War Without End

Alpha · Last edited by Alpha on Sat Feb 04, 2006 8:22 pm; edited 26 times in total

A high-risk game of nuclear chicken

http://www.sibernews.com/the-news/world-news/a-high%11risk-game-of-nuclear-chicken-200601313615/

Ex-Pentagon official get 12 1/2 year sentence in AIPAC/Israel espionage via the neocon Pentagon:

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2006/01/20/ex-pentagon-man-gets-12-years-in-aipac-case.php

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More war for Israel coming with the bombing of Iran:

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2006/01/14/more-war-for-israel-coming-with-bombing-of-iran.php

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JINSA/PNAC Zionist extremist Israel firster Richard Perle calls for Invasion of Iran (for his beloved Israel, of course!) at AIPAC convention of fifth columnists in Washington, D.C in 2005.:

http://gorillaintheroom.blogspot.com/2005/05/perle-calls-for-invasion-of-iran.html

Perle's Pogrom

http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2005/05/perles-pogrom.html

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_31-5-2005_pg4_9

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

R E G I O N: Israeli planner says don?t rule out Osiraq-like strike on Iran

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Neocon Coalition for 'Democracy' in Iran

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2005/05/30/neocon-coalition-for-democracy-in-iran.php

http://kurtnimmo.com/blog/index.php?p=676

AIPAC Wants You to Die in Iran

Kurt Nimmo, Another Day in the Empire

May 25, 2005

As a primary example how AIPAC runs the foreign policy of the United States, consider Dana Milbank's AIPAC's Big, Bigger, Biggest Moment ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05
/23/AR2005052301565.html?referrer=emailarticle ... ), published in the Washington Post. Milbank tells us: at the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, held in Washington recently, the pro-Israel ?political action committee? (or rather a political bribery and intimidation, to say nothing of espionage, committee or more accurately racket) is ?here to stay? (according to Howard Kohr, executive director), that is to say no niggling little investigation by the FBI will put a kink in the pressure camarilla's operations. Getting busted stealing U.S. secrets, according to Kohr, is no big deal, although it is a ?test of [AIPAC's] collective resolve? in its effort to dominate U.S. foreign policy in the name of Israel.

Condi Rice and ?congressional leaders? were in attendance, according to Milbank. ?AIPAC is a demanding crowd, and even Rice, introduced as a ?very special friend,? did not satisfy universally. The participants applauded heartily her reminder that Bush did not meet with Arafat, but when she said Arafat's successor, Mahmoud Abbas, ?is committed to both freedom and security,? and when she mentioned more U.S. funds for Palestinians, the room was quiet.? In other words, for the AIPAC faithful, helping out the Palestinians in any way is seriously frowned upon?no doubt a lot of them feel the same way Ariel Sharon and the Likudites do: the Palestinians (or ?beasts walking on two legs,? as the warm and fuzzy former PM of Israel, Menachem Begin, once characterized them) should expect nothing, maybe a few more ?operations? (collective punishment and mass murder), and they should most definitely think about emigrating, maybe to Antarctica. Obviously, there is nothing Mahmoud Abbas can do except convince his people to walk across the desert, maybe with a bit of prodding from the munificent IDF, and settle in western Iraq or maybe somewhere in Jordan (AIPACers and Zionists consider Jordan the ?real? home of the Palestinians, although none of them have ever lived there, or very few of them did until Israel ran them out of the country at gunpoint in 1948).

Milbank tells us ?the attendees overall showed an impressive ideological discipline?right down to AIPAC's multimedia show, ?Iran's Path to the Bomb,? in the convention center's basement? (in Washington, a lot of things happen in basements; ask Oliver North: http://www.webslingerz.com/eclauset/mediasouth/project/cu/cu
3.html ). AIPAC and well-placed Zionists in the Pentagon and White House have a fixation about Iran and its supposed desire to get its hands on a couple nuclear bombs, ostensibly to ?push the Jews into the sea? by way of radiation.

The exhibit, worthy of a theme park, begins with a narrator condemning the International Atomic Energy Agency for being ?unwilling to conclude that Iran is developing nuclear weapons? (it had similar reservations about Iraq) and the Security Council because it ?has yet to take up the issue.? In a succession of rooms, visitors see flashing lights and hear rumbling sounds as Dr. Seuss-like contraptions make yellowcake uranium, reprocess plutonium, and pop out nuclear warheads like so many gallons of hummus for an AIPAC conference.

Of course, the IAEA was absolutely spot on about Iraq?it did not possess nuclear weapons or, for that matter, many other weapons, or at least not weapons of a threat to Israel (remember Condi's ?smoking gun?: http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/01/10/wbr.smoking.gun/ and ?mushroom cloud? in response to Hans Blix's assertion that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction, to which stand-up comedian Ari Fleischer replied: ?The problem with guns that are hidden is you can't see their smoke.? ).

It is a nostalgic addition for AIPAC to add a yellowcake uranium processor to their circus sideshow? it reminds us of the fiction Saddam was also in pursuit of the fabled yellow cake ( http://web.ead.anl.gov/uranium/guide/prodhand/sld004.cfm ).

