Former CIA director running John McCain's campaign

R

Raymond

Guest
Remamber this guy, James Woolsey ?

Former CIA director running John McCain's campaign
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx2_0GrFFn4

McCain: 100 years in Iraq "would be fine with me"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFknKVjuyNk

PNAC James Woolsey thumbed Iraq on the night of 9/11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bec2hTuzeNU&feature=related

Woolsey Fearmongers On Iranian Nukes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3Q23bPSglI&feature=related

Woolsey: destruction of Israel and US is essence of Iranian Vilayat
Faqih movement

Shalom aleikhem

We are all Jews
By James Woolsey
Jerusalem Post | Friday, October 03, 2003

I sometimes get asked these days if I'm Jewish -- it's my neoconish
views on defense and foreign affairs, I suppose. For a while I would
just say, "No, Presbyterian,' but I've started saying instead, 'Well,
I anchor the Presbyterian wing of JINSA (the Jewish Institute for
National Security Affairs)."

What with anti-Semitism growing in Europe and a hideous variety
thereof metastasizing in the Middle East -- not to speak of the
American Left's (and a small part of the Right's) hostility to Israel,
which sometimes veers off into anti-Semitism -- it seems to me our
Jewish friends could use a bit of solidarity these days. Today, the
first day of Rosh Hashana, celebration of the Jewish New Year, is as
good a time as any to explain why.

It's not only the other two great Abrahamic religions, Christianity
and Islam, that owe a substantial debt to Judaism, it's the world as a
whole. The reason is that between three and four millennia ago
something happened in the Sinai among a tribe of refugees from
Egyptian oppression that introduced the world to the concept of the
rule of law -- the idea that the law is not the whim of, but rather has
its source above, those who rule.

This concept is at the heart of what makes decently-governed societies
possible, whether you sign on to Jefferson's formulation that we are
"endowed by our Creator" with basic rights or prefer the more secular
notion of natural law.

In the absence of one or the other of these bases for the notion that
the rule of law somehow derives from a source above the rulers,
electoral democracy can degenerate into mob rule and capitalism into
theft. This supremacy of the law is what most Americans mean when they
say that we have a "government of laws, not men."

Some aspects of this have gotten a bit muddled recently in the largely
academic debate about whether the United States is or is not an
"empire.' If the US is an empire it's a very odd one: Countries where
it has troops such as Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Germany suggest
they are unhappy about that and the response is, 'OK," and an offer to
leave.

Nero and Napoleon would have been appalled. They would also have had a
hard time understanding the travails of Richard Nixon and Bill
Clinton. One was driven from office by the people's elected
representatives for permitting a cover-up of a clumsy political
burglary. The other was impeached by the House, then acquitted in a
Senate trial, for lying under oath in a deposition taken in what was
essentially a sexual harassment case brought by a private citizen.

What, you may well ask, are the most powerful individuals in the world
doing, if they are emperors, getting held to account by members of
Congress for burglary cover-ups and by private citizens, no less, for
sexual behavior?

The answer is, of course, that neither Nixon nor Clinton, indeed no
American president, is even close to being an emperor. People (and
smaller nations wherein an empire maintains troops) obey emperors, if
they know what's good for them, without much discussion. These two
recent presidents were, instead, held to account in a distinctly non-
imperial way -- in pretty much the same way Elijah humbled Ahab for
allowing his queen, Jezebel, to frame and execute Naboth and steal his
vineyard, and in the way the prophet Nathan confronted David over his
taking Bathsheba and ordering her husband, Uriah, to the front lines
and certain death.

The US does not look back to Rome or France at the height of their
power in determining the way to deal with those who today govern the
most powerful nation in history. Thankfully, in regard to the powerful
being subjected to the rule of law we are, instead, all Jews.

I'VE MAINLY been in synagogues for the bar mitzvas and bat mitzvas of
friends' children. The next time you are, notice what the object of
veneration is -- it is the Torah, the law itself. At a point in the
service it is carried, lovingly, around the congregation, greeted as
an old friend. I am convinced that it is this veneration of the law --
with its status above the ruler -- that is at the heart of anti-
Semitism.

Jews have almost always been the first target of tyrants, because
their beliefs and religious practices, honed by nearly two millennia
in Diaspora, clearly declare that in their view the law is above the
ruler: dietary laws, the dress of the Orthodox, a propensity to
contend about what is a fair interpretation of rules, all stamp Jews
with this belief's being the heart of their history and religion. As a
consequence they are often the first group that dictators, secular or
theocratic, feel they must suppress.

We should all reflect upon the historic reality that when anti-
Semitism raises its head, the rest of us, unless we are willing to
live with a foot on our neck, will be the next targets.

