Israel is dictating U.S. foreign policy.

[Jara sang]

How is that for national security? For get about Dubai and the ports deal. AIPAC is getting it's own legislation and influencing elections. This is absolutely incredible.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html

Professor Stephen Walt of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago


{snip}
There is no doubt about the efficacy of these tactics. Here is one example: in the 1984 elections, AIPAC helped defeat Senator Charles Percy from Illinois, who, according to a prominent Lobby figure, had ‘displayed insensitivity and even hostility to our concerns’. Thomas Dine, the head of AIPAC at the time, explained what happened: ‘All the Jews in America, from coast to coast, gathered to oust Percy. And the American politicians – those who hold public positions now, and those who aspire – got the message.’

AIPAC’s influence on Capitol Hill goes even further. According to Douglas Bloomfield, a former AIPAC staff member, ‘it is common for members of Congress and their staffs to turn to AIPAC first when they need information, before calling the Library of Congress, the Congressional Research Service, committee staff or administration experts.’ More important, he notes that AIPAC is ‘often called on to draft speeches, work on legislation, advise on tactics, perform research, collect co-sponsors and marshal votes’.

The bottom line is that AIPAC, a de facto agent for a foreign government, has a stranglehold on Congress, with the result that US policy towards Israel is not debated there, even though that policy has important consequences for the entire world. In other words, one of the three main branches of the government is firmly committed to supporting Israel. As one former Democratic senator, Ernest Hollings, noted on leaving office, ‘you can’t have an Israeli policy other than what AIPAC gives you around here.’ Or as Ariel Sharon once told an American audience, ‘when people ask me how they can help Israel, I tell them: “Help AIPAC.”’

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Kagemusha]

2. Getting legislation and influencing elections? That's what lobbies do.

Well, ones that get people to listen to them anyway.

What's the lobby even bigger than AIPAC? AARP. The NRA is pretty big too.

I agree AIPAC has a lot of influence, but citing that influence out of context seems a bit mistaken.

[BuyingThyme]

4. What country does the AARP work for?

:rofl:

[Jara sang]

8. Did you read the whole article?

[H2O Man]

14. In 1989, seven individual

Americans joined in a legal case to make AIPAC's records of influencing legislation and elections to be a matter of public record, because that's what lobbies are supposed to do. The complainants were former Saudia ambassador James Akins; former deputy secretary of state George Ball Since deceased); former chief inspector of the US Information Agency Dick Curtiss; former congressman Paul Findley (R-Ill); Admiral Robert Hanks; former Qatar ambassador Andy Killgore; and the former president of the American-Middle East Educational & Training Services, Orin Parker.

They case has been stagnated in the federal court system, where it remains after 15 years of litigation and appeals. AIPAC claims to be a "membership organization," and refuses to reveal where it gets its approximate $35-40 million annual operating budget, or to account for where the money is spent. Thus, it would be hard to compare AIPAC with lobbies such as the NRA.

For more information, visit the American Educational Trust's (AET) site on the internet. See:
http://www.wrmea.com
This is a non-profit foundation made up of retired US foreign service officers who attempt to provide the public with balanced and accurate information concerning US relations with the countries of the Middle East.

Of particular interest per this topic, see "FBI Investigation of AIPAC is Second Attempt to Curb Israel Lobby's Power," by Andrew Killgore, in the Jan/Feb '06 edition -- Vol. XXV, No.1.

[BeHereNow]

16. H2O, why do you hate "murika, er, Israel, er, 'murika???

Oh never mind, can't tell 'em apart-
So H20, are you a terraist?
LOL,
BHN

[BuyingThyme]

3. AIPAC is an anti-American espionage front, and should never

be viewed as anything less.

[Cleita]

5. That's been happening for a long time.

Where do you think our Arab hatred is coming from? It started with Arafat and the Palestinians being bad guys.

[Behind the Aegis]

6. Mearsheimer and Walt's Anti-Israel Screed:

A Relentless Assault in Scholarly Guise

The article by John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, entitled "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" would not be taken seriously if not for the reputations and associations of the authors. They have each written respected scholarly works on government and international relations and occupy important positions at their universities.

The article itself, which was first posted in full on the Kennedy School Web site and then published in executive summary form by the London Review of Books, is a 41-page, amateurish and biased critique of Israel, American Jews, and American policy. It addresses in a perfunctory and all-knowing fashion some of the most important and complicated issues surrounding the Middle East conflict. Nowhere in evidence is a sense of complexity, balance, an examination of the variety of factors that cause an event, or of putting individual comments in perspective – all the appropriate tools for a serious piece of scholarship or journalism.

On every issue, the authors start with unproven, anti-Israel assumptions and then look for isolated examples to justify these assumptions. One does not have to take a pro-Israel position to recognize that the authors, despite their reputations, have no interest in producing a serious, balanced work. The result is a sloppy diatribe.

Here’s how it works. Mearsheimer and Walt start by blaming Israel for everything in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Once establishing Israel’s consistent guilt, from the creation of the state to present day, they then move to asserting that the “Israel lobby” (which is loosely and inconsistently defined) in the United States uses every device and method of pressure politics to stifle criticism of Israel and to ensure America’s pro-Israel policy, against America’s true interests and to serve the interests of the Jewish state.

more...

[tritsofme]

7. Its the JOOOOOOOOOOOOS

Didn't you know they control everything?

[Jara sang]

9. Wow... way to stifle any debate on this.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tritsofme]

11. Post 8 already shows

That these authors are full of shit.

[BuyingThyme]

17. How 'bout you read the two articles and decide for yourself.

You'll find that the post #8 (Mearsheimer and Walt's Anti-Israel Screed: A Relentless Assault in Scholarly Guise) article is pure bullshit, and was written to be pure bullshit. Is plays the classic anti-Semite race card and pokes at the facts by complaining about omissions.

The one thing you will not find in the #8 article is facts. They don't like the facts, so they offer nonsensical generalizations. It's a propaganda hit piece which is supposed to turn people's attention away from the truth. If you don't want to take the time to read it, just look at the title line.

[BeHereNow]

18. And just WHO wrote that article?

Note: there is, unlike the Mearsheimer and Walt article, no author...
Hmmm?
Rendon Group on hire perhaps?
BHN

[tritsofme]

19. So I guess the ADL must be complicit

in this massive Israeli conspiracy to control the world?

Why else would they publish this bullshit?

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Moderator]

20. locking

Subject line is inflammatory and does not accurately reflect the content of the aricle cited