Of particular interest at the AIPAC confab was a ?debate? between Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and the Prince of Darkness himself, Richard Perle, former runner-up for the Jonathan Pollard ?Sell Out Your Country? Award (he was investigated by the Justice Department and found to have violated US policies relating to unlawful transmission of sensitive classified US information to Israel: http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/55061 ).

Perle drew cheers for denouncing Palestinian anti-Semitism and the French. Harman mentioned that an aide once worked for AIPAC, called her audience ?very sophisticated? and celebrated Yasser Arafat's death as ?a blessing.? Debating a hard-liner in front of a pro-administration crowd, Harman heaped praise on President Bush, calling the Iraqi elections ?sensationally impressive? and moving to ?applaud? or ?commend? Perle and the administration a dozen times. ?Richard is right, and so is President Bush,? she said at one point.

But after half an hour of this, Harman could not keep up. Perle provoked cheers from the crowd when he favored a military raid on Iran, saying that ?if Iran is on the verge of a nuclear weapon, I think we will have no choice but to take decisive action.? When Harman said the ?best short-term option? is the U.N. Security Council, the crowd reacted with boos.

In other words, when it comes to Israel and bombing Muslim and Arab nations (and forcing so-called ?elections? on them), there is little difference between Democrats and Strausscons such as Richard Perle. It would seem the only difference between to two camps is in regard to Iran?Democrats such as Harman want a check for mass murder written by the United Nations while Perle believes no such check or permission is required and wants the United States to go it alone and bomb Iran in the name of AIPAC and Israel.

Iran will be attacked, maybe next month, possibly down the road a stretch (see Scott Ritter's analysis: http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/2295/2 ). Naturally, this will be an unmitigated disaster since Iran will not stand still and do nothing during and after the bombs fall. ?The entire Zionist territory, including its nuclear facilities and atomic arsenal, are currently within range of Iran's advanced missiles,? a senior Iranian official said last August. An attack on Iran ?could only be carried out by angry or stupid people.
For that reason, officials of the Islamic Republic must always be prepared to counter possible military threats,? declared Yadollah Javani, head of the Revolutionary Guards political bureau ( http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6760.htm ).
?Iran would respond within 15 minutes to any attack by the United States or any other country,? an anonymous Iranian official linked to the ruling mullahs told Borzou Daragahi of the San Francisco Chronicle in February ( http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/
21/MNGHUBERIV1.DTL ). ?Iranian authorities,? Daragahi continues, ?say they have been getting ready for a possible attack. Newspapers have announced efforts to increase the number of the country's 7 million-strong ?Basiji? volunteer militia, which was deployed in human-wave attacks during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Iranian military authorities have paraded long-range North Korean-designed Shahab missiles before television cameras.? But the Iranians, paying heed to the lessons on guerilla warfare against the United States in Iraq, are not limiting their potential response to conventional military readiness. ?Over the last year, they've developed their tactics of ?asymmetrical? war, which would aim not at resisting a penetration of foreign forces, but to then use them on the ground to all kinds of harmful effect,? a military expert based in Tehran added. It is also a sure bet the Iranians would stir up trouble in neighboring Iraq if the United States or Israel invaded.

So here's what Richard Perle and AIPAC are not telling you: if Iran is invaded (or simply bombed) it will respond in kind and this will necessitate a more robust military response by the United States, i.e., more bullet-stoppers will need to be thrown into the mix. Since the Pentagon is having big problems recruiting soldiers (even the cell phone generation, more or less lost in oblivious consumerism, realizes joining the military may translate into serious bodily harm or even death), if all hell breaks loose in Iran and Iraq, as the Iranians warn, the only option will be to kick start conscription, otherwise known as involuntary servitude, or less politely slavery.

In essence, Richard Perle and AIPAC want you to donate your kids (or yourself) to the plan for Greater Israel and the long-envisioned Pax Israelica empire. Perle and the Strausscons realize they cannot attack Iran without a large influx of troops (a fact mentioned by the Strausscon William Kristol ( http://www.house.gov/hasc/openingstatementsandpressreleases/
107thcongress/01-03-21kristol.html ), who more or less, between the lines, asked for military conscription since brow-beating military recruiters bearing fistfuls of sign-up cash at the local mall or high school are not working out).

Maybe by this time next year, while AIPAC is chewing through ?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,? as Milbank notates, your 20-something son and daughter will be slumped over MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) in a foxhole somewhere in the Persian desert with deadly depleted uranium blowing around. Since there are 66,622,704 (as of 2002) Iranians, and many of them are young males, and 24,001,816 Iraqis (minus a hundred or more thousand, killed over the last couple years by ?our troops? under the vicious guidance of the likes of Donald Rumsfeld), we can expect the (unphotographed) flag-draped caskets to arrive at Dover AFB in record numbers

AIPAC Fifth Columnists Pushing US to Attack Iran for Israel:

http://www.aipac.org/stratTourEmail/stratTour_teaser3.htm

Scott Ritter: Sleepwalking to Disaster in Iran:

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2005/03/30/scott-ritter-sleepwalking-to-disaster-in-iran.php

Bush-Bolton Plan to Bomb Bushehr (Iran) for Israel:

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2005/05/15/the-bush-bolton-plan-to-bomb-bushehr-for-israel.php

It is absolutely incredible the following US government officials can be in attendance at the upcoming AIPAC convention when AIPAC has been involved with espionage in association with the Pentagon:

