AIPAC Cool to Cheney's Iraq Pitch

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Cheney's Iraq Pitch Garners Few Plaudits

March 15, 2007

Dick Cheney's message to AIPAC was typically blunt: You want to take on Iran? It's a package deal with Iraq.

"My friends, it is simply not consistent for anyone to demand aggressive action against the menace that is posed by the Iranian regime while at the same time acquiescing in a retreat from Iraq that would leave Israel's best friend, the United States, dangerously weakened," the vice president admonished the 6,000 delegates attending the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's policy forum March 12.

Cheney's appeal is part of Bush-administration efforts in recent months to shore up support for the Iraq war in quarters it once took for granted: Republicans in Congress, the Christian right and now the pro-Israel community.

His message was not received enthusiastically: Only about one-third to one-half of the audience in the cavernous Washington Convention Center hall applauded politely.

Behind Cheney, some AIPAC board members sat stone-faced, including Amy Friedkin, a past AIPAC president who is close to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a fierce critic of the administration's handling of the war.

It's not just that three-quarters of American Jews -- more than any other religious group -- now think the Iraq war was a mistake. That's partly due to perceptions that the war's failure has emboldened Iran and its nuclear ambitions, which AIPAC considers the gravest challenge to Israel.

http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/12440/



Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was among those greeting delegates at the AIPAC Conference.

[Jacobin]

1. Wow. Israel is America's 'best friend'?

:popcorn:

3....2...1...:nuke:

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2. Not that it makes much difference

I think he said America was Israel's best friend . . . maybe their only significant 'friend' other than Britain.

[Jacobin]

3. friends with benefits?

:shrug:

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4. free bullets

missiles

[Sapere aude]

5. There are people in the world who want to kill us, so lets kill them first.

That is what they are saying. That will not make Israel safe. The only thing that will make Israel safe is to live in a world were everyone has a home and a homeland.