AIPAC's Big, Bigger, Biggest Moment

[norml]

AIPAC's Big, Bigger, Biggest Moment

By Dana Milbank

Tuesday, May 24, 2005; Page A13

How much clout does AIPAC have?

Well, consider that during the pro-Israel lobby's annual conference yesterday, a fleet of police cars, sirens wailing, blocked intersections and formed a motorcade to escort buses carrying its conventioneers -- to lunch.

The annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has long produced a massive show of bipartisan pandering, as lawmakers praise the well-financed and well-connected group. But this has been a rough year for AIPAC -- it has dismissed its policy director and another employee while the FBI examines whether they passed classified U.S. information to Israel -- and the organization is eager to show how big it is.

Reporters arriving at the convention center yesterday were given a list of "Food Facts" for the three-day AIPAC meeting: 26,000 kosher meals, 32,640 hors d'oeuvres, 2,500 pounds of salmon, 1,200 pounds of turkey, 900 pounds of chicken, 700 pounds of beef and 125 gallons of hummus.

Another fact sheet announced that this is the "largest ever" conference, with its 5,000 participants attending "the largest annual seated dinner in Washington" joined by "more members of Congress than almost any other event, except for a joint session of Congress or a State of the Union address." The group added that its membership "has nearly doubled" over four years to 100,000 and that the National Journal calls it "one of the top four most effective lobbying organizations."




snip



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301565.html

[Carolab]

1. Jeez. The least they could do is toss us a bagel or two.

Welcome to the DC deli.

[aquart]

2. Golly, why would they need police protection?

Not from folks like you, surely.

Know any Israeli suicide bombers?

[DemBones DemBones]

4. The poster just asked for a bagel. But

while we're talking, know any Palestinians driving tanks over houses and any humans in their path?

Name me a race, ethnic or religious group, nationality, whatever, that doesn't have its share of evildoers, bad apples, and all-around assholes. I don't know of any such paragons of virtue. I doubt they exist.

[Carolab]

15. Sure but how many of them have superpowerful lobby groups?

Not a bagels-to-bagels comparison.

Where is the huge lobby group that represents average working class Americans? Is that the ACLU? Do they get the big lunch at the capitol?

[Skidmore]

3. That meeting -- or a portion of it-- is being broacast on

C-SPAN now. One of the senior fellows, a Ruth Gavison, is speaking. This is a scary woman. Her whole schtick is that war is essential and that it is important for Israel to wage it.

[DemBones DemBones]

5. Speaking of scary women. . . Condi's up now.

The backdrop (emblazoned with the letters AIPAC) appears to be a purplish-navy blue and Condi's wearing a coordinating lavender suit. Accessorized with a necklace and earrings that could have been stolen from Dubya's mom's jewelry box.

This crowd loves Condi. :eyes:

[Skidmore]

6. They really do see their warmongering selves as

saviors of the universe, don't they? So much bloodshed.

[Carolab]

16. So how many Israeli troops in Iraq?

Just askin.

[hector459]

7. This is the greatest terrorist group the country needs to deal with. n/t

[tinanator]

8. cant Dean talk to them?

was he there? He seems to have connections of some sort?
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles8/Bister-Estrin-Jacobs_Dean.htm

[Al-CIAda]

19. Possibly so! n/t

[CWebster]

9. Yesterday was a bad day

Dean danced for AIPAC. "The Nation" pimped for Hillary. And Lieberman led the latest Centrist "compromise" while McCain greased his political wheels.

[DemBones DemBones]

18. The Dean Can Dance?

:hide:

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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

[Al-CIAda]

11. Americans Think AIPAC Should Register as a Foreign Agent, Says Council for

Zogby Poll: Should AIPAC be asked to register as an agent of a foreign government and lose its tax-exempt status?
Press Release, Zogby International, 25 September 2004
By a five-to-one margin, people are much more likely to agree than disagree that AIPAC should be asked to register as an agent of a foreign government and lose its tax-exempt status. Three in five (61%) agree, including 44% who strongly agree. One in eight (12%) disagrees, and more than one in four (27%) are not sure.

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=36319

---------

Americans Think AIPAC Should Register as a Foreign Agent, Says Council for the National Interest
A new Council for the National Interest/Zogby poll commissioned after the publication of reports that AIPAC was being investigated for espionage shows that Americans of all backgrounds and ages strongly believe it acts as a foreign agent for the Israeli government and should be registered as a foreign agent and lose its tax exempt status.


http://www.zogby.com/search/ReadClips.dbm?ID=9412

-------------

Now here's a really interesting player-


PNAC Neocon Rabbi Dov Zakheim and the
9/11 Conspiracy

In a document called "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century" published by The American Enterprise's "Project for a New American Century"(1), System Planning Corporation (SPC) International executive, Dov Zakheim, called for "some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor" being necessary to foster the frame of mind needed for the American public to support a war in the Middle East that would politically and culturally reshape the region. A respected and established voice in the intelligence community, his views were eagerly accepted, and Dov went from his position at Systems Planning Corporation to become the Comptroller of the Pentagon in May 2001. (2) Perhaps not so coincidentally, it was an SPC subsidiary, TRIDATA CORPORATION, that oversaw the investigation after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 1993.

SPC, according to their official website, specializes in many areas of defense technology production and manufacture, including a system developed by their Radar Physics Group called the Flight Termination System, or FTS.(3) This is a system used to destroy target drones (craft that would be fired on by test aircraft or weaponry) in the event of malfunction or "misses". This highly sophisticated war-game technology allows the control of several 'drones' from a remote location, on varying frequencies, and has a range of several hundred  miles. This technology can be used on many different types of aircraft, including large passenger jets.



President Bush Announces Seven Positions within His Administration
Dr. Dov Zakheim has been nominated to serve as Under Secretary of Defense and Comptroller.  He is presently the CEO of SPC International, and in the past he has served as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Planning and Resources as well as in a variety of Defense Department positions under former President Reagan.  He was a member of the Task Force on Defense Reform under then-Secretary of Defense William Cohen and in February of 2000 he was appointed to the Defense Science Board Task Force on the Impact of DoD Acquisition Policies on the Health of the Defense Industry.  He has received the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal; the Bronze Palm to the DoD Distinguished Public Service Medal and the CBO Director's Award for Outstanding Service.  A New York native, Dr. Zakheim is a graduate of Columbia University and has also studied at the London School of Economics.  He received his doctorate degree from St. Anthony's College at Oxford University.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/20010212-2.html


What did the Rabbi do?

Radar Physics Group
SPC has over 25 years of experience in the design, development, and use of radar systems. The company has provided and supported five generations of state-of-the-art instrumentation radars for the RCS community since becoming involved in the stealth program in the early 1970s. Building on years of intimate knowledge of radar applications and system design, SPC has the ability to build custom radars or use existing assets for almost any measurement campaign.
http://www.sysplan.com/Radar


--------

Background info-
PNAC primer pdf file-
http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
Roger Barnett
U.S. Naval War College

Alvin Bernstein
National Defense University

Stephen Cambone
National Defense University

Eliot Cohen
Nitze School of Advanced International
Studies, Johns Hopkins University

Devon Gaffney Cross
Donors' Forum for International Affairs

Thomas Donnelly
Project for the New American Century

David Epstein
Office of Secretary of Defense,
Net Assessment

David Fautua
Lt. Col., U.S. Army

Dan Goure
Center for Strategic and International Studies

Donald Kagan
Yale University

Fred Kagan
U. S. Military Academy at West Point

Robert Kagan
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Robert Killebrew
Col., USA (Ret.)

William Kristol
The Weekly Standard

Mark Lagon
Senate Foreign Relations Committee

James Lasswell
GAMA Corporation

I. Lewis Libby
Dechert Price & Rhoads

Robert Martinage
Center for Strategic and Budgetary
Assessment

Phil Meilinger
U.S. Naval War College

Mackubin Owens
U.S. Naval War College

Steve Rosen
Harvard University

Gary Schmitt
Project for the New American Century

Abram Shulsky
The RAND Corporation

Michael Vickers
Center for Strategic and Budgetary
Assessment

Barry Watts
Northrop Grumman Corporation

Paul Wolfowitz
Nitze School of Advanced International
Studies, Johns Hopkins University

Dov Zakheim
System Planning Corporation

[tinanator]

14. scary stuff

how in the hell did we get here?

[donkeyotay]

17. Maybe congress should register as an agent of a foreign government

It's frightening to see the neo-cons and the neo-liberals tell the American people that the one thing we can't have is a government working for us.

[Al-CIAda]

20. Now THERE is a idea that cuts to the chase! n/t

[Al-CIAda]

12. .

[Al-CIAda]

13. .