Not exactly a surprise given that he's a card-carrying member of the Iran Lobby. Still, another example of the subtly and moral fibre that's made him such a cause celebre on the foreign policy left:

Former US diplomat Charles W. Freeman says he doubts whether the current Israeli policies can guarantee the regime's survival in the Middle East. "I don't see how Israel can continue to survive in the long term as a state in the Middle East if it is not prepared to deal with respect and consideration with its Arab neighbors specially the Palestinians," Freeman, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said in an exclusive interview with Press TV... Freeman also noted that he was disappointed when the administration of President Barack Obama refused to put its weight behind him over the offered position. "I was obviously disappointed that I didn't have support from the White House. But as I understand the way this administration works I shouldn't have been surprised," he said.

He's been complaining for weeks about how Obama left him twisting. Which - while it's arguably true - doesn't make it less any less unseemly for him to run to the Iranians to slam the US President. Especially not while the administration is trying to walk a fine line between obsequiousness and more sanctions.

Though it does make this quote from a few weeks back quite precious:

"It's a foreign country, and while maybe 40 years ago many of its values were convergent with ours, I think there's been a divergence of values," Freeman told the Forward in a phone interview. He argued that this trend is embodied most clearly in the rise of controversial right-wing Israeli politician Avigdor Lieberman... Israel's viewpoints dominate our understanding of its dispute with the Palestinians and its consequent estrangement from its other Arab neighbors.... Frankly, I don't see that need."

Fair enough. Instead we should seek allies with whom our viewpoints converge more closely. Like Iran. Or Freeman's Saudi funders. Or any country except the Jewish State that's preventing his life from being totally awesome. It's always something, isn't it?

Seriously, can't we all just agree that the guy is kind of a feverish and unstable conspiracy-monger who has an understanding of the Middle East that bears only the most tangential resemblance to reality? Or is that just what the Israel Lobby wants us to believe?

References and previously after the jump...