Jewish humor, a distinctive barrier against any propensity to self-
righteousness, permeates American culture. A number of times during
the Cold War, I was involved in arms control negotiations with the
Soviets. No matter how bad the tension across the negotiating table
during the day, Russian and American negotiators would often end up
going out for dinner together. Somehow, even in the most difficult
periods, the conversation frequently turned to trading jokes.

I always thought it remarkable how much Russian humor was suffused
with a wry, self-deprecating, ironic tone both quite funny and somehow
quite familiar to Americans. Later, finding versions of a number of
these jokes and stories in Leo Rosten's wonderful The Joys of Yiddish,
I realized the source of the familiarity.

Six years ago the Immigration and Naturalization Service imprisoned
eight Muslims, Iraqi freedom fighters who were refugees from Saddam,
for allegedly being security threats to the US. The government's case
was worse than flimsy but it was protected by rules regarding secret
evidence. After a long struggle all eight were freed, and several are
now working to establish democracy in Iraq.

I was one of their lawyers. The majority of my co-counsel, all acting
pro bono, were Jewish. The law is, after all, above the ruler.

To all of us, happy Rosh Hashana.

The writer was director of the Central Intelligence Agency 1993--95.

James Woolsey (former director, CIA), The 7th Herzliya Conference said
the destruction of Israel and US is essence of Iranian Vilayat Faqih
movement. An excerpt:

http://noisyroom.net/blog/2007/01/2...is-essence-of-iranian-vilayat-faqih-movement/

Former CIA chief: 'Oil dependence threatens US, Israel ...
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?

The case for reducing the United States' dependence on oil is most
often argued by environmentalists concerned about global warming and
ozone depletion. But a growing number of people are drawing what they
consider to be a crucial link between oil and national security. They
argue that America's reliance on oil is the number one security threat
facing the country.

One figure who has emerged in this debate is co-chairman of the
Committee on the Present Danger and former director of the CIA, R.
James Woolsey, who spoke in New York this week at an event sponsored
by the Middle East Forum, a conservative think tank that seeks to
define and promote America's interests in the Middle East. Woolsey
argues that America's reliance on oil as the primary source of fuel is
one of the greatest barriers to national security and threatens both
the US and Israel.

cid=1162378316436&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Kirkuk to Haifa Pipeline: Reason for the War?
In 2003, Bush invaded Iraq, partly to topple Saddam Hussein, partly to
revive the pipeline to Haifa

http://zionofascism.wordpress.com/category/netanyahu-watch/

US discusses plan to pump fuel to its regional ally and solve energy
headache at a stroke Ed Vuillamy in Washington Sunday April 20, 2003

The Observer
By Steven Scheer

LONDON (Reuters) - Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he
expected an oil pipeline from Iraq to Israel to be reopened in the
near future after being closed when Israel became a state in 1948.

"It won't be long when you will see Iraqi oil flowing to Haifa," the
port city in northern Israel, Netanyahu told a group of British
investors, declining to give a timetable.

"It is just a matter of time until the pipeline is reconstituted and
Iraqi oil will flow to the Mediterranean."

Netanyahu later told Reuters the government was in the early stages of
looking into the possibility of reopening the pipeline, which during
the British Mandate sent oil from Mosul to Haifa via Jordan.

Shalom:
"It's not a pipe-dream," Netanyahu said.

Plans to build a pipeline to siphon oil from newly conquered Iraq to
Israel are being discussed between Washington, Tel Aviv and potential
future government figures in Baghdad.The plan envisages the
reconstruction of an old pipeline, inactive since the end of the
British mandate in Palestine in 1948, when the flow from Iraq's
northern oilfields to Palestine was re-directed to Syria.

Sunday, November 4, 2007
Iraqi invasion: oil perspective

The British built the Kirkuk-to-Haifa pipeline in 1927. In 1934, they
completed a 12-inch pipeline from the Kirkuk fields to Al-Haditha on
the Euphrates River. At that point the pipeline forked. One branch
went through Syria to Tripoli (Lebanon). The other went across Jordan
to Haifa. The British built refineries at both Tripoli and Haifa to
handle this Iraq oil. (In World War II, Germany wanted to get control
of this oil.)

In 1945 the British added a parallel 16-inch pipeline in Syria.

When Jews started to invade Palestine in 1945, Syria shut down its
branch to Tripoli. Iraq shut down all oil from from Kirkuk to Haifa.
At that point, most of northern Iraq's oil went to the Turkish port
city of Gihan, which was OK with the US, since Turkey was a US ally
against the USSR. Turkey collect transit fees for this oil.

In 1947 the British oil refinery at Haifa still handled trickle of oil
from miscellaneous areas, and still employed some 1,700 Arab workers,
plus 360 Jewish employees. The Arab and Jewish workers formed a union
to oppose British tyranny. Then Israel was created. Immediately Irgun
(commanded by Menachem Begin), the Hagana and other terrorist groups
moved in. Irgun had bombed the King David Hotel the year before, and
they started massacring Arabs in Haifa and elsewhere.