Treason at a high level: Pentagon Zionists, AIPAC and Israel:

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2004/09/08/treason-in-high-places-pentagon-zionists-aipac-and-israel.php

The Sales Pitch Begins -- Iran :

http://gorillaintheroom.blogspot.com/2005/04/sales-pitch-begins-iran.html

JINSAN JOHN BOLTON WILL BRING US WAR WITH IRAN FOR ISRAEL:

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2005/05/10/jinsan-john-bolton-will-bring-us-war-with-iran-for-israel.php

"Featured speakers include: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Senate
Democratic Leader Harry Reid, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi,
Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon,
Israeli Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni, Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Natan
Sharansky, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman, DNC Chairman Howard Dean and many
others of note. "

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Israeli Origins of Bush II's Iraq War (Israel Shahak mentioned):

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2005/04/26/the-israeli-origins-of-bush-ii-s-war.php

A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties
by Oded Yinon (with a foreword by, and translated by Israel Shahak)

http://student.cs.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/articles/article0005345.html

----- Original Message -----

From: mimi
Sent: 5/14/2005 2:27:18 PM
Subject: RE: Fired AIPAC Official Foresees Indictment

appreciation for these excellent links...

BTW, I was re-reading a bit of Israel Shahak's excellent book called "Open Secrets: Isreali Nuclear and Foreign Policies" (Pluto press, 1997), published just ?2 years before his death....and in it he discussed in many locations the "horror scenarios" that the Israeli govt began spinning like mad, in early 1992...about the prospect for war with Iran and more---"they'd do it alone or persuade the West to do it..." i.e., a full-blown "indoctrination" effort to manipulate their population and the West...this is a MUST have/must read book....by a brilliant humanitarian professor and scientist. I only learned about him after his death...and had never even heard of him before this Intifadah (of course not...). there is much much more. It should be available and inexpensive....worth a thorough read....if you ever have time...
best
Mimi

Books: (Amazon and elsewhere....)
1. Jewish History, Jewish Religion : The Weight of Three Thousand Years (Pluto Middle Eastern Studies)
by Israel Shahak (Paperback - December 1, 1994)---used from $5.60
2. Jewish Fundamentalism In Israel : New Introduction by Norton Mezvinsky (Pluto Middle Eastern Studies S.)
by Israel Shahak, Norton Mezvinsky (Paperback - July 1, 2004) ---~ $12.95

3. Open Secrets : Israeli Foreign and Nuclear Policies
by Israel Shahak (Paperback - December 1, 1997) -- used from $15.05

Articles:

http://www.mepc.org/public_asp/journal_shahak/shahak29.asp (Interview with Shahak)

http://www.mepc.org/public_asp/journal_shahak/shahakmain.asp

http://www.theunjustmedia.com/the%20zionist_plan_for_the_middle_east.htm

http://home.comcast.net/~neoeugenics/Shahak.htm

http://www.kokhavivpublications.com/2002/forum/israel_fund_demo/shahak_letters.html

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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=579014

w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m

Last update - 01:32 23/05/2005
AIPAC: Franklin affair won't harm our work
By Nathan Guttman

WASHINGTON - For the first time since the AIPAC-Franklin scandal broke last August, the heads of the organization have commented on it publicly and promised to ensure that all employees of the organization observe the law as well as the rules of the organization.

At the opening of AIPAC's annual convention yesterday, executive director Howard Kohr promised the 5,000 activists that the lobby would come out of the affair safely, and that their work for Israel both in Congress and the administration had not been harmed. Kohr also promised that all AIPAC employees would obey U.S. laws.

"I pledge to you that I will take any steps necessary to ensure that every employee of AIPAC, now and in the future, conducts himself in a manner that you will be proud of, using policies and procedures that provide transparency, accountability and effectiveness," he said.

Kohr also said that it was of the utmost importance that the official document submitted by the FBI to the courts in the matter of former Pentagon employee Larry Franklin proves "we now know directly from the government that neither AIPAC nor any of its current employees isn't and never was a target of this investigation."

By employing the term "current employees," Kohr made a clear distinction between the lobby and its two fired staffers, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, who have been named in the affair.

Kohr said that the strong attendance at the convention proved how great the support for it was in the American Jewish community and sent a message to Israel's and AIPAC's opponents as well as the Jewish community that "we are here to stay."

Kohr's comments were meant to communicate that the affair does not touch the organization directly or influence its work; they were the only official comments made about the investigation at the annual convention.

While everything was business as usual from the podium, praising the lobby's work and the State of Israel, the atmosphere was completely different in the convention corridors and the media, where the investigation took center stage.

AIPAC did everything possible to make sure this year's convention was the largest and most impressive in years. The participation level was at an all-time high, and so was the participation of senior officials - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is to speak today, four Congressional leaders, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and hundreds more congressmen who will take part in the ball tonight.

While the delegates are abuzz over the Franklin affair and its potential ramifications, the convention's agenda focused on the two main issues for the pro-Israel community in the U.S. - disengagement and the Iranian threat.

Last year, the lobby hadn't made up its mind about disengagement, but this year, it is fully behind it, in Congress and with the administration.

