User talk:Wcrowe

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I just saw your edit on my comments on William J. Crow. I appreciate your correcting the deletion of the edit. 2K8 OK TK Nagano aka MrDowntownLA

Published on Sunday, June 13, 2004 by the Los Angeles Times Retired Officials Say Bush Must Go The 26 ex-diplomats and military leaders say his foreign policy has harmed national security. Several served under Republicans.

by Ronald Brownstein

WASHINGTON — A group of 26 former senior diplomats and military officials, several appointed to key positions by Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, plans to issue a joint statement this week arguing that President George W. Bush has damaged America's national security and should be defeated in November.

The group, which calls itself Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, will explicitly condemn Bush's foreign policy, according to several of those who signed the document.

"It is clear that the statement calls for the defeat of the administration," said William C. Harrop, the ambassador to Israel under President Bush's father and one of the group's principal organizers.

Those signing the document, which will be released in Washington on Wednesday, include 20 former U.S. ambassadors, appointed by presidents of both parties, to countries including Israel, the former Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia.

Others are senior State Department officials from the Carter, Reagan and Clinton administrations and former military leaders, including retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, the former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East under President Bush's father. Hoar is a prominent critic of the war in Iraq.

Some of those signing the document — such as Hoar and former Air Force Chief of Staff Merrill A. McPeak — have identified themselves as supporters of Sen. John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. But most have not endorsed any candidate, members of the group said.

It is unusual for so many former high-level military officials and career diplomats to issue such an overtly political message during a presidential campaign.

A senior official at the Bush reelection campaign said he did not wish to comment on the statement until it was released.

But in the past, administration officials have rejected charges that Bush has isolated America in the world, pointing to countries contributing troops to the coalition in Iraq and the unanimous passage last week of the U.N. resolution authorizing the interim Iraqi government.

One senior Republican strategist familiar with White House thinking said he did not think the group was sufficiently well-known to create significant political problems for the president.

The strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also said the signatories were making an argument growing increasingly obsolete as Bush leans more on the international community for help in Iraq.

"Their timing is a little off, particularly in the aftermath of the most recent U.N. resolution," the strategist said. "It seems to me this is a collection of resentments that have built up, but it would have been much more powerful months ago than now when even the president's most disinterested critics would say we have taken a much more multilateral approach" in Iraq.

But those signing the document say the recent signs of cooperation do not reverse a basic trend toward increasing isolation for the U.S.

"We just felt things were so serious, that America's leadership role in the world has been attenuated to such a terrible degree by both the style and the substance of the administration's approach," said Harrop, who served as ambassador to four African countries under Carter and Reagan.

"A lot of people felt the work they had done over their lifetime in trying to build a situation in which the United States was respected and could lead the rest of the world was now undermined by this administration — by the arrogance, by the refusal to listen to others, the scorn for multilateral organizations," Harrop said.

Jack F. Matlock Jr., who was appointed by Reagan as ambassador to the Soviet Union and retained in the post by President Bush's father during the final years of the Cold War, expressed similar views.

"Ever since Franklin Roosevelt, the U.S. has built up alliances in order to amplify its own power," he said. "But now we have alienated many of our closest allies, we have alienated their populations. We've all been increasingly appalled at how the relationships that we worked so hard to build up have simply been shattered by the current administration in the method it has gone about things."

The GOP strategist noted that many of those involved in the document claimed their primary expertise in the Middle East and suggested a principal motivation for the statement might be frustration over Bush's effort to fundamentally reorient policy toward the region.

"For 60 years we believed in quote-unquote stability at the price of liberty, and what we got is neither liberty nor stability," the strategist said. "So we are taking a fundamentally different approach toward the Middle East. That is a huge doctrinal shift, and the people who have given their lives, careers to building the previous foreign policy consensus, see this as a direct intellectual assault on what they have devoted their lives to. And it is. We think what a lot of people came up with was a failure — or at least, in the present world in which we live, it is no longer sustainable."

Sponsors of the effort counter that several in the group have been involved in developing policy affecting almost all regions of the globe.

The document will echo a statement released in April by a group of high-level former British diplomats condemning Prime Minister Tony Blair for being too closely aligned to U.S. policy in Iraq and Israel. Those involved with the new group said their effort was already underway when the British statement was released.

The signatories said Kerry's campaign played no role in the formation of their group. Phyllis E. Oakley, the deputy State Department spokesman during Reagan's second term and an assistant secretary of state under Clinton, said she suspected "some of them [in the Kerry campaign] may have been aware of it," but that "the campaign had no role" in organizing the group.

