Is the Israel Lobby Running Scared?

[marmar]

from TomDispatch:



Is the Israel Lobby Running Scared?
Or Killing a Chicken to Scare the Monkeys

By Robert Dreyfuss


Is the Israel lobby in Washington an all-powerful force? Or is it, perhaps, running scared?

Judging by the outcome of the Charles W. ("Chas") Freeman affair this week, it might seem as if the Israeli lobby is fearsome indeed. Seen more broadly, however, the controversy over Freeman could be the Israel lobby's Waterloo.

Let's recap. On February 19th, Laura Rozen reported at ForeignPolicy.com that Freeman had been selected by Admiral Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, to serve in a key post as chairman of the National Intelligence Council (NIC). The NIC, the official in-house think tank of the intelligence community, takes input from 16 intelligence agencies and produces what are called "national intelligence estimates" on crucial topics of the day as guidance for Washington policymakers. For that job, Freeman boasted a stellar resumé: fluent in Mandarin Chinese, widely experienced in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War, and an ex-assistant secretary of defense during the Reagan administration.

A wry, outspoken iconoclast, Freeman had, however, crossed one of Washington's red lines by virtue of his strong criticism of the U.S.-Israeli relationship. Over the years, he had, in fact, honed a critique of Israel that was both eloquent and powerful. Hours after the Foreign Policy story was posted, Steve Rosen, a former official of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), launched what would soon become a veritable barrage of criticism of Freeman on his right-wing blog.

Rosen himself has already been indicted by the Department of Justice in an espionage scandal over the transfer of classified information to outside parties involving a colleague at AIPAC, a former official in Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon, and an official at the Israeli embassy. His blog, Obama Mideast Monitor, is hosted by the Middle East Forum website run by Daniel Pipes, a hard-core, pro-Israeli rightist, whose Middle East Quarterly is, in turn, edited by Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute. Over approximately two weeks, Rosen would post 19 pieces on the Freeman story. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: (scroll down a bit after clicking the link)http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175046/robert_dreyfuss_the_freeman_affair

[peacetalksforall]

1. K and R - let me know if you repeated this anywhere and if there is a discussion.

Don't know why there are no comments about this. Good filler information.

[marmar]

3. Nope.....This is the only forum I posted this article in.

n/t

[bemildred]

2. Oh heck no. Everything is fine. Great! Really! nt

[peacetalksforall]

4. Well, kick again.;

[pleah]

5. K&R

[DCKit]

6. Yowza. If there's one thing they can't stand, it's criticism. n/t