Convention organizers tried to put a human face on the disengagement, communicate the need to support it and provide assistance to delegates who will be going to Capitol Hill tomorrow to speak with congressmen about the need to help with the disengagement.

A tearful Kochi Ravivo, from Elei Sinai in the northern Gaza Strip, appears in a movie produced especially for the convention, as she talks about the difficulty of giving up her home. So does her husband Micha, as does Yochi Sadeh, who was evacuated from her Yamit home almost 30 years ago. All the people in the film, who also appeared at the convention, to the cheers and applause of the delegates, had the same message: It is difficult, but justified. The only criticism of the disengagement from the podium was expected from Natan Sharansky, due to speak last night.

The other issue AIPAC is focusing on is the Iranian nuclear threat. The basement in the new Washington convention center has been converted into an exhibit entitled "Iran's route to the bomb." Visitors journey around boxes of "nuclear material" stamped "Made in China" and through recreations of uranium enrichment and bomb manufacturing. The exhibit ends with the clear sound of a ticking clock and images of nuclear bombs.

AIPAC delegates will ask their congressmen to support stiffening sanctions against Iran in an attempt to stop its nuclear program, and ask the administration to move the issue to the UN Security Council as soon as possible.

Alpha · Last edited by Alpha on Sat May 14, 2005 8:09 am; edited 1 time in total

Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 16:13:06 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Council for the National Interest Foundation" <cnif@democracyinaction.org>

Subject: Call for May 23rd Protest of AIPAC Annual Conference

The Council for the National Interest hopes that hundreds of people will join us in protesting outside the Washington, DC, Convention Center on Monday, May 23rd, from 6 to 8 pm. All the main actors in the Middle East peace process will be here from Israel and be joined by a phalanx of important Americans to greet Ariel Sharon, who is scheduled to speak on Tuesday morning after Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), and Natan Sharansky, who is now out of government and working against the disengagement. In effect, he is undermining the Road Map of his great friend, George W. Bush. (Click here for the full conference schedule.)

The drumbeat against Iran will be a main theme at the AIPAC policy conference. They claim Iran is only months away from a nuclear weapon, an amazingly similar charge to that made by Israeli strategic thinkers before the current Iraq war. (Click here to see an animation hyping their multimedia presentation on Iran, which will be a cornerstone of the conference.)

Join in protesting the very presence of numerous Israeli defense specialists, generals, and defense analysts who are featured at the AIPAC conference. AIPAC should be renamed the Israel Political Action Committee (IPAC) and be forced to register as the agent of a foreign government. As one activist with a major Jewish group admitted in a report in the Forward today, "It is routine for us to say: This is our policy on a certain issue, but we must check what the Israelis think. We as a community do it all the time."

Come join the rally and take back America's foreign policy!

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The following call was initiated by the DC Anti-War Network (DAWN) and finalized by representatives of several groups, six of whom already have signed on. We hope you will join us in endorsing this very important event. We will keep you updated on further developments. Email us to endorse, to attend a Sunday May 15 evening planning meeting on Capitol Hill or if you have questions or comments. Please feel free to circulate this call.

CALL FOR MAY 23RD PROTEST OF AIPAC ANNUAL CONFERENCE

A coalition of organizations is calling for a peaceful demonstration on Monday, May 23 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the 2005 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual conference being held May 22 to 24th at the DC Convention Center. We will gather on Massachusetts Avenue at 7th Street NW.

We do so to protest Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, its building of a separation wall through the West Bank and its current expansion of settlements, which will cut off an additional 250,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem from the rest of Palestine and implement a system of de facto apartheid in the occupied territories. We protest any appearance by Israeli leader Ariel Sharon, who for over 50 years has been involved in a series of war crimes, including the massacres at Sabra and Shatilla.

We also protest AIPAC's role in supporting Ariel Sharon and other Israeli officials' threats to take military actions against Iran's nuclear energy facilities and their efforts to involve the United States in such attacks. Two AIPAC officials, recently fired after months of vigorous public support by AIPAC, have been implicated in press reports as having received "highly classified" information on Iran from Defense Department analyst Larry Franklin, who has been arrested in the case, and possibly passing the information on to the state of Israel.

We believe that AIPAC's support of Israeli aggression in Palestine, funded by billions of U.S. tax dollars in military aid to Israel each year, and its support for possible new Middle East wars makes the world less safe for Israel, its neighbors, and the world. We believe that AIPAC does not speak for all American Jews and, by supporting current Israeli policy, is working against America's national interest.

The organizations below represent a wide range of Americans who call for an end to tax-funded military aid to Israel and ask that AIPAC join us in demanding the best of Israel, in that it should:

end the illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the annexation of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
tear down the "separation" wall which the International Court of Justice has declared illegal because of the resulting Human Rights Violations.
remove all the settlements and stop all settlement construction in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem.
stop home demolitions and land confiscations in Israel and the occupied territories and guarantee equal rights of all people living in Israel.
comply with international law including the right of return for all Palestinian refugees.
stop threatening and promoting Israeli or American wars against Syria and Iran.
support peaceful efforts to remove all nuclear weapons from the Middle East, including Israel.
On April 22, 2002 over 1500 peace and progressive activists protested outside the AIPAC annual conference during Israel's devastating military attacks on the West Bank and Gaza. On May 23, 2005, let's make our voices heard outside the Washington Convention Center to protest Israel's continued expansionism and its calls for new wars on Syria and Iran.