In 1952, western oil companies built two new lines through Syria to
Tripoli. The pipeline to Haifa was allowed to decay. Pieces of it were
dismantled. Various interests used the pieces to build water
pipelines.

In 2003, Bush invaded Iraq, partly to topple Saddam Hussein, partly to
revive the pipeline to Haifa (Kirkuk oil fields were said to contain
perhaps 40% of Iraq's oil), and partly to bring oil deals to his
personal friends, such as Ray L. Hunt. Small American oil companies
like Hunt Oil will extract Kurdish oil as soon as and if Mosul and
Kirkuk are broken off from Iraq (17 November 2007). Mosul is the first
stop for Kirkuk oil.

When the Haifa pipeline opens back up, only Jordan (not Israel) will
collect hefty transit fees. Kurdish oil will go to Europe via Israel,
not Turkey. This might be a reason why Turkey is threatening to
invade. The minute Bush invaded Iraq, the Turkish realized that the
pipeline to Haifa would be opened back up. Therefore Turkey tried to
make deals with Central Asian states (such as Azerbaijan) to get new
pipelines to Turkey, but now Iran and Russia have foiled Turkish plans
by forming the new alliance of Caspian Sea states. Turkey feels
squeezed. This is yet another reason why they are threatening to
invade northern Iraq.

Shortly after the 2003 invasion, Benyamin Netanyahu (the then Israeli
finance minister) boasted, "Soon you will see Iraqi oil flowing to
Haifa. It is just a matter of time until the pipeline is
reconstituted, and Iraqi oil will flow to the Mediterranean. It's not
a pipe dream."

Under a 1975 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the US guaranteed all
Israel's oil needs in the event of a crisis. This MoU is quietly
renewed every five years. It commits US taxpayers to maintain a
strategic US reserve for Israel, equivalent to $3 billion in 2002
dollars. Special legislation was enacted to exempt Israel from
restrictions on oil exports from the US. Moreover, the US government
agreed to divert oil from the US, even in case of oil shortages in the
US. The US government also guaranteed delivery of oil in US tankers if
commercial shippers become unable or unwilling to carry oil from the
US to Israel.

SEE
Israel-United States Memorandum of Understanding
(September 1, 1975)

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/mou1975.html

Israel can wrench lot of oil from the region if the pipeline were used
again and Kurds were willing to sell the oil. It would also make Kurds
dependent on Israelis for oil revenues and thus give a greater
leverage to Israelis over Kurds of the region...

We are All Jews Now
Aidel gepotchket - Delicately brought up

Consider the present crisis in America and the rise of anti-
Americanism worldwide. "The US has become a Jewish state in more ways
than one. It has the same security checks, the same holocaust museums,
the same poverty for many and riches for a few as Israel

