Michael Arthur Ledeen (b. Los Angeles, California, August 1, 1941) is a scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies[1] and a contributing editor to National Review. Ledeen was a founding member of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), and he serves on the JINSA Board of Advisors. Ledeen is also a member of Benador Associates. In 1974, Michael Ledeen moved to Rome where he studied the history of the Italian Fascism. In 1977, he went to Washington to join the Center for Strategic and International Studies affiliated with Georgetown University. He continues to visit Italy frequently. In 1980, Ledeen worked for the Italian military intelligence service as a "risk assessment" consultant.[2] In 1981, Michael Ledeen then became Special Adviser to secretary of state Alexander Haig, previously head of SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander Europe — NATO's European command center).
Academic and political careerLedeen holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he specialized in Modern Europe. At Washington University, Ledeen was denied tenure, according to history department faculty interviewed by the Washington Post, because of questions regarding the "quality of his scholarship" and about whether Ledeen had "used the work of somebody else without proper credit". One faculty member said "the 'quasi-irregularity' at issue didn't warrant the negative vote on tenure for Ledeen".[2] Ledeen was subsequently named Visiting Professor at the University of Rome. One of Ledeen's principal mentors was the Jewish German-born historian George Mosse, for whom he was research assistant at the time. Mosse wrote two famous books on National Socialism. Another major influence on Ledeen was the Italian historian Renzo De Felice. Ledeen held political views which stress "the urgency of combating centralized state power and the centrality of human freedom"[3] that are said to have influenced or inspired the Bush administration. Earlier in his career, Ledeen authored Universal Fascism: The Theory and Practice of the Fascist International, 1928-1936, published in 1972 and now out of print. The book, which was his doctoral dissertation, was the first work to explore Mussolini's efforts to create a Fascist international in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Ledeen follows Italian historian Renzo de Felice in drawing a distinction between "fascism-regime" and "fascism-movement", and seems to approve of at least one aspect of the latter, saying "fascism nevertheless constituted a political revolution in Italy. For the first time, there was an attempt to mobilize the masses and to involve them in the political life of the country", and describing the fascist state as "a generator of energy and creativity".[4] Ledeen continued his studies in Italian Fascism with a biography of Gabriele d'Annunzio, who Ledeen argued was the proto-type for Benito Mussolini. Ledeen is a strong admirer of Niccolò Machiavelli, whom he regards as one of the greatest political thinkers. In Ledeen's view, Machiavelli combined democratic idealism and the necessary political realism to secure and defend idealism in perfect measure. It should be noted that the Machiavelli that Ledeen admires is the more the author of the Discourses on Livy than the author of The Princecite this quote. In 1980, in the period leading up to the U.S. presidential elections, Ledeen, along with Arnaud de Borchgrave, wrote a series of articles published in The New Republic[5] and elsewhere about Billy Carter's contacts with the Muammar al-Gaddafi regime in Libya. ItalyLedeen has been accused of associations with shady organizations. For example, Jim Lobe has stated that "Ledeen's right-wing Italian connections — including alleged ties to the P2 masonic lodge that rocked Italy in the early 1980s — have long been a source of speculation and intrigue, but he returned to Washington in 1981 as 'anti-terrorism' advisor to the new secretary of state, Al Haig."[6] While he acknowledges being paid by the SISMI in 1980 for "risk assessment",[2] Ledeen denies any connections with Licio Gelli's masonic lodge. Ledeen told Vanity Fair that he had been paid $10,000 by the SISMI in 1979 or 1980 for advising them on extradition matters between Italy and the US.[7] He denied having worked with [Francesco] Pazienza or Propaganda Due as part of a disinformation scheme. "I knew Pazienza," he explained. "I didn't think P-2 existed. I thought it was all nonsense — typical Italian fantasy."[7] Pazienza, while at SISMI, did help Ledeen obtaining a tape confirming information on "Billygate."[8] It was during this time in Italy that Ledeen supported the "Bulgarian connection" conspiracy theory concerning Grey Wolves member Mehmet Ali Ağca's 1981 attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul II. The theory has since been attacked by various authors and journalists, including Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs, who initially believed the story. The theory was adopted in 2005 by the Italian Mitrokhin Commission. A competing theory points toward Gladio, a NATO network believed to have supported the Turkish ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves and the strategy of tension in Italy, which had been supported by Gladio and SISMI agents. Gladio stay-behind networks directly responded to SACEUR. According to Craig Unger, "With Ronald Reagan newly installed in the White House, the so-called Bulgarian Connection made perfect Cold War propaganda. Michael Ledeen was one of its most vocal proponents, promoting it on TV and in newspapers all over the world."