Iran Showdown Tests Power of "Israel Lobby

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=ffeffd578c69bee3&cat=c08dd24cec417021



Iran Showdown Tests Power of "Israel Lobby"
Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Apr 11 (IPS) - One month after the publication by two of the most influential international relations scholars in the United States of a highly controversial essay on the so-called "Israel Lobby", their thesis that the lobby exercises "unmatched power" in Washington is being tested by rapidly rising tensions with Iran.

Far more visibly than any other domestic constituency, the Israel Lobby, defined by Profs. John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt, academic dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, as "the loose coalition of individuals and organisations who actively work to shape U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction", has pushed the government -- both Congress and the George W. Bush administration -- toward confrontation with Tehran.

Leading the charge has been a familiar group of neo-conservatives, such as former Defence Policy Board (DPB) chairman Richard Perle and former Central Intelligence Agency director James Woolsey, who championed the war in Iraq but who have increasingly focused their energies over the past year on building support for "regime change" and, if necessary, military action against Iran if it does not abandon its nuclear programme.

(On Tuesday, Iran announced that it had successfully enriched uranium, which can be used for both nuclear weapons and nuclear power reactors, in defiance of a U.N. Security Council resolution ordering an end to all enrichment activities by Apr. 28).

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the premier Israel lobby group whose annual convention last year featured a giant, multi-media exhibit on how Iran is "pursuing nuclear weapons and how it can be stopped", has also been pushing hard on Capitol Hill for legislation to promote regime change. Despite White House objections, the group has sought tough sanctions against foreign companies with investments in Iran.

snip...

"(Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) sees the West as wimps and thinks we will eventually cave in," Patrick Clawson, deputy director of research of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank established by AIPAC, told New Yorker investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. "We have to be ready to deal with Iran if the crisis escalates."

Hersh summarised Clawson's bottom line as "Iran had no choice other than to accede to America's demands or face a military attack."
more...

The NeoCons Cheney and Pearle are all beating war drums!!!
:nuke:

[AlienGirl]

1. Since the war is not in Israel's interests, and Israel is opposed...

I don't think AIPAC has much to do with it. I'm pretty sure it's yet another resource war over oil.

Tucker

[DELUSIONAL]

2. I believe that the religious right whack jobs want this war

Recent interviews with the leaders in Israel by a Journalist interviewed on the Majority Report supports the view that Israel is NOT in favor of a US attack on Israel: hour three - Wednesday

Steve Clemons, Senior Fellow and Director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, co-creator of "Bolton Watch," and publisher of the foreign and national security blog The Washington Note.

However, the NEOCONS and the end of time religious whack jobs really want the US to attack. They are probably responsible for his current 28% support. (Probably more like 15% hard core support for bushie -- this would be the flat end of the bell curve holding the idiots, morons and cult members.)

[ShockediSay]

7. I believe it was the unholy alliance

between the righteiously religious right wing whackos and AIPAC's army of Abramoffs who dragged us into Iraq
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,776151,00.html
and are hell bent on pushing us into Iran as well
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/11/7/154220.shtml

[Behind the Aegis]

10. I just love it!

If I were to use a "right-wing" source to prove Israel innocent, the screeching would be unbearable! But, "prove" Israel is the war-mongering "evil empire," by using a right-wing source, from over four years old...and, hey....that's cool! :eyes:

Even better, you tie in the war in Iraq to Israel! I am just surprised I didn't see "why are our children dying for Israel" in your post. I guess it was implied.

[Karmakaze]

3. Wait, where did you get that?

I don't think AIPAC has much to do with it.

So are you saying this is a lie?:

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the premier Israel lobby group whose annual convention last year featured a giant, multi-media exhibit on how Iran is "pursuing nuclear weapons and how it can be stopped", has also been pushing hard on Capitol Hill for legislation to promote regime change. Despite White House objections, the group has sought tough sanctions against foreign companies with investments in Iran.