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles4/Jones_Palestine.htm

Azoy gait es! - That's how it goes!
L'Shalom
 
On Mar 30, 1:51 pm, Raymond <Bluerhy...@aol.com> wrote:
> Remamber this guy, James Woolsey ?
>
> Former CIA director running John McCain's campaignhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx2_0GrFFn4
>
> McCain: 100 years in Iraq "would be fine with me"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFknKVjuyNk
>
> PNAC James Woolsey thumbed Iraq on the night of 9/11http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bec2hTuzeNU&feature=related
>
> Woolsey Fearmongers On Iranian Nukeshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3Q23bPSglI&feature=related
>
> Woolsey: destruction of Israel and US is essence of Iranian Vilayat
> Faqih movement
>
> Shalom aleikhem
>
> We are all Jews
> By James Woolsey
> Jerusalem Post | Friday, October 03, 2003
>
> I sometimes get asked these days if I'm Jewish -- it's my neoconish
> views on defense and foreign affairs, I suppose. For a while I would
> just say, "No, Presbyterian,' but I've started saying instead, 'Well,
> I anchor the Presbyterian wing of JINSA (the Jewish Institute for
> National Security Affairs)."
>
> What with anti-Semitism growing in Europe and a hideous variety
> thereof metastasizing in the Middle East -- not to speak of the
> American Left's (and a small part of the Right's) hostility to Israel,
> which sometimes veers off into anti-Semitism -- it seems to me our
> Jewish friends could use a bit of solidarity these days. Today, the
> first day of Rosh Hashana, celebration of the Jewish New Year, is as
> good a time as any to explain why.
>
> It's not only the other two great Abrahamic religions, Christianity
> and Islam, that owe a substantial debt to Judaism, it's the world as a
> whole. The reason is that between three and four millennia ago
> something happened in the Sinai among a tribe of refugees from
> Egyptian oppression that introduced the world to the concept of the
> rule of law -- the idea that the law is not the whim of, but rather has
> its source above, those who rule.
>
> This concept is at the heart of what makes decently-governed societies
> possible, whether you sign on to Jefferson's formulation that we are
> "endowed by our Creator" with basic rights or prefer the more secular
> notion of natural law.
>
> In the absence of one or the other of these bases for the notion that
> the rule of law somehow derives from a source above the rulers,
> electoral democracy can degenerate into mob rule and capitalism into
> theft. This supremacy of the law is what most Americans mean when they
> say that we have a "government of laws, not men."
>
> Some aspects of this have gotten a bit muddled recently in the largely
> academic debate about whether the United States is or is not an
> "empire.' If the US is an empire it's a very odd one: Countries where
> it has troops such as Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Germany suggest
> they are unhappy about that and the response is, 'OK," and an offer to
> leave.
>
> Nero and Napoleon would have been appalled. They would also have had a
> hard time understanding the travails of Richard Nixon and Bill
> Clinton. One was driven from office by the people's elected
> representatives for permitting a cover-up of a clumsy political
> burglary. The other was impeached by the House, then acquitted in a
> Senate trial, for lying under oath in a deposition taken in what was
> essentially a sexual harassment case brought by a private citizen.
>
> What, you may well ask, are the most powerful individuals in the world
> doing, if they are emperors, getting held to account by members of
> Congress for burglary cover-ups and by private citizens, no less, for
> sexual behavior?
>
> The answer is, of course, that neither Nixon nor Clinton, indeed no
> American president, is even close to being an emperor. People (and
> smaller nations wherein an empire maintains troops) obey emperors, if
> they know what's good for them, without much discussion. These two
> recent presidents were, instead, held to account in a distinctly non-
> imperial way -- in pretty much the same way Elijah humbled Ahab for
> allowing his queen, Jezebel, to frame and execute Naboth and steal his
> vineyard, and in the way the prophet Nathan confronted David over his
> taking Bathsheba and ordering her husband, Uriah, to the front lines
> and certain death.
>
> The US does not look back to Rome or France at the height of their
> power in determining the way to deal with those who today govern the
> most powerful nation in history. Thankfully, in regard to the powerful
> being subjected to the rule of law we are, instead, all Jews.
>
> I'VE MAINLY been in synagogues for the bar mitzvas and bat mitzvas of
> friends' children. The next time you are, notice what the object of
> veneration is -- it is the Torah, the law itself. At a point in the
> service it is carried, lovingly, around the congregation, greeted as
> an old friend. I am convinced that it is this veneration of the law --
> with its status above the ruler -- that is at the heart of anti-
> Semitism.
>
> Jews have almost always been the first target of tyrants, because
> their beliefs and religious practices, honed by nearly two millennia
> in Diaspora, clearly declare that in their view the law is above the
> ruler: dietary laws, the dress of the Orthodox, a propensity to
> contend about what is a fair interpretation of rules, all stamp Jews
> with this belief's being the heart of their history and religion. As a
> consequence they are often the first group that dictators, secular or
> theocratic, feel they must suppress.
>
> We should all reflect upon the historic reality that when anti-
> Semitism raises its head, the rest of us, unless we are willing to
> live with a foot on our neck, will be the next targets.
>
> Jewish humor, a distinctive barrier against any propensity to self-
> righteousness, permeates American culture. A number of times during
> the Cold War, I was involved in arms control negotiations with the
> Soviets. No matter how bad the tension across the negotiating table
> during the day, Russian and American negotiators would often end up
> going out for dinner together. Somehow, even in the most difficult
> periods, the conversation frequently turned to trading jokes.
>
> I always thought it remarkable how much Russian humor was suffused
> with a wry, self-deprecating, ironic tone both quite funny and somehow
> quite familiar to Americans. Later, finding versions of a number of
> these jokes and stories in Leo Rosten's wonderful The Joys of Yiddish,
> I realized the source of the familiarity.
>
> Six years ago the Immigration and Naturalization Service imprisoned
> eight Muslims, Iraqi freedom fighters who were refugees from Saddam,
> for allegedly being security threats to the US. The government's case
> was worse than flimsy but it was protected by rules regarding secret
> evidence. After a long struggle all eight were freed, and several are
> now working to establish democracy in Iraq.
>
> I was one of their lawyers. The majority of my co-counsel, all acting
> pro bono, were Jewish. The law is, after all, above the ruler.
>
> To all of us, happy Rosh Hashana.
>
> The writer was director of the Central Intelligence Agency 1993--95.
>
> James Woolsey (former director, CIA), The 7th Herzliya Conference said
