AIPAC Lobbies Against Pelosi / Murtha/ Webb on War with Iran
Sat Mar 10, 2007 at 12:00:00 PM PDT
OK, I'm going to start this diary with an apology, as it is arguably a repetitive diary. But, the gravity of the issue raised by the previous diary which MJ Rosenberg crossposted from TPMCafe is such that I think it needs to be elevated to the recommended list.
Specifically, this relates to an item in Thursday's Congressional Quarterly which mentioned that AIPAC is pushing behind the scenes to undermine the efforts by Nancy Pelosi and John Murtha on the House side, in tandem with Jim Webb's effort on the Senate side (video here), to restrict President Bush's ability to use appropriated funds for a military strike on Iran, absent an immediate threat.
Recorded!: John Bolton Conference Call with AIPAC
Mon Jan 08, 2007 at 05:59:27 PM PDT
Get it while it's available: a supporter of recently departed US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton recorded a conference call he did with AIPAC, which is currently leading the charge for war with Iran. You can download it here.
The Larry Franklin / AIPAC Case - A Memo to the Media
Wed May 04, 2005 at 05:37:25 PM PDT
I'm sure all of the regular readers of my blog,
The Gorilla in the Room, have heard about Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin surrendering to the FBI today to face charges of illegal disclosure of classified information to AIPAC. This post is some background for members of the media, since I'm starting to get a decent amount of traffic from media-linked domains via Google, and want to clue you in to the questions you should be asking to get to the bottom of this story and not fall victim to AIPAC's attempts to "spin" this.
Iran Freedom Foundation -- More Info
Thu Apr 14, 2005 at 08:17:48 PM PDT
It's very interesting to note that the
Iran Freedom Foundation has its Internet domain name registered under a
"proxy" registration service -- so that they don't have to divulge a point of contact. They do list an address for their office on their website, but it's curious that the domain was
originally registered under a proxy -- seems it might have been done to conceal the individual or organization who
originally registered it, before the paperwork to set up the Delaware corporation and file with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) was in place.
Wes Clark vs. Richard Perle -- "Operating Off A Different Agenda"
Wed Apr 06, 2005 at 06:14:08 PM PDT
I haven't finished listening to
the audio of the House Armed Services Committee hearing this morning yet, but it's
damn good. Wes Clark, and a couple of the congressmen, really confronted the subject head on, and broke some taboos. Frankly, I was surprised how far they went. Some of the highlights:
The Iraq WMD Intelligence Whitewash
Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 06:50:16 PM PDT
One of the
main headlines in the mainstream media today has been that the presidential commission investigating the intelligence failures regarding Iraq's WMD capabilities has issued its final report -- blaming the CIA and the rest of the intelligence community.
Let Them Eat Yellowcake
Tue Mar 22, 2005 at 06:08:55 AM PDT
One thing I've always found rather bothersome (among many things in the Bush administration) is the
lack of a serious investigation of the origins of the forged documents purporting to be about uranium yellowcake sales from Niger to Iraq. Those documents didn't create themselves -- someone forged them, and someone had a motive to forge them. Someone was carrying out a deception operation to try to convince the U.S. (and the West more broadly) that the Baathist regime in Iraq had restarted its nuclear program. But who? We know that they entered the pipeline through Italian military intelligence (SISMI) in late 2001, and echoed around Western intelligence agencies, including the CIA and MI6, in the months after that.
Who gets the Chalabi role in the sequel? -- Manucher Ghorbanifar?
Mon Mar 21, 2005 at 05:54:33 PM PDT
Laura Rozen has another piece in
The American Prospect today, and as usual it's very good, and brings out quite a bit of new information.
One of the questions about the "next phase" in Iran has always been who the neocons would use for the "Chalabi role" -- the Westernized English-speaking Iraqi/Iranian who would tell them what they want to hear ("the Iraqi/Iranian people want an American invasion to liberate them from the Baathist dictator/clerical regime and will welcome you with flowers/pistachios -- you can almost make a MadLib off this!") and give them juicy "intelligence" about the awe-inspiring threat posed by the government the neocons want to take down.
AIPAC Suspends Two Top Officials
Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 06:30:17 AM PDT
This hasn't gotten covered in the American MSM yet (since they tend to be reluctant to cover the subject in general), but AIPAC the pro-Israel (and generally pro-Likud) lobbying group has
put two top officials on paid leave who were targets of the FBI's espionage investigation. These are the two who had met with Larry Franklin of Doug Feith's office at the Pentagon last year and passed them calssified information regarding plans to destabilize Iran. The FBI took their evidence to a grand jury in early January, so it's possible this thing is nearing a decision on indictments. More background on the probe is available
in this piece from The American Prospect.
Michael Rubin's (AEI) Hypocrisy (on Iraq / Iran)
Mon Mar 14, 2005 at 06:31:35 PM PDT
Why AIPAC is Feared
Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 05:10:11 PM PDT
For most members of Congress, U.S. foreign policy on the Middle East has traditionally been a pretty peripheral issue. Only since September 11th, and the invasion of Iraq, has it taken on the importance it has now for most politicians.
There's always been a tendency for most member to choose the path of least resistance, and everyone in Washington understands that, if you vote against AIPAC's wishes, the Israel lobby has tools to punish you. I'm going to offer an illustration here of how this works -- based on the experience on Rep. Earl Hilliard (D-AL), an African American congressman from Alabama who lost his seat in 2002 after voting against AIPAC positions on a couple of issues. Yes, I know that this wasn't the only issue brought up in the campaign, but I think what I'm going to illustrate here gives a good example of why AIPAC is feared on Capitol Hill.
"Outing" the Neocons: The Office of Special Plans
Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 01:34:45 PM PDT
One of the very interesting aspects of the Office of Special Plans, not mentioned in the mainstream press very much, is the composition of its core staff -- most of the key people assembled at working staff levels were Jews with far-right views. The few who weren't were from closely-allied groups, like right wing Lebanese Christians. To borrow Bill Clinton's phrase describing his cabinet -- it didn't exactly "look like America." Now I'm certainly not saying that all (or even many) American Jews who work in government have dual loyalty issues -- most clearly have an undivided loyalty first and foremost to the United States. But some of the people Feith brought in had unusually strong ties to Israel, including one official who had emigrated as a young adult hoping to be an Israeli diplomat.
Senate Intelligence Committee Drops Iraq Intel Investigation!
Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 10:35:44 AM PDT
This story hasn't received much attention that I know of, so I wanted to post a diary to spread the word.
The Senate Intelligence Committee, headed by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas), released a partial report on the investigation of how the U.S. intelligence community got it wrong on Iraq in July 2004. It was agreed at the time that the more politically sensitive questions -- did the administration put pressure on them to skew the results to support invading Iraq? -- would be left for a second report, after the presidential election. Now, Roberts is trying to quietly drop that line of inquiry, potentially shielding those who were responsible for any malfeasance which took place.