[7] Consultant on terrorismIn the early 1980s, Ledeen appeared before the newly established Senate Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism, alongside former CIA director William Colby, author Claire Sterling and former Newsweek editor Arnaud de Borchgrave. Both Ledeen and de Borchgrave worked for the Center for Strategic and International Studies at Georgetown University at the time.[9] All four testified that they believed the Soviet Union had provided for material support, training and inspiration for various terrorist groupings.[10] Michael Ledeen was a strong proponent of the theories in the book The Terror Network written by Claire Sterling that held that the USSR was the source of much of the international terrorism in the world. Several CIA officials such as former head of Soviet affairs Melvin Goodman dismissed Sterling's book, claiming that she based her allegations from items planted in European newspapers as part of a CIA black propaganda campaign.[11] However after the fall of the Soviet Union, several former Russian officials have acknowledged some state sponsored terrorism. Former Russian Vice Premier Sergei Shakhrai released documents in 1992 that detailed Soviet sponsorship of terrorism, against American and Israeli targets during the late 1970’s, the height of Détente. Shakhrai said that the weapons and munitions supplied to groups like the PFLP were intended for "operations against American and Israeli personnel in third countries, to carry out acts of sabotage and terrorism".[12] Russian Information Minister Mikhail Poltoranin released documents in 1992 confirming that the Kremlin maintained contacts with some terrorist organizations until 1991.[13] It should be noted though that CIA had never doubted that the Soviets provided assistance to Palestinian groups. The agency was mainly skeptical of the claims of Soviet support for European terrorist groups. Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl of the CIA's Soviet office was the analyst handed the assignment to prepare the analysis on Soviet support for terrorism. “We reported that we had found no persuasive evidence of Soviet support for those European terrorist groups (the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the Red Brigades and the Red Army Faction) about which Secretary Haig had specifically asked,” Ekedahl said about the analytical division’s draft of its intelligence estimate. Contrary to Sterling’s allegations, Ekedahl said the consensus of the intelligence community was that the Soviets discouraged acts of terrorism by groups getting support from Moscow for practical, not moral, reasons. “We agreed that the Soviets consistently stated, publicly and privately, that they considered international terrorist activities counterproductive and advised groups they supported not to use such tactics,” Ekedahl said. “We had hard evidence to support this conclusion.”[14] The Iran-Contra scandalLedeen was involved in the biggest foreign policy scandal of the Ronald Reagan administration. As a consultant of National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane, Ledeen vouched for Iranian intermediary Manucher Ghorbanifar, and met with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and officials of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the CIA to arrange meetings with high-ranking Iranian officials and the much-criticized weapons-for-hostages deal with Iran that would become known as the Iran-Contra scandal.[15] Ledeen gave his view of these events in his book, Perilous Statecraft: An Insider's Account of the Iran-Contra Affair. Yellowcake forgery allegationsMichael Ledeen had been accused of being involved in the forgery which claimed that Saddam Hussein had bought yellowcake in Niger. According to Joshua Micah Marshall, Laura Rozen, and Paul Glastris noted in Washington Monthly of September 2004:[16]
In 2005, Vincent Cannistraro, former head of counterterrorism operations at the CIA and the intelligence director at the National Security Council under Ronald Reagan, when asked by Ian Masters if Ledeen was the source of the forged memo, replied, "You'd be very close." However, just moments earlier when asked, "Do we know who produced those documents?" Cannistraro stated, " I’d rather not speak about it right now, because I don’t think it’s a proven case"[17] Former CIA counter-terrorism officer Philip Giraldi, who is Cannistraro's business partner and a columnist for The American Conservative, a paleoconservative magazine, said in an interview on July 26, 2005 that the forgeries were produced by "a couple of former CIA officers who are familiar with that part of the world who are associated with a certain well-known neoconservative who has close connections with Italy" and went on to confirm that he was referring to Ledeen. Giraldi added that the ex-CIA officers "also had some equity interests, shall we say, with the operation. A lot of these people are in consulting positions, and they get various, shall we say, emoluments in overseas accounts, and that kind of thing."[18] Giraldi more recently stated in The American Conservative:[19]
Andrew McCarthy and Mark R. Levin have defended Ledeen, writing[20]
Iraq War advocacyRegarding regime change in Iraq, in 2002 Ledeen criticized the views of former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, writing:[21]
Ledeen specifically called for the deposition of Saddam Hussein's regime by force in 2002:
and:
Ledeen's statements prior to the start of the Iraq war such as "desperately-needed and long overdue war against Saddam Hussein" and "dire need to invade Iraq" make his later statement that he "opposed the military invasion of Iraq before it took place" to be an "outright lie" to Glenn Greenwald. [24] However, Ledeen maintains these statements are consistent since: "I advocated — as I still do — support for political revolution in Iran as the logical and necessary first step in the war against the terror masters."[25] Iran air strikes advocacyAlthough Ledeen was in favor of regime change in Iraq, he believed that Iran should have been the first priority. Ledeen's phrase, "faster, please" has become a signature meme in Ledeen's writings and is often referenced by neoconservative writers advocating a more forceful and broader "war on terror". In 1979, Ledeen was one of the first Western writers to argue that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was a "clerical fascist", and that while it was legitimate to criticize the Shah's regime, if Khomeini seized power in Iran the Iranian people would suffer an even greater loss of freedom and women would be deprived of political and social rights. Ledeen currently claims to be against a U.S. invasion of Iran: "Not that I want the Marines marching on Tehran, as readers of this blog are well aware". [26] But he is apparently arguing for airstrikes against Iran without a full military invasion, as laid out in this article on his blog at Pajamas Media:
Controversial theoriesLedeen was a prominent advocate of regime change from within Iran, as he had earlier supported the dissident movements within the Soviet Union. Many of Ledeen's National Review columns are devoted to this topic. Ledeen also believed that Iran is the main backer of the insurgency in Iraq and even supported the al-Qaida network formerly led by al-Zarqawi despite its declaration of jihad against Shi'ite Muslims.[28] He claimed that German and Italian court documents showed Zarqawi created a European terrorist network while based in Tehran.[28] Ledeen was a board member of the "Coalition for Democracy in Iran" (CDI), founded by Morris Amitay, a former Executive Director of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Ledeen had also been part of the board of the U.S. Committee for a Free Lebanon. According to the Washington Post, quoted by Asia Times, he was the only full-time international affairs analyst regularly consulted by Karl Rove, George W. Bush's closest advisor[6] In a 2003 column entitled "A Theory," Ledeen outlined a possibility that France and Germany, both NATO allies of the United States, "struck a deal with radical Islam and with radical Arabs" to use "extremism and terrorism as the weapon of choice" to bring down a potential American Empire. He stated, "It sounds fanciful, to be sure," but that, "If this is correct, we will have to pursue the war against terror far beyond the boundaries of the Middle East, into the heart of Western Europe. And there, as in the Middle East, our greatest weapons are political: the demonstrated desire for freedom of the peoples of the countries that oppose us."[29] See also: Eurabia Jonah Goldberg, Ledeen's colleague at National Review magazine, coined the term "Ledeen Doctrine" in a 2002 column.[1] This tongue-in-cheek "doctrine" is usually summarized as "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business," which Goldberg remembered Ledeen saying in an early 1990s speech. The term "Ledeen Doctrine" is often mistakenly attributed to Michael Ledeen himself. OpponentsWriting in The Nation, a left-wing magazine, Jack Huberman, who describes Ledeen as "the most influential and unabashed warmonger of our time", attributes these quotes to Ledeen:[30]
The Buchananite journal, The American Conservative has claimed that Ledeen had strong sympathies for Italian fascism and that "Ledeen’s careful distinction between fascist 'regime' and 'movement' makes him a clear apologist for the latter."[4] Ledeen is also scrutinized with some regularity at Antiwar.com, particularly by Justin Raimondo. Personal lifeLedeen is married to his second wife, Barbara. His first wife was Jenny Ledeen of St. Louis, Mo. Ledeen has three children: Simone, Gabriel, and Daniel. Simone has worked both in Iraq and Afghanistan for the Department of Defense; Gabriel is currently a Lieutenant in the United States Marines Corps serving his second tour in Iraq; and Daniel is a student at Rice University on an NROTC Scholarship.[31] Quotations
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