> the destruction of Israel and US is essence of Iranian Vilayat Faqih
> movement. An excerpt:
>
> http://noisyroom.net/blog/2007/01/25/woolsey-destruction-of-israel-an...
>
> Former CIA chief: 'Oil dependence threatens US, Israel ...http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?
>
> The case for reducing the United States' dependence on oil is most
> often argued by environmentalists concerned about global warming and
> ozone depletion. But a growing number of people are drawing what they
> consider to be a crucial link between oil and national security. They
> argue that America's reliance on oil is the number one security threat
> facing the country.
>
> One figure who has emerged in this debate is co-chairman of the
> Committee on the Present Danger and former director of the CIA, R.
> James Woolsey, who spoke in New York this week at an event sponsored
> by the Middle East Forum, a conservative think tank that seeks to
> define and promote America's interests in the Middle East. Woolsey
> argues that America's reliance on oil as the primary source of fuel is
> one of the greatest barriers to national security and threatens both
> the US and Israel.
>
> cid=1162378316436&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
>
> Kirkuk to Haifa Pipeline: Reason for the War?
> In 2003, Bush invaded Iraq, partly to topple Saddam Hussein, partly to
> revive the pipeline to Haifa
>
> http://zionofascism.wordpress.com/category/netanyahu-watch/
>
> US discusses plan to pump fuel to its regional ally and solve energy
> headache at a stroke Ed Vuillamy in Washington Sunday April 20, 2003
>
> The Observer
> By Steven Scheer
>
> LONDON (Reuters) - Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he
> expected an oil pipeline from Iraq to Israel to be reopened in the
> near future after being closed when Israel became a state in 1948.
>
> "It won't be long when you will see Iraqi oil flowing to Haifa," the
> port city in northern Israel, Netanyahu told a group of British
> investors, declining to give a timetable.
>
> "It is just a matter of time until the pipeline is reconstituted and
> Iraqi oil will flow to the Mediterranean."
>
> Netanyahu later told Reuters the government was in the early stages of
> looking into the possibility of reopening the pipeline, which during
> the British Mandate sent oil from Mosul to Haifa via Jordan.
>
> Shalom:
> "It's not a pipe-dream," Netanyahu said.
>
> Plans to build a pipeline to siphon oil from newly conquered Iraq to
> Israel are being discussed between Washington, Tel Aviv and potential
> future government figures in Baghdad.The plan envisages the
> reconstruction of an old pipeline, inactive since the end of the
> British mandate in Palestine in 1948, when the flow from Iraq's
> northern oilfields to Palestine was re-directed to Syria.
>
> Sunday, November 4, 2007
> Iraqi invasion: oil perspective
>
> The British built the Kirkuk-to-Haifa pipeline in 1927. In 1934, they
> completed a 12-inch pipeline from the Kirkuk fields to Al-Haditha on
> the Euphrates River. At that point the pipeline forked. One branch
> went through Syria to Tripoli (Lebanon). The other went across Jordan
> to Haifa. The British built refineries at both Tripoli and Haifa to
> handle this Iraq oil. (In World War II, Germany wanted to get control
> of this oil.)
>
> In 1945 the British added a parallel 16-inch pipeline in Syria.
>
> When Jews started to invade Palestine in 1945, Syria shut down its
> branch to Tripoli. Iraq shut down all oil from from Kirkuk to Haifa.
> At that point, most of northern Iraq's oil went to the Turkish port
> city of Gihan, which was OK with the US, since Turkey was a US ally
> against the USSR. Turkey collect transit fees for this oil.
>
> In 1947 the British oil refinery at Haifa still handled trickle of oil
> from miscellaneous areas, and still employed some 1,700 Arab workers,
> plus 360 Jewish employees. The Arab and Jewish workers formed a union
> to oppose British tyranny. Then Israel was created. Immediately Irgun
> (commanded by Menachem Begin), the Hagana and other terrorist groups
> moved in. Irgun had bombed the King David Hotel the year before, and
> they started massacring Arabs in Haifa and elsewhere.
>
> In 1952, western oil companies built two new lines through Syria to
> Tripoli. The pipeline to Haifa was allowed to decay. Pieces of it were
> dismantled. Various interests used the pieces to build water
> pipelines.
>
> In 2003, Bush invaded Iraq, partly to topple Saddam Hussein, partly to
> revive the pipeline to Haifa (Kirkuk oil fields were said to contain
> perhaps 40% of Iraq's oil), and partly to bring oil deals to his
> personal friends, such as Ray L. Hunt. Small American oil companies
> like Hunt Oil will extract Kurdish oil as soon as and if Mosul and
> Kirkuk are broken off from Iraq (17 November 2007). Mosul is the first
> stop for Kirkuk oil.
>
> When the Haifa pipeline opens back up, only Jordan (not Israel) will
> collect hefty transit fees. Kurdish oil will go to Europe via Israel,
> not Turkey. This might be a reason why Turkey is threatening to
> invade. The minute Bush invaded Iraq, the Turkish realized that the
> pipeline to Haifa would be opened back up. Therefore Turkey tried to
> make deals with Central Asian states (such as Azerbaijan) to get new
> pipelines to Turkey, but now Iran and Russia have foiled Turkish plans
> by forming the new alliance of Caspian Sea states. Turkey feels
> squeezed. This is yet another reason why they are threatening to
> invade northern Iraq.
>
> Shortly after the 2003 invasion, Benyamin Netanyahu (the then Israeli
> finance minister) boasted, "Soon you will see Iraqi oil flowing to
> Haifa. It is just a matter of time until the pipeline is
> reconstituted, and Iraqi oil will flow to the Mediterranean. It's not
> a pipe dream."
>
> Under a 1975 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the US guaranteed all
> Israel's oil needs in the event of a crisis. This MoU is quietly
> renewed every five years. It commits US taxpayers to maintain a
> strategic US reserve for Israel, equivalent to $3 billion in 2002
> dollars. Special legislation was enacted to exempt Israel from
> restrictions on oil exports from the US. Moreover, the US government
> agreed to divert oil from the US, even in case of oil shortages in the
> US. The US government also guaranteed delivery of oil in US tankers if
> commercial shippers become unable or unwilling to carry oil from the
> US to Israel.
>
> SEE
> Israel-United States Memorandum of Understanding
> (September 1, 1975)
>
> http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/mou1975.html
>
> Israel can wrench lot of oil from the region if the pipeline were used
> again and Kurds were willing to sell the oil. It would also make Kurds
> dependent on Israelis for oil revenues and thus give a greater
> leverage to Israelis over Kurds of the region...
>
> We are All Jews Now
> Aidel gepotchket - Delicately brought up
>
> Consider the present crisis in America and the rise of anti-
> Americanism worldwide. "The US has become a Jewish state in more ways
> than one. It has the same security checks, the same holocaust museums,
> the same poverty for many and riches for a few as Israel
>
> http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles4/Jones_Palestine.htm
>
> Azoy gait es! - That's how it goes!
> L'Shalom