[anitar1]

4. Thanks so much for clairfying Israel's position. Now I

know that everything I have read over the years is a lie. Maybe we could stop the 80 billion dollars a year from going to Israel.Think of what our school systems could be if we had that much more to add to school systems in this country.

[AlienGirl]

6. Check this out:

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001333.php

[Behind the Aegis]

11. Lies and truth.

"When the legend becomes the truth. Print the legend."

I love how I often see the budget to Israel increase here. 80 billion a year? Oh me. Oh my.

Think of what our school systems could be if we had that much more to add to school systems in this country.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Are you, at all, familiar with the current administration?! Do you honestly think the "mythical" $80 billion would go to education? :rofl: The administration that wants to abolish the Department of Education? The administration that left plenty of children behind because they didn't fund their own initiative? the same administration that has cut funding to Higher Education and grants for college?

Talk about crazy assertions!

[Karmakaze]

5. Here is a link to the AIPAC Iran website...

Apparently AIPAC threw this together for the fun of it, because attacking Iran is against Israels interests and thus AIPAC are not involved in drumming up support for an attack on Iran.

http://www.aipac.org/iran/

Take no notice of the fact that this website IS in fact an entire website, not just one page explaining why AIPAC thinks an attack on Iran is a bad idea. They will eventually replace it with their REAL stance on Iran when they have the time.

Hey just for giggles, look at this image:



Notice something funny about the American flag in the top left corner? What happened to all the stars?

[AlienGirl]

8. Oh wow! The stars...

The stars all turned into ONE BIG star! And it's a Star of DAVID! Clearly, the usual suspects have had at it!

Tucker

(Or...it could be an Israeli flag photographed next to an American flag. It's all in the eyes of the beholder, innit?)

[Karmakaze]

13. Oh I have no doubt...

I mean it had to be a complete accident that the area of the US flag occuiped by the stars representing each of the united states, was covered by the flag representing the Jewish state. Total accident. No symbology there at all.

I wonder though if it was an accident that the Stars and Stripes was turned into a Star of David below that image? Yeah must have been.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. It's snowing in the South!

Did you even bother reading anything you posted? Actually, I don't care to know.

What about that Israeli response? Could it be...

-- snip --

"I suggest not going too far, not to look for Israeli responses or to propose them," Halutz (Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz) said regarding recent reports on the possibility of military action in Iran. "I'm not sure whether Israel will top the list of Iranian targets. Everything in due time. The Iranians are still not there. It will take time until they have a nuclear ability and time is there for dialogue to stop the program," Halutz said.

Israeli security sources described Ahmadinejad's announcement as a "major step forward" for Tehran. Nonetheless, it does not mean Iran is immediately capable of producing enough fuel to run a reactor or develop the material needed for a nuclear warhead. Uranium enrichment can produce either, but it must be carried out on a much larger scale, using thousands of centrifuges. Iran succeeded in enriching uranium to a level needed for fuel on a research scale - using 164 centrifuges, officials said.

-- snip --


complete article

Emphasis and underlining added.

[Karmakaze]

14. What did I post that you disagree with?

Is that not an AIPAC website? Is it not about Iran and ensuring that the threat of its nuclear program is dealt with? Is it not an entire web site as opposed to a single page?

AlienGirl said "I don't think AIPAC has much to do with it." and I posted a link to an AIPAC website specifically detailing AIPACS concerns and the actions they think should be taken, along with legislation that they have helped push.

Or are you saying that AIPAC is working against Israel's interests by pushing for "regime change" in Iran?

I guess I'm not sure what you are trying to say :)

[TomClash]

9. "The Iranian Threat" is certainly being promoted

CNN ran a 10 minute segment on Anderson Cooper tonight heralding the potential Iranian nuclear threat.

[Coastie for Truth]

15. Which Lobby Was That

- the one that says is "Junk Science" and the Arab and American working people.