To endorse this call and be listed in the press release e-mail aipacprotest@earthlink.net by close of business Monday, May 16, 2005. Feel free to include a web page link, e-mail or phone contact for email announcements.

Current Endorsers:

Council for the National Interest http://cnionline.org

DC Anti-War Network http://dawndc.net

StopTheWarNow.Net http://stopthewarnow.net

Washington DC Area Chapter American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee http://adc.org

Washington DC Area Stop U.S. Tax-funded Aid to Israel Now! (SUSTAIN) http://sustaincampaign.org

Women for Peace and Justice in Iran http://women4peace.org

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LA Times: US Support of Israel Motivation for 9/11 Attack

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2005/02/19/la-times-u-s-policy-on-israel-key-motive-for-911-attack.php

Alpha

Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 17:38:24 -0700
From: "Jeff Blankfort" <jblankfort@earthlink.net>

Subject: Agenda for AIPAC Conference on Continuing Occupation of Washington

Just another "ethnic lobby" we are told. Who do you think describes
them
as that?

America's Pro-Israel Lobby Holds Its Annual Policy Conference in
Washington
D.C.
5/11/2005 5:22:00 PM

Love them GALA DINNERS... but the BANQUET menu looks good too -- don't
get
too full, dessert will be served at the Tuesday AM plenary:)

To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor
Contact: Josh Block of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,
202-639-5273 (office) or 202-997-4614 (mobile)
News Advisory:
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual Policy Conference
is the
most important event of the year for America's pro-Israel community. In
less
than four weeks, nearly 5,000 people will travel to Washington D.C. to
lobby
Congress in support of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

The AIPAC events, scheduled for Sunday, May 22 to Tuesday, May 24, will
include major speeches, panels and forums covering a wide range of
issues
concerning the U.S.-Israel relationship, the War on Terror, and the
future
of the Middle East. (FULL PRESS SKED FOLLOWS THIS RELEASE) Portions of
the
Policy Conference are open to members of the press with valid federal
press
credentials who pre-register before Thursday May 19th by emailing Josh
Block
at jblock@aipac.org. For additional information, contact Josh Block at
202-997-4614. Space is very limited.

Featured speakers include: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
Speaker
of the House Dennis Hastert, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Senate
Democratic Leader Harry Reid, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi,
Senator
Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon,
Israeli
Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni, Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Natan
Sharansky, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman, DNC Chairman Howard Dean and many
others of note.

"At a time of unprecedented challenge and opportunity for America's
ally in
the Middle East, the deep and abiding support for Israel in all
quarters of
American society is truly exemplified by this years conference," said
AIPAC
President Bernice Maocherian. "Support for Israel is not a Democratic
value
or a Republican value, it is an American value," she said.

This year, the number of Policy Conference delegates is up over 300
percent
from just four years ago, and AIPAC has experienced similar record
growth
nationwide since September 2000, with membership up over 60 percent, to
over
100,000 across the country. The breadth and depth of America's
universal,
bi-partisan support for a strong US-Israel relationship and AIPAC's
commitment to working with leaders of all political stripes is
reflected in
this year's AIPAC Policy Conference.

Consistently ranked as the most influential foreign policy lobbying
organization on Capitol Hill, AIPAC, America's pro-Israel lobby, is a
nonpartisan American membership organization that seeks to strengthen
the
relationship between Israel and the United States. For more than 50
years,
AIPAC has been working with Congress to build a strong, vibrant
relationship
between the United States and Israel. Its more than 100,000 activists
throughout the United States work to improve and strengthen that
relationship by supporting U.S.-Israel military, economic, scientific
and
cultural cooperation.
Again, portions of the Policy Conference are open to members of the
press
with valid federal press credentials who pre-register before Thursday
May
19th by emailing Josh Block at jblock@aipac.org. For additional
information,
contact Josh Block at 202-997-4614. Space is very limited.

SUNDAY, MAY 22
Opening Lunch Plenary (Convention Center, Hall D and E)
Israel. An American Value; 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; The Honorable Tzipi
Livni,
Minister of Justice, State of Israel; Mr. Howard Kohr, executive
director,
AIPAC; Ms. Bernice Manocherian, president, AIPAC

FORUMS: TRACK I (CONVENTION CENTER, VARIOUS ROOMS), 2 P.M. TO 3:30 P.M.
AIPAC Strategic Tour 2005: Iran's Path to the Bomb. (Convention Center,
Hall
C); A groundbreaking interactive multimedia display entitled: How Iran
is
Building a Bomb and How We Can Stop It. This unique experience will
allow
visitors to step inside the nuclear fuel cycle, tracing step-by-step
the
paths that Iran is taking in order to mislead the international
community
and assemble an atomic bomb. AIPAC experts will be on hand as viewers
explore the implications of a nuclear Iran, and what can be done to
prevent
this eventuality. The one-of-a-kind Strategic Tour combines dramatic
staging
with sophisticated multimedia to create an unforgettable experience.
Disengagement and Beyond: The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process; Brig.
Gen.
Udi Dekel, director of the Strategic Planning Division, Israel Defense
Forces; Mr. David Makovsky, director, Project on the Middle East Peace
Process, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Ambassador Ron
Prosor, director general, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State of Israel

