[Peace-discuss] More about The Lobby

[Brussel Morton K.]

 From Ray McGovern:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/11-13

…Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, led Lobby boasting just minutes after  
the Freeman debacle was announced. Schumer was clear: "His [Freeman's]  
statements against Israel were way over the top. ... I repeatedly  
urged the White House to reject him, and I am glad they did the right  
thing."

And, as Glen Greenwald has noted, "Lynch mob leader Jonathan Chait [of  
The New Republic and author of an influential op-edfor the Washington  
Post] who spent the last week denying that Israel was the driving  
force behind the attacks on Freeman," now concedes the obvious.

Greenwald quotes Chait: "Of course I recognize that the Israel Lobby  
is powerful, and was a key element in the pushback against Freeman."

Neoconservative Daniel Pipes offered an anatomy of the crime, blog- 
bragging about how it was conducted:

"What you may not know is that Steven J. Rosen of the Middle East  
forum was the person who first brought attention [on Feb. 19] to the  
problematic nature of Freeman's appointment. ... Within hours, the  
word was out and three weeks later Freeman has conceded defeat. Only  
someone with Steve's stature and credibility could have made this  
happen."

The same Steve Rosen who is currently on trial for violations of the  
Espionage Act involving the transmission of classified information  
intended for Israel? One and the same! This has to be the purest brand  
of gall that ever came down the Pipes.

This "morning after," I find myself wondering when White House chief  
of staff Rahm Emanuel - another staunch supporter of the Lobby who  
reportedly was Schumer's go-to guy on the get-Freeman campaign - saw  
fit to let Admiral Blair in on the little secret that no way could he  
have Freeman. And why Blair tucked tail.

In a March 8 letter to Admiral Blair, we Veteran Intelligence  
Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) endorsed his appointment of Freeman  
and decried the campaign to derail it.

We seven signatories (with cumulative experience of 130 years) noted  
that the Freeman case was the first time we witnessed such a well- 
coordinated campaign to reverse the appointment of an official to an  
intelligence job not requiring Senate confirmation.

In other words the influence of the Israel Lobby is seeping ever  
deeper into the ranks of the intelligence community.…

Ending with:

On Oct. 5, 2007, I published an article about Israel's deliberate  
attempt on June 8, 1967, to sink the USS Liberty in international  
waters off the Sinai, killing 34 of the Liberty crew and wounding over  
170 in the process.

The lead was:

"So Who's Afraid of the Israel Lobby? Virtually everyone: Republican,  
Democrat - Conservative, Liberal. The fear factor is non-partisan, you  
might say, and palpable. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee  
brags that it is the most influential foreign policy lobbying  
organization on Capitol Hill, and has demonstrated that time and  
again, and not only on Capitol Hill."

The point? In June 1967, the Israelis learned that they could get  
away, literally, with murder and still not endanger their influence in  
Washington.

Events of the past weeks demonstrate that they and their Lobby are  
equally good at character assassination. It is embarrassingly shameful  
to watch President Obama acquiesce in all this.
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