Page II

The Bully of the Middle East

One of the myths surrounding the creation of the State of Israel is
that the Zionists fought a war of independence in 1948, and won
against heavy odds. The Israeli narrative has been that Israel was a
David struggling for its independence against the Arab Goliath. It is
a great story, but that is exactly what it is--a story. As Mearsheimer
and Walt detail in their book on the Israel Lobby, the Zionist armies
outnumbered the Arab armies, they were better trained and had better
equipment and weapons.

What is more accurate historically is that Israel became the bully of
the Middle East, starting even before May 15, 1948, when it declared
itself a state. The full details of what the Zionist movement did to
grab the Palestinians' land are outlined in Ilan Pappe's book, The
Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, from which Mearsheimer and Walt quote
in their narrative on the Israeli Lobby.

My real Middle East education began during a trip I took through the
Middle East in 1973. When I returned from the trip in early 1974, I
held a press conference at the Federal Press Club in Washington, D.C.
I related to those gathered there that every single Arab leader I met
with, including Yasir Arafat, told me that each was ready to make
peace with Israel, to begin commercial trade with it, on the condition
that Israel withdraw to the pre-1967 borders, and allow a Palestinian
state in the West Bank and Gaza.

Amazingly, the Arab leaders I talked to, including Arafat, were
willing to concede the land that Israel had already taken by force in
1947 and 1948. That was the same offer King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
made to Israel last year--an offer that was scoffed at by Israel and
ignored by the United States.

When I related what I had heard in the Arab countries to the gathered
journalists and others interested in the issue at the Press Club, a
short reporter rose to ask me a few hostile questions, after which he
left. His name was Wolf Blitzer, at that time a writer for the AIPAC
newsletter, The Near East Report. The headline of his story was,
"Abourezk Sells Out to the Arabs."

Israel Critics Begin on the Defensive

Mearsheimer and Walt have written an excellent exposition of the
Israel Lobby, both in articles and in their most recent book. But they
have had to spend a great deal of words and time assuring their
readers that they are not anti-Semites, an accusation that has been
the main force of the attack on them by the Israel Lobby. There is a
well-rehearsed chorus of Israel supporters lying in wait for whoever
dares to criticize Israel's policies, ready to pounce, catlike, and
with great force on the unfortunate miscreant. What is interesting is
that I have yet to see any of Mearsheimer and Walt's pro-Israel
critics challenge the accuracy of what they have written. Those
critics rely on the charge of anti-Semitism, as well as vague,
unspecified allegations of inaccuracies in what they have written.

To most people, the charge of racism is a frightening thing, something
which no self-respecting person wants attached to them, a feeling of
which defenders of Israel are well aware. In America, academics,
journalists and politicians have been trained to tip-toe around the
subject lest they have to spend all their time denying the allegations
of racism against them. The attacks from the Lobby's hit men come at a
fast and a vicious pace, which results in the unfortunate writer
spending as much time defending himself or herself as the time spent
on the original writing itself.

