Battered Beers

June 17, 2003 2:43 AM

Ex-counterterrorism adviser Rand Beers speaks out against the War on Terrorism and the Bush administration. Beers now works for John Kerry's presidential campaign. "The administration wasn't matching its deeds to its words in the war on terrorism. They're making us less secure, not more secure," said Beers, who until now has remained largely silent about leaving his National Security Council job as special assistant to the president for combating terrorism. "As an insider, I saw the things that weren't being done. And the longer I sat and watched, the more concerned I became, until I got up and walked out."
posted by skallas (17 comments total)

This European reckons Beers sounds like a brave guy. It's reassuring to know there are still sane, rational humans behind the scenes in DC...although now that he's gone, there's one less.

Good luck to him...
posted by tomcosgrave at 3:19 AM on June 17, 2003

um, posted here yesterday
posted by BigCalm at 4:04 AM on June 17, 2003

It's a shame that this is a double post because this one is much more well constructed than its predecessor which quickly got derailed because of its vagueness and baiting.
posted by ursus_comiter at 5:05 AM on June 17, 2003

Wow, with this post immediately following the adbusters post, we had the exceedingly rare double double post.
posted by pardonyou? at 6:02 AM on June 17, 2003

this guy would be a helluva improvement on the former chevron board member - who had a god dang oil tanker named after her - wishes she was a old rich white man CONDI RICE :)... mutter mutter, spit, cuss.
posted by specialk420 at 6:51 AM on June 17, 2003

with this post immediately following the adbusters post, we had the exceedingly rare double double post.

pardonyou that's right, it's almost like an astronomical event or something. What I really miss about these deleted FPPs are the hilarious comments.
posted by 111 at 8:20 AM on June 17, 2003

I say we keep this one, since all we talked about in the other thread was condi rice.

Also, kerry sucks. Dean all the way.
posted by delmoi at 8:47 AM on June 17, 2003

"Meanwhile, the real war on terror has been neglected, and we've antagonized the allies we need to fight that war. One of these days we'll end up paying the price. "
posted by specialk420 at 8:51 AM on June 17, 2003

What I really miss about these deleted FPPs are the hilarious comments.

Yes, but don't miss them too much -- because they never truly went away.
posted by pardonyou? at 9:03 AM on June 17, 2003

Also, kerry sucks. Dean all the way.

Funny how I read this as: "Also, Gore sucks. Nader all the way." That really worked out well.
posted by pardonyou? at 9:09 AM on June 17, 2003

Personally, I think this dude is just another hot head. Every organization has one, an almost Dilbert-like stereotype.
"I'm quitting because the CEO won't do what us guys in the mailroom think he oughta. He's a dork."
posted by kablam at 9:15 AM on June 17, 2003

gee kablam: great insight, but next time it might just help to read the article first

Although Beers has worked in three Republican administrations, he is a registered Democrat. He wanted to leave the NSC quietly, so when he resigned, he said it was for "personal reasons." His friends called, worried: "Are you sick?"

Sure reads like the definition of hot-head ...

a top White House counterterrorism adviser unlocked the steel door to his office, an intelligence vault secured by an electronic keypad, a combination lock and an alarm.

... mailroom employee
posted by magullo at 9:43 AM on June 17, 2003

"...He was loath to discuss it. His wife, Bonnie, a school administrator, was not: "It's a very closed, small, controlled group. This is an administration that determines what it thinks and then sets about to prove it. There's almost a religious kind of certainty. There's no curiosity about opposing points of view. It's very scary. There's kind of a ghost agenda." (from the Wash Post article)

"...Determines what it thinks and then sets out to prove it." - Doesn't this mean that people at the top of the Bush Adm. are essentially "New Age" fanatics, in the sense that they seem to feel that their very beliefs have the power to change reality, to bring it into accord with their ideologically driven convictions about what should be?
posted by troutfishing at 10:37 AM on June 17, 2003

I hope someone is keeping track of all this crap somewhere, it will be nice to look back and reflect on this in 2004. Of course since the general public has the attention span of a 2 year old, I fear that this won't make a lick of difference.
posted by CrazyJub at 11:25 AM on June 17, 2003

magullo: There are a heck of a lot of secure office spaces around that really aren't worth squat. I know, I once worked in one. More a pain in butt getting to your desk each day than anything else. And often no air conditioning.
Truthfully, not much more impressive than the mail room.

However, even though he sounded more discreet, his wife was courting trouble by shooting off her mouth. The logic of the security types would be as follows: "Gee, your wife seems to know a lot about your *classified* work here. Do you discuss it a lot?" Jumping to obvious, if wrong, conclusions.

The bottom line is that the Washington meat grinder will have only two takes on this, hero or villain. In truth, he's prolly just unhappy with his current employer, but he wants to do the same job, just for somebody else. Which is not what either side wants to hear. Too ordinary, too normal. The irony is that once you become a pawn in that game, for the rest of your career you are tarred. Whatever it is he wanted will be denied him.
posted by kablam at 3:00 PM on June 17, 2003

Funny how I read this as: "Also, Gore sucks. Nader all the way." That really worked out well.


WTF? The two are running against eachother in the primary, they aren't going to split the vote. Do you think Kerry has some sort of 'devine right' to be on the democratic ticket? Seems like bleeberman would be the guy if we were going that way.
posted by delmoi at 3:03 PM on June 17, 2003

Point taken, delmoi, but I was referring more to the prospect of the Dems nominating Dean, who would be a sure loser. However, I wanted to take my comment back as soon as I posted it -- I really have no interest in perpetuating the ongoing MeFi Dean-can't-win/vote-your-conscience argument.
posted by pardonyou? at 6:57 AM on June 18, 2003