Stephanie Cutter, Kerry's communications director, also said that the Kerry campaign had not been involved in devising the group's statement.

The document does not explicitly endorse Kerry, according to those familiar with it. But some individual signers plan to back the Democrat, and others acknowledge that by calling for Bush's removal, the group effectively is urging Americans to elect Kerry.

"The core of the message is that we are so deeply concerned about the current direction of American foreign policy … that we think it is essential for the future security of the United States that a new foreign policy team come in," said Oakley.

Much of the debate over the document in the days ahead may pivot on the extent to which it is seen as a partisan document.

A Bush administration ally said that the group failed to recognize how the Sept. 11 attacks required significant changes in American foreign policy. "There's no question those who were responsible for policies pre-9/11 are denying what seems as the obvious — that those policies were inadequate," said Cliff May, president of the conservative advocacy group Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

"This seems like a statement from 9/10 people [who don't see] the importance of 9/11 and the way that should have changed our thinking."

Along with Hoar and McPeak, others who have signed it are identified with the Democratic Party.


Contents

[edit] Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., though named chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Reagan, supported Clinton in 1992. Crowe has endorsed Kerry. Retired Adm. Stansfield Turner served as Carter's director of central intelligence and has also endorsed Kerry. Matlock said he was a registered Democrat during most of his foreign service career, though he voted for Reagan in 1984 and the elder Bush twice and now is registered as an independent.

Several on the group's list were appointed to their most important posts under Reagan and the elder Bush. These include Matlock and Harrop, as well as Arthur A. Hartman, who served as Reagan's ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1981 through 1987; H. Allen Holmes, an assistant secretary of state under Reagan; and Charles Freeman, ambassador to Saudi Arabia under the elder Bush.

Many on the list have not been previously identified with any political cause or party. Several "are the kind who have never spoken out before," said James Daniel Phillips, former ambassador to Burundi and the Congo.

Oakley, Harrop and Matlock said the effort began this year. Matlock said it was sparked by conversations among "colleagues who had served in senior positions around the same time, most of them for the Reagan administration and for the first Bush administration."

Oakley said frustration over the Iraq war was "a large part" of the impetus for the statement, but the criticism of President Bush "goes much deeper."

The group's complaint about Bush's approach largely tracks Kerry's contention that the administration has weakened American security by straining traditional alliances and shifting resources from the war against Al Qaeda to the invasion of Iraq.

Oakley said the statement would argue that, "Unfortunately the tough stands [Bush] has taken have made us less secure. He has neglected the war on terrorism for the war in Iraq. And while we agree that we are in unprecedented times and we face challenges we didn't even know about before, these challenges require the cooperation of other countries. We cannot do it by ourselves."


The signatories

Although not explicitly endorsing Sen. John F. Kerry for president, 26 former diplomats and military officials, including many who served in Republican administrations, have signed a statement calling for the defeat of President Bush in November. Their names and some of the posts they have held are:

Avis T. Bohlen — assistant secretary of State for arms control, 1999-2002; deputy assistant secretary of State for European affairs, 1989-1991.

Retired Adm. William J. Crowe Jr. — chairman, President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Committee, 1993-94; ambassador to Britain, 1993-97; chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1985-89.

Jeffrey S. Davidow — ambassador to Mexico, 1998-2002; assistant secretary of State for inter-American affairs, 1996.

William A. DePree — ambassador to Bangladesh, 1987-1990.

Donald B. Easum — ambassador to Nigeria, 1975-79.

Charles W. Freeman Jr. — assistant secretary of Defense for international security affairs, 1993-94; ambassador to Saudi Arabia, 1989-1992.

William C. Harrop — ambassador to Israel, 1991-93; ambassador to Zaire, 1987-1991.

Arthur A. Hartman — ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1981-87; ambassador to France, 1977-1981.

Retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar — commander in chief of U.S. Central Command, overseeing forces in the Middle East, 1991-94; deputy chief of staff, Marine Corps, 1990-94.

H. Allen Holmes — assistant secretary of Defense for special operations, 1993-99; assistant secretary of State for politico-military affairs, 1986-89.

Robert V. Keeley — ambassador to Greece, 1985-89; ambassador to Zimbabwe, 1980-84.

Samuel W. Lewis — director of State Department policy and planning, 1993-94; ambassador to Israel, 1977-1985.

Princeton N. Lyman — assistant secretary of State for international organization affairs, 1995-98; ambassador to South Africa, 1992-95.

Jack F. Matlock Jr. — ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1987-1991; director for European and Soviet affairs, National Security Council, 1983-86; ambassador to Czechoslovakia, 1981-83.

Donald F. McHenry — ambassador to the United Nations, 1979-1981.

Retired Air Force Gen. Merrill A. McPeak — chief of staff, U.S. Air Force, 1990-94.

George E. Moose — assistant secretary of State for African affairs, 1993-97; ambassador to Senegal, 1988-91.

David D. Newsom — acting secretary of State, 1980; undersecretary of State for political affairs, 1978-1981; ambassador to Indonesia, 1973-77.

Phyllis E. Oakley — assistant secretary of State for intelligence and research, 1997-99.

James Daniel Phillips — ambassador to the Republic of Congo, 1990-93; ambassador to Burundi, 1986-1990.

John E. Reinhardt — ambassador to Nigeria, 1971-75.

Retired Air Force Gen. William Y. Smith — deputy commander in chief, U.S. European Command, 1981-83.

Ronald I. Spiers — undersecretary-general of the United Nations for political affairs, 1989-1992; ambassador to Pakistan, 1981-83.

Michael Sterner — deputy assistant secretary of State for Near East affairs, 1977-1981; ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, 1974-76.

Retired Adm. Stansfield Turner — director of the Central Intelligence Agency, 1977-1981.

Alexander F. Watson — assistant secretary of State for inter-American affairs, 1993-96; deputy permanent representative to the U.N., 1989-1993.

Source: Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.230.80.235 (talk) 04:05, 5 February 2008 (UTC)


Hi! Just read your new Therapy Dog article. Love it--beautifully written! Quill

Ditto. Mostly wanted to welcome you to the very small group of people adding dog info to the site. You're doing a nice job, picking up the strategies & standards very quickly. Quill's been busy at it lately, too. I'm trying to spend less time on wikipedia but check in regularly to see what's happening at all the dog pages, as does User:Sannse. Feel free to ask any of us questions, if you have any. Elf | Talk 23:32, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Just to jump in with the doggy crowd ;) - welcome to the dog breeds WikiProject. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work.
If you want to check out any of the old talk, the pages to look at Wikipedia:WikiProject Dog breeds/General and the talk page, Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Dog breeds and Talk:List of dog breeds. But don't worry about reading all of that in detail, it's just there if you are interested in what things have been discussed up to now.
Welcome again -- sannse (talk) 19:42, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I wonder if it matters to anyone if I write articles for breeds that I have no personal experience with?

Absolutely not! If we waited for people who had experience with each of the 500 dog breeds to come along before we had articles, we'd never get them all written. When I start on a breed page, I get out half a dozen breed-reference books, read them all, and come up with an article based on what I've gleaned. If I know anyone or run into anyone at a dog agility trial who owns the breed, I ask them to tell me about it and then just shut up and listen while they talk for hours. ;-) You know how we are about our own dogs--

As a professional writer, I'm completely in agreement with you about peer reviews. I love having other people edit stuff I've written because sometimes my brain or my eyes or my fingers just don't do what I want them to do. Elf | Talk 19:49, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I think you'll really like the dog project. Everyone seems to be in it for the dogs, and the edits are done in good spirit to make articles better. Quill 20:53, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Welcome

I just noticed that no one ever posted a semiofficial "welcome, dude" message. :-) So here's one now:

Hello, welcome to Wikipedia.

[edit]

Here are some tasks you can do:

You might find these links helpful in creating new pages or helping with the above tasks: How to edit a page, How to write a great article, Naming conventions, Manual of Style. You should read our policies at some point too.

If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian!

  • You can sign your name using three tildes, like this: ~~~. If you use four, you can add a datestamp too. Use this when posting to talk pages, Village Pump, and so on.
  • If you ever think a page or image should be deleted, please list it at the votes for deletion page. There is also a votes for undeletion page if you want to retrieve something that you think should not have been deleted.