Terror in the USA: How Vulnerable Are We and What Are We Doing About
It?;
Representative James Turner, former ranking member, House Select
Committee
on Homeland Security; Mr. Michael Bopp, majority staff director and
chief
counsel, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs; Mr.
David Cohen, senior lobbyist for Homeland Security Affairs, AIPAC

Beyond the Headlines: The Media and the War on Terror; Maj. Gen. Amos
Gilad,
director, Diplomatic/Political Department, Israeli Ministry of Defense;
Mr.
Dan Senor, former spokesman, Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority

The Day After the Bomb: How a Nuclear Iran Would Change the World; Dr.
Michael Ledeen, freedom scholar, American Enterprise Institute; Rep.
Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), United States House of Representatives; The
Honorable
Ephraim Sneh, member of Knesset, Labor Party; Ambassador Brad Gordon,
legislative director, AIPAC
Profs and Propaganda: Israel in the Academic Arena; Mr. Peter
McPherson,
president emeritus, Michigan State University; Dr. Jonathan Adelman,
professor, Graduate School of International Studies, University of
Denver;
Mr. Jonathan Kessler, leadership development director, AIPAC

FORUMS: TRACK II (CONVENTION CENTER, VARIOUS ROOMS), 4 P.M. TO 5:30
P.M.

AIPAC Strategic Tour 2005: Iran's Path to the Bomb.

(Convention Center, Hall C); A groundbreaking interactive multimedia
display entitled: How Iran is Building a Bomb and How We Can Stop It.
This
unique experience will allow visitors to step inside the nuclear fuel
cycle,
tracing step-by-step the paths that Iran is taking in order to mislead
the
international community and assemble an atomic bomb. AIPAC experts will
be
on hand as viewers explore the implications of a nuclear Iran, and what
can
be done to prevent this eventuality. The one-of-a-kind Strategic Tour
combines dramatic staging with sophisticated multimedia to create an
unforgettable experience.

Approaching Statehood: Are the Palestinians Really Ready?; Mr. Khaled
Abu
Toameh, Palestinian affairs correspondent, The Jerusalem Post; Brig.
Gen.
Michael Herzog, visiting military fellow, The Washington Institute for
Near
East Policy; Ms. Ester Kurz, director for Legislative Strategy and
Policy,
AIPAC

Business and Beyond: How U.S.-Israel Collaboration is Changing the
World;
Mr. Erel Margalit, managing partner, Jerusalem Venture Partners; Mr.
Jonathan Medved, managing partner, Israel Seed Partners; Mr. Larry
Weinberg,
executive vice president, Israel21C

Knesset Conversation: A Roundtable Featuring Israeli Political Leaders;
The
Honorable Reshef Chayne, member of Knesset, Shinui Party; The Honorable
Meir
Sheetrit, minister of transportation, Likud Party; The Honorable
Ephraim
Sneh, Member of Knesset, Labor Party; Mr. Yaron Deckel, Washington
bureau
chief, IBA News
Promise or Pitfall: What's Next for Syria and Lebanon and Why it
Matters;
Mr. Frederic Hof, president and CEO, Armitage Associates, L.C.; Mr. Avi
Jorisch, senior fellow, The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies;
Mr.
David Gillette, senior lobbyist, AIPAC
Today and Tomorrow: The Parties and Their Approach to Foreign Policy;
Mr.
Peter Beinart, eEditor, "The New Republic"; Mr. David Frum, resident
fellow,
American Enterprise Institute

Winds of Change: Understanding the Middle East's Shifting Picture; Dr.
Robert Satloff, executive director, The Washington Institute for Near
East
Policy; Dr. Kenneth Stein, director, Institute for the Study of Modern
Israel at Emory University

GALA DINNERS, 7:30 P.M. TO 9:30 P.M.
Party Playbooks: The Republicans, The Democrats and the Future of
Foreign
Policy (Location: Convention Center, Ballroom ABC); Gov. Howard Dean,
chairman, Democratic National Committee; Mr. Ken Mehlman, chairman,
Republican National Committee
AND
Fighting For Freedom: The Quest For Democracy In The Arab World
(Location:
Convention Center, Hall D/E); The Honorable Natan Sharansky,
distinguished
senior fellow, The Shalem Center

---
MONDAY, MAY 23
Morning Plenary (Convention Center, Hall D and E), 10 a.m. to 11:30
a.m.
The Ties That Bind: The U.S.-Israel Relationship; The Honorable
Condoleezza
Rice, Secretary of State, United States Department of State; Mr.
Terrance
Gainer, chief, United States Capitol Police; Mr. Ron Barness, executive
committee, AIPAC; Mr. Ed Levy Jr., president, AIEF
Lunch Plenary (Washington Hilton -- International Ballroom), 12:30 p.m.
to
2:30 p.m.
A Debate of Two Visions For the Future of America's War on Terrorism;
Rep.
Jane Harman (D-Calif.), ranking member, House Select Intelligence
Committee,
United States House of Representatives; Mr. Richard Perle, resident
fellow,
American Enterprise Institute; Mr. Dan Senor, former spokesman, Iraq
Coalition Provisional Authority