I read Alan Dershowitz' screed against Mearsheimer and Walt's original
paper. Dershowitz selects a few points in their paper, then focuses
his attack on those few points. Even then he doesn't get it right.
Dershowitz has the same problem here as he has had over the years. He
has difficulty with telling the truth in his criticism of the two
authors.

For a number of years I was the target of the same accusations because
I've expressed my strong disagreement with Israel's actions.

Joe Rauh, the celebrated civil rights attorney in Washington, D.C.,
once patronized me with an unsolicited comment, "Jim I never let them
call you an anti-Semite." Joe never stayed around long enough to learn
that I never let "them" call me a racist. I am emotionally secure
enough know that I am not a racist, and I refuse to allow Israel's
supporters to brand me as such. I cannot agree that criticism of
Israel's policies equals racism, as the Anti-Defamation League is fond
of telling us. I feel a responsibility to continue to discuss both
America's and Israel's failed policies in the Middle East.

The distraction caused by personal attacks on critics of Israel is, of
course, intended to get everyone off the subject of whether or not
America's overdone support for whatever Israel does is good for
America. That is something no one in the Lobby wants to hear--a real
debate on the issue. As someone once said, the Lobby does its best
work out of the public's eye. That kind of anonymity disguises the
kind of work done by the Lobby--frightening and intimidating
officeholders in order to keep American taxpayers' money flowing to
Israel.

Mearsheimer and Walt's main argument is that American support for
Israel is not in America's best interests.

I agree.

Seeking to Justify the Money Sent To Israel
The authors have done a bang-up job of research. Their book is packed,
no, it is crammed, both with the manner in which America supports
Israel's aggressions, as well as with the negative consequences to our
country of such support. The facts they include in their book are
almost overwhelming, but they are necessary for people to understand
what is at stake.

In order to mask the kind of mugging the Lobby undertakes on members
of Congress, it's necessary for supporters of Israel to explain
American generosity in ways other than how the Lobby intimidates
members of Congress, and presidential candidates as well.

I saw an example of that during the 1970s. While I was waiting my turn
to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I listened
to a State Department official struggling to answer questions from New
York's Senator Jack Javits, a member of the Committee.

"I want you to tell this committee the ways in which Israel is a
strategic asset to the United States," Javits told the official.

The bureaucrat stumbled over his words, finally admitting that he was
unable to think of any such ways. Remember, this was during the 1970s,
at the height of the cold war with the Soviet Union when Israel was
heralded by its supporters as a bulwark against the Soviets.

Javits continued to press him. "I'm going to ask you again. Tell us
how Israel is a strategic asset to the United States." The hapless
bureaucrat continued to stutter, eventually giving up, as did Javits.
This was a time when some were questioning the value of our financial,
military and political support of Israel. The lack of a proper answer
by the bureaucrat didn't really matter, as Congressional support for
Israel was maintained at a high level, despite the pitiful State
Department fellow who couldn't think of a reason to justify our aid.
The Mearsheimer/Walt book does outline some of the help Israel has
given the United States. However, they point out, what little help we
have received has come at an almost unbearably high price to America.

Israel provided us with embarrassingly little intelligence on the Arab
countries, but they did report to the U.S. what they were told by
Russian Jewish immigrants. And, as the 1991 Gulf War showed, we
refused Israel's military help against Saddam Hussein for fear of
alienating Arab allies who had joined the coalition against Saddam
Hussein.

Israel has had a practice for years of trying to empty out the West
Bank of its young Palestinian men. When a young Palestinian would
leave home to go to college in another country, the Shin Bet would
visit the young man's parents, telling them that their son was wanted
for unspecified crimes that were made up on the spot. The reaction of
the parents was predictable. They would get word to their son that the
Shin Bet was looking for him, and that he should never come back to
Palestine.

One such Palestinian, Sami Ismail, who was attending college in
Michigan in the 1970s, learned that his father was seriously ill. He
immediately made plans to return to the West Bank for what he was
certain would be his father's funeral. The FBI, which obviously had
been watching Sami, informed the Shin Bet that he was on his way back
to Israel. He was arrested at the Tel Aviv airport and put in prison.
After being beaten and tortured, he was, a few years later, released
and is now back in Michigan.

During a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee with the FBI
counterterrorism director at that time, I asked him to meet with me
privately in an office behind the Committee room. There he admitted to
me that the FBI had sent information on Sami Ismail's travel plans to
Israel, which resulted in his arrest and imprisonment when he arrived.

The price America has paid for America's support for Israel is
reflected in the almost universal hatred for our government both by
Arabs in the Middle East, and by Moslems around the world. There is no
question that we are blamed for the bombings and invasions of Lebanon
and Syria--which are accomplished with American weapons. Although the
average American may not know why we are so unpopular around the
world, every single person in the Middle East is able to discuss at
length the cluster munitions and other American weapons that Israel
drops in civilian areas. Cluster bombs are a particular cruel weapon,
maiming and killing small children who pick up the bomblets, as well
as the American made jets and bombs that routinely kill Arabs. Beyond
cluster weapons, when Israel occupied Southern Lebanon from 1982 to
2000, it planted land mines throughout the area it controlled, and to
this day refuses to provide a map to the Lebanese government of where
they are planted. Periodically, Lebanese farmers come away with their
legs blown off, or they are killed by the hidden exploding mines.

During my first trip to Lebanon in 1973, while on my way by car for my
first visit to my parents' village in the South, we stopped at the
neighboring village of Mimas, where the Mayor had caused a banner to
be stretched across the road, adjacent to a bomb crater. The banner
read, in Arabic, "Welcome Sheikh Senator James Abourezk," and in
English, "Fantome Jets Made in USA."

The mayor's speech articulated what the villagers were obviously
thinking. "We used to think of America as a haven for those of us from
Lebanon who went there from this village. We always loved America. Now
we think of it as an oppressor."

A Long Line of U.S. Support for Israel's Aggressions
Our governments, from the time of Lyndon Johnson up to the present,
have sent weapons to Israel with which to bomb Arab lands, have vetoed
United Nations Security Council resolutions calling Israel to account
for its aggressions, and have sent American taxpayers' money for their
weapons stockpile. The money sent by our Congress has created a higher
living standard in Israel than many people in America enjoy.

It was President Lyndon Johnson who, when the U.S.S. Liberty came
under deadly attack in 1967 by the Israeli military, killing 134
American sailors and wounding many more, prevented American fighter
jets from going to the crew's rescue. Following the killing and
wounding of so many American sailors by Israeli jets and torpedo
boats, the crew was ordered not to speak of the assault. Although the
Liberty incident is one of the more shameful in our country's history,
there has never been an official U.S. government investigation of the
attack, despite the many requests by the surviving crew members.

Although Nixon had no love for Israel, he did have Henry Kissinger
pulling his strings, convincing Nixon that an Israeli defeat during
the 1973 War would embolden the Soviet Union. Israel had run out of
equipment and weapons during the War, and Kissinger's intervention
resulted in Nixon ordering a massive airlift of replacement weapons,
allowing Israel to defeat both Egypt and Syria.

George W. Bush, an evangelical who is disguised as a President, has
provided whatever support Israel might want, including the disgusting
delay of a requested cease fire in the 2006 Lebanese War, betting that
Israel would demolish Hizbollah's military if only it were allowed
more time. The time given to Israel by Bush resulted only in
additional destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure, with Israel giving
up in the end, without the victory both it and Bush had hoped for.

In one of the more disgusting moments of pandering to Israel's
supporters, at the time that Prime Minister Sharon had ordered
destruction of the West Bank village of Jenin, Bush announced that
Sharon was "a man of peace."

Some U.S. Senators have been unable to wait for weapons' requests from
Israel before swinging into action, as Senator Scoop Jackson did in
1972. He offered an amendment to Israeli aid legislation that was
being considered on the Senate floor, an amendment that was neither
solicited by Israel nor by the State Department, which added $500
million to the appropriation for fighter jets. Of course, it passed
with no opposition.

The power of the Israeli Lobby is legendary on Capitol Hill. During
the 1970s, when Gerald Ford was president, both he and Kissinger
ordered that weapons shipments to Israel be stopped, hoping to force
Israel to accede to Ford's wishes during a set of peace negotiations.
The Israeli Lobby circulated a letter to Ford, threatening him with
unspecified political consequences, signed by 76 U.S. Senators.

On the night before the letter was released to the press, I had dinner
with one Senator who told me that he was not about to sign it, as he
knew how it would be used. The next day I saw his name on the list,
and I asked him what had happened to change his mind. "I began getting
calls from my home state. They were lawyers, doctors and other
professional people who had actually taken time off from their
practice to campaign for me. They were not just ordinary citizens, but
people who had sacrificed to help me get elected. There was no way I
could turn them down."

In the privacy of the Senate cloakroom one can hear the animosity that
surfaces against the Israeli Lobby. But in public these same Senators
will pander in the most undignified manner.

For most members of Congress a vote for Israel is counted as a throw
away vote. It has been all benefit for them, with no cost, as the
Arabs had no effective lobby, and a vote for Israel would cost the
Congressperson very little, if anything at all. Conversely, a vote
against legislation that Israel's Lobby wants brings political threats
and retaliation that no one in Congress wants to deal with.

CONT'D
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