Again, welcome! - Elf | Talk 16:31, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] VNB Project

Hey, thanks for your message. I haven't actually written much yet to be honest, but I'll get on the Irish Water Spaniel stuff this week and hopefully have it to you bu Sunday at the latest. Knowing someone is actually interested is a huge help! Thanks.--The Wizard of Magicland 22:34, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Okay...I've done up a 300 word (ish) section about the IWS's situation - how vulnerable it is and why. Its in Word format, but I can convert it to Notepad or Wordpad, whichever's easiest for you. How shall I get it to you? Feel free to edit it as much as you like on receiving! Also, I've used a bunch of sources, none of which (I don't think) need to be directly referenced; do I need to list them anyway for copyright reasons or whatever? Sorry about all the questions, but I'm still a bit unsure about the "nettiquete" of Wikipedia! --The Wizard of Magicland 17:06, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dog hybrids

Hi! Got your message.

I'll be swamped over the next couple of weeks. I'll go check the article dog hybrids and crossbreeds now. Thanks for the input! Quill 23:22, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Just checked--addition is perfect! Quill 23:25, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Poodle water dog

Huh--thought I had added the poodle photo to the water dog row in that table! I wonder whether I did a Preview & forgot to save it? Wouldn't be the first time. Glad someone's following up on me. :-) Thanks. Elf | Talk 04:14, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

What?! Putting a photo of your own dog into an article?! Who would do that? Elf | Talk 20:06, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Italian Greyhound

Thank you for the answer Dogfather! The German sentences where perfect. I was thinking only at a few dogs originating fom Italy / Spain (or spanish speaking countries) and only at some stubs with pictures if available). The dog comes from XXXX. It is of YYYY type. For many dogs FCI has the spanish version of the breeding standard. Maybe you can pick up some words. I did not respond earlier because I made da:. It is very late now. Bye! Gangleri 02:02, 2004 Oct 26 (UTC)

Dear Dogfather, please let me know your opinion about ideas from Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Dog breeds#is: List of dog breeds. Thanks Gangleri 03:26, 2004 Nov 2 (UTC)

[edit] Robert McHenry

Thanks for the online article with his views on Wikipedia. Hard to argue with some of his reasoning.Quill 02:47, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Synthetic

I'm inclined to disagree with your assertion that synthetic GENERALLY means man-made. I think that's only one usage, and a relatively new one (I'd guess not more than a couple of centuries old, if that). Synthetic generally has to do with synthesis, which is the opposite of analysis.

But I'll check this out further. For now, I've deleted that assertion from the article. Michael Hardy 23:47, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Input needed

Hola muchacho! Can you drop by Wikipedia:WikiProject Dog breeds/General and donate to the discussion? Quill 21:25, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Dog photo copyright

You didn't add a copyright tag to your Image:Waterdog standard poodle01.JPG so I picked one from Wikipedia:Image_copyright_tags#Free_licenses. Hope it's the correct one. If not, please adjust. Thanks again. Elf | Talk 06:22, 18 May 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, Elf, but I went with the [Free-Use-Provided-That] instead. I wish there were some way to restrict commercial use.
Well, all of wikipedia is not restricted; that's one of the points of the project. So ya use the medium, ya use the terms. :-) You can always choose to not add photos to WP. Elf | Talk 16:29, 20 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Kennel Club

You are invited to participate in the consensus vote on Kennel Club naming policy. Click here to participate.


[edit] Image Tagging Image:Willcrowe feb 2006sm.jpg

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Thanks for uploading Image:Willcrowe feb 2006sm.jpg. I notice the 'image' page currently doesn't specify who created the content, so the copyright status is unclear. If you have not created this media yourself then there needs to be an argument why we have the right to use the media on Wikipedia (see copyright tagging below). If you have not created the media yourself then it needs to be specified where it was found, i.e., in most cases link to the website where it was taken from, and the terms of use for content from that page.

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[edit] New to this

I'm new to the whole Wikipedia thing, so please bear with me.

I noticed you had some discussion on the Catahoula Leopard Dog page and the original editor of that page is stepping away from editing for a while so I am writing to you.

I have a comment for you:

The first dog on the page is a mixed breed. I know because the woman who did the breed calendar for the first 3 years spoke to the dog's owner regarding how the dog didn't look purebred and, behold, after 3 years the owner finally admitted he didn't know if the dog was purebred or not. I'm not sure if a mixed breed dog should be representing the breed in an encyclopedia article.

Thanks! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Uberpest (talk • contribs) 20:15, 15 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Image:Willcrowe feb 2006.jpg listed for deletion

An image or media file that you uploaded or altered, Image:Willcrowe feb 2006.jpg, has been listed at Wikipedia:Images and media for deletion. Please see the discussion to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. —Bkell (talk) 05:24, 14 April 2008 (UTC)