FORUMS: TRACK III (LOCATION: WASHINGTON HILTON), 3 P.M. to 4:30 P.M.
Nuts and Bolts: How Israel Will Implement Disengagement; Mr. Eyal Arad,
president, Arad Communications and Strategic Advisor to Prime Minister
Ariel
Sharon; Brig. Gen. Udi Dekel, director of the Strategic Planning
Division,
Israel Defense Forces
The Money Trail: Inside America's War on Terror Financing; Mr. Stuart
Levey,
undersecretary for enforcement, Department of the Treasury
Principles and Partners: The Growing Ties Between India, Israel and
America;
Ambassador Raminder Singh Jassal, former Indian Ambassador to Israel,
Embassy of India; Mr. Jeff Colman, deputy legislative director, AIPAC

BANQUET (CONVENTION CENTER, HALL D AND E), 6:45 P.M. TO 10 P.M.
AIPAC Gala Banquet; The Honorable Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Speaker of
the
House, United States House of Representatives; The Honorable Bill Frist
(R-Tenn.), Senate Majority Leader, United States Senate; The Honorable
Harry
Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Democratic Leader, United States Senate; The
Honorable
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Democratic Leader, United States House
of
Representatives

TUESDAY, MAY 24
Morning Plenary (Convention Center, Ballroom ABC), 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
The U.S.-Israel Relationship: A View From the Hill; The Honorable
Hillary
Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), member, United States Senate

Special Address: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Prime Minster, State of
Israel
Remarks: Ms. Bernice Manocherian, president, AIPAC
http://www.usnewswire.com/
-0-
/© 2005 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
Printer Friendly Format
© 2005 U.S. Newswire

Alpha

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/575337.html

Last update - 06:20 14/05/2005

AIPAC spurring Congress to pass sanctions bill against Iran

By Haaretz Service and News Agencies

In the run-up to its annual meeting in Washington later this month, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is urging Congress to pass legislation authorizing new sanctions against Iran.

As Iran appears to move closer to resuming nuclear activities, support has been quietly building in Congress for new U.S. sanctions, including penalties that could affect multinational companies and recipients of U.S. foreign aid.

Th

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The legislation would put the United States on a more confrontational course than the one pursued by President George W. Bush's administration. Bush has supported European efforts to offer Iran incentives in exchange for abandoning its nuclear program.

More than 200 members of the House of Representatives - almost half the body - are co-sponsoring a bill that would tighten and codify existing sanctions, bar subsidiaries of U.S. companies from doing business in Iran and cut foreign aid to countries that have businesses investing in Iran.

Additional lawmakers - Republicans and Democrats - are adding their names to the bill every week.

The bill faces big hurdles before becoming law. Support may not be as strong in the Senate, which is considering a more limited version of the bill. Key lawmakers in both chambers could block the legislation. The White House has not taken a position, but generally opposes congressional efforts to steer foreign policy.

"We will have the perennial and traditional battle with the executive branch as to who can have a say on foreign policy initiatives," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the House bill's main sponsor and a member of Bush's Republican Party.

But momentum would likely build if Iran carries out its threat to resume some nuclear activities and its talks break down with Britain, France and Germany, which are negotiating on behalf of the European Union.

The triumverate has warned Iran they will break off talks and join Washington in seeking UN Security Council action if Tehran makes good on its threats to resume atomic work, European Union officials said on Thursday.

The legislation is expected to get a boost when one of the most influential lobbying groups, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, holds its annual meeting in Washington this month. AIPAC has made the bill a high priority.

"It will certainly, along with other things, be part of the agenda when thousands of members of AIPAC go to Capitol Hill" to lobby Congress, said Josh Block, a spokesman for the group.

A pro-business group, the National Foreign Trade Council, is lobbying against the bill, but its president, Bill Reinsch, said "the deck is kind of stacked against us."

"People don't like to have it look like they're voting against something that will stick it to an unpopular country," he said. "So, yeah, we're worried about it."

Washington says Iran's nuclear activities are intended to build a bomb, though Iran says it seeks only to generate electricity. It suspended uranium-enrichment activities in November while it negotiates with the Europeans If the talks fail, the White House would likely look for EU support to take Iran to the UN Security Council, where it could face international sanctions.

FM Shalom: Iran to develop nuclear know-how within 9 months
Iran may develop the know-how to make nuclear weapons in six to nine months, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Friday. He called on the United Nations to impose sanctions on Iran.

"Iran poses an existential threat, and that's why I think that the entire world understands that it's impossible to give such an extremist regime the possibility of having a nuclear bomb that can essentially threaten the integrity of the world," Shalom said Friday in an interview with Israel Radio.

The day before, Shalom warned that Tehran was close to knowing how to make nuclear weapons.

"Iran's announcement of their decision to renew uranium enrichment is, of course, a very dangerous announcement that must be viewed with appropriate concern," he told foreign diplomats at a reception at the President's Residence on Thursday. "Unfortunately, we see that indeed Iran will do everything to reach nuclear capability. The question is not whether Iran will have a nuclear bomb in 2009 or 2011. The question is when will they have sufficient knowledge [to build one], and we think that this possibility even exists, possibly, in another six to nine months."

Shalom also called on the International Atomic Energy Association to use its June 13 meeting to make a "clear and unequivocal decision" to bring the Iran issue before the United Nations Security Council, which he said "has the sole authority to impose sanctions on Iran."

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Moshe Ya'alon told Army Radio on Thursday that Israel knows how to protect itself against a potential Iranian threat.

"Iran is the central proponent of terrorism and Islamic fanaticism and it has a non-conventional leadership that is liable to develop non-conventional weaponry," Ya'alon said. "Israel, therefore, needs to know how to defend itself against every threat and will always know how to do so."

Earlier Thursday, Rohani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, said Tehran would resume some nuclear activities because it cannot continue nuclear negotiations with Europeans.

"Continuation of negotiations in their present format is not possible for us," Rohani told state-run television, saying the talks were not balanced and were costly for Iran.

"The basic point that the Islamic Republic of Iran will resume part of its nuclear activities in the near future is definite," Rohani had said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair spelled out the potential consequences, telling reporters: "We certainly will support referral to the United Nations Security Council if Iran breaches its obligations and undertakings."

The United States believes Iran's nuclear energy program is a front to develop atomic weapons and has been pressing for Iran's case to be sent to the 15-member UN council for possible economic sanctions and other actions.

The EU shares U.S. suspicions but has offered incentives to try to get Tehran to give up its atomic fuel program, which Iran insists is only for nuclear power plants, not for arms.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier also urged Iran to maintain its voluntary freeze on enrichment-related activities.

"We continue to hope that Iran will not go ahead with this move, for which it is aware of the consequences," Barnier told the French Senate upper house of parliament.

The EU letter proposed "ministerial level talks" between the Iranians and Europeans within the next two weeks to break the impasse and avoid a crisis, EU diplomats said.

Alpha

What Netanyahu mentions in the article below is exactly what the 'A Clean Break'/war for Israel document advised Israel to do (more about 'A Clean Break'/war for Israel from pages 261-269 of James Bamford's 'A Pretext for War' book at the following URL):

'A Clean Break'/war for Israel (from James Bamford's 'A Pretext for War' book):

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2005/02/11/a-clean-break-from-james-bamford-s-a-pretext-for-war.php

http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/usa/wash_dc/capitol_building/19990514-capitol_filner.htm

Jewish networking in the U.S. Congress

Rep. Bob Filner (D-San Diego) describes process

San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage, May 14, 1999:

Jewish officeholders file

By Donald H. Harrison

Washington D.C. (Special) -- Over lunch in the House Members Dining Room, Rep. Bob Filner (D-San Diego) recently addressed our questions about the kind of networking that occurs among his 22 fellow Jewish members of the House of Representatives.

Meetings are regularly arranged between Jewish members of Congress and visiting members of the Israeli government, he replied.

There also is a monthly Torah study class that Rabbi Jay Marcus of New York City conducts for House members. "We usually have a bagel bruncheon," Filner said. "I go a majority of the time. He picks out a section of the Torah that has relevance to some current event. He might talk about women in the Torah, or the use of violence, or some other abstraction, and of course everyone brings it back to today and what is happening.

Rep. Bob Filner, under painting of Cornwallis'
surrender to Washington, in House Members
Dining Room

"He leads the discussion, which sometimes can be very difficult because Congress members are notorious for never staying at a meeting. They go in and out; they always go rushing around, and he tries to do his thing -- and when he finishes there are maybe 3 to 8 people there but they are not the same 3 to 8 people he started with. It is very difficult to teach under such circumstances."

While African-Americans have a formal Black Caucus, Jews in the Congress historically have not wanted to formalize their relationships."Perhaps it goes back to our history, not drawing atention," Filner said. Nervetheless, through informal meetings Jewish members often function as a caucus, he said.

"We watch each other--how each votes on things," Filner explained. "If there seems to be something strange, we will ask each other 'why are you voting this way? Before I vote I had better understand why you are doing this.'"

He said two Democratic congressmen from the Los Angeles area -- Henry Waxman and Howard Berman -- are always well informed on Jewish communal issues. On matters affecting the Holocaust, Congressman Tom Lantos from Northern California--a Hungarian-born Survivor--is considered a leader.

The congressman led us from lunch to the floor of the House of Representatives which, not being in session, was open for private tours given by members of Congress.

We were surprised how compact the chamber really is. The aisle through the center of the House which the President of the United States walks en route to delivering each year's State of the Union message looks so much longer when viewed on television. And the rostrum from which he speaks, including the dais behind him where the Speaker of the House and the Vice President of the United States sit, looks so much bigger on television.

There are no assigned seats, Filner said, although by tradition Democrats and Republicans sit on separate sides of the chamber. From his wallet, he pulled an electronic identification card and showed how it fits into any of several machines strategically located around the room.

While the voting machine reads the card, members of Congress can vote by pressing nearby buttons for "yes," "no" and "abstain." Each member of Congress's vote is shown during the voting period on a large electronic board on either side of the Speaker's rostrum.

As we returned from the floor of the House to the Rayburn House Office Building, we were joined on the short private subway ride -- as luck would have it -- by another Jewish Congressman, Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich.

Levin suggested that most Jewish members of Congress are well informed both on the Middle East as well as on domestic Church-State issues not only because of networking in Washington, but because "the Jewish communities are active at home, so a majority of the members are contacