is the essence of human history,' he proclaims in his book, Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli's Iron Rules Are as Timely and Important Today as Five Centuries Ago. In an influential essay in the National Review Online [4] he asserts, 'Creative destruction is our middle name. We do it automatically ... it is time once again to export the democratic revolution.'
"Ledeen has become the driving philosophical force behind the neoconservative movement and the military actions it has spawned. His 1996 book, Freedom Betrayed; How the United States Led a Global Domocratic Revolution, Won the Cold War, and Walked Away, reveals the basic neoconservative obsession: the United States never 'won' the Cold War; the Soviet Union collapsed of its own weight without a shot being fired. Had the United States truly won, democratic institutions would be sprouting everywhere the threat of Communism had been rife.
"Consequently, Ledeen has excoriated both the State Department and the United Nations for their preference for diplomatic solutions to conflict; and the CIA for equivocating on evidence that would condemn 'America's enemies' and justify militant action.
"'No one I know wants to wage war on Iran and Syria, but I believe there is now a clear recognition that we must defend ourselves against them,' Ledeen wrote on May 6 in the Toronto Globe and Mail.
"Though he appears on conservative outlets like the Fox television network, Ledeen has not been singled out for much media attention by theBush administration, despite his extensive influence in Washington. His views may be perceived as too extreme for most Americans, who prefer to think of the United States as pursuing violence only when attacked and manifesting primarily altruistic goals toward other nations."
Beliefs
Quote from Foundation for Democracy in Iran web site: 31 Oct. 2001: "American Enterprise Institute scholar Michael Ledeen, writing in theWall Street Journal on Oct. 31, believes the ongoing anti-regime demonstrations in Iran, which have been widely ignored by the Western press, constitute 'an event of world-historical potential' that are 'unprecedented in the history of the Islamic Republic.'"
Michael Ledeen's role in the Reagan administration
In the book Reagan Presidency, Michael Ledeen described his role in the Reagan administration thus: "I was a kind of intelligence courier for the White House: I would go and talk to various people in Europe. There are certain kinds of conversations that an American president will want to carry on outside of official channels. I carried some of those private messages. My other responsibility was that I worked with [Oliver]North on counter-terrorism. I read all the intelligence on terrorism, and North and I would discuss it." [5] National Review columnist, Adam G. Mersereau [7]. Ledeen is justifiably angry about the misattribution, and blamed a Brown University professor, William Beeman, for it [8]. Brown has admitted the error and apologized [9]. The misattribution has been widely repeated on the Internet Future of Iraq
[*]Iran-Contra II
[*]weapons of mass destruction
[/LIST]External links
Profiles
- Michael Ledeen, Neocon Europe.
- Interview with Michael Ledeen on PALTALK, Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran, July 27, 2002. Recorded Ledeen interview (requires RealPlayer Audio capability).
- in Iran? Next, On the Line, VOA News Report/Global Security, December 13, 2002. Interview includes comments by Michael Ledeen.
- Ramin Parham, An Interview with Michael Ledeen, IranianVoice.org, March 3, 2003.
- Ramin Parham, An Interview with Michael Ledeen: Iranians Outside Should Learn from the Israeli Diaspora , Iran Press Service, March 12, 2003.
- VOICE: Michael Ledeen on Iran on National Review Online, Democracy for the Middle East, April 30, 2003.
- James Bamford, Iran: The Next War, Rolling Stone, July 26, 2006.
Ledeen's books include Universal Fascism, which speaks favorably of fascism as a "revolutionary movement," and Gabrielle D'Annunzio, a glowing biography of the eccentric Italian fascist. [14]
By Michael Ledeen
- Archive of Micheal Ledeen columns for National Review Online dating from August 2000. Check dated articles below, as many are cited here.
- "How to Support the Democratic Revolution", Commentary, V.79, No. 3, March 1985.
- "Iran and the Axis of Evil. We can't lose anymore ground," National Review Online, March 4, 2002.
- "Paying Attention to the Right War," American Enterprise Institute, April 19, 2002.
- "Iran on the Brink. And the U.S. does nothing," National Review Online, April 29, 2002.
- "IRAN: The Despotic Mullahs," efreedomnews.com, October 25, 2002. Quotes Ledeen from July 3, 2002.
- "The Iranian Time Bomb. A nation on the brink," National Review Online, July 3, 2002.
- "Can You Keep a Secret? The media silence on Iran," The National Review Online, August 7, 2002.
- "Iran, according to the Times. All the nonsense that's fit to print," The National Times Online, September 3, 2002.
- "Iran & Afghanistan & Us. We'll have to deal with the mullahcracy, sooner or later," National Review Online, September 9, 2002.
- "The Iranian String Quartet. The mullahs get increasingly nervous," The National Review Online, September 23, 2002.
- "The Real Foe Is Middle Eastern Tyranny," American Enterprise Institute, September 24, 2002.
- "Act on Iran," American Enterprise Institute, October 23, 2002.
- "The Blind Leading the Blind. The New York Times and the Iranian crisis," The National Review Online, November 21, 2002.
- "How Tyrannies Fall. Opportunity time in Iran," American Enterprise Institute, November 25, 2002.
- "Tom Friedman's Reformation. His Iran," The National Review Online, December 6, 2002.
- "The Real War. Faster Please!" National Review Online, December 11, 2002.
- "A Prophecy For The New Year," Iran-Va-Jahan, December 19, 2002.
- "The Shape of Things to Come. The terror masters are now waiting for us," National Review Online, January 6, 2003.
- "How We Could Lose. Our folly," National Review Online, January 9, 2003.
- "The Return of the Ayatollah. Washington could afford a little more attention on Iran," National Review Online, January 21, 2003.
- "The Axis of Evil Redux. Same place, a year later," National Review Online, January 23, 2003.
- "Who Is Zarqawi?" National Review Online, February 5, 2003. Reprint of NRO December 12, 2002, article.
- "Godfathers of Terror," American Enterprise Institute, February 7, 2003.
- "The Europeans Know More Than They Now Pretend? The choose to dawdle and obstruct," National Review Online, February 11, 2003.
- "The Willful Blindness of those Who Will Not See. Still waiting," National Review Online, February 18, 2003.
- "He's Done Better. The president at AEI's dinner," National Review Online, February 27, 2003.
- "The Iranian-Election Revolt. The people speak. The West won't listen," National Review Online, March 4, 2003.
- "Iran: Nuclear Suicide Bombers?" New York Post, March 11, 2003.
- "One Battle in a Longer, Wider War," American Enterprise Institute, March 19, 2003.
- "The Others: We have miles to go in eliminating the Axis," Jewish World Review, April 7, 2003.
- "Syria and Iran Must Get Their Turn," American Enterprise Institute, April 7, 2003.
- "No Finest Hour. Angleton on Sadam," National Review Online, April 8, 2003.
- "Timing Is Everything. We have a narrow window in Iraq to win Shiite support," National Review Online, April 22, 2003.
- "Desert Shame Redux," American Enterprise Institute, April 30, 2003.
- Time to Focus on Iran - The Mother of Modern Terrorism. Dr. Michael Ledeen Addresses the (JINSA) Policy Forum, JINSA Online, May 6, 2003.
- Anthony Gancarski, "The Mad World of Michael Ledeen. National Security, Iran and Iraq," CounterPunch, September 25, 2002.
- Jim Lobe, "Hawks justify Iraq strike as 'war for democracy': Iran next on US agenda," Dawn: The Internet Edition, September 28, 2002.
- Pooya Dayanim, "Freedom Fighters. Iranians in exile get it together," National Review Online, April 24, 2003.
- Jack Kelly, "Onset of the second war," The Washington Times, April 22, 2003.
- Paul M. Weyrich, "If one Iran is bad enough, then two will be double trouble," EnterStageRight, May 5, 2003.
- "Neoconservative Guru Sets Sights on Iran," Pacific News Service, May 9, 2003.
- Jim Lobe, "Veteran neo-con advisor moves on Iran," Asia Times, Jun 26, 2003.
- Jim Lobe, "Ledeen's Way," TomPaine.com, July 1, 2003.
- Bill Berkowitz, "Michael Ledeen's dream, Mohamad ElBaradei's nightmare," Working for Change, April 20, 2006.
- Gary Leupp, "The Secret Cabal Got What It Wanted: No Negotiations. Wilkerson Fingers the Neo-Cons on Iran," CounterPunch, April 26, 2006.
- Judd Legum, "The NeoCon Motto: Never Lose Faith In Someone Who Tells You What You Want To Hear," Think Progress, May 6, 2006.
- http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?tit...ael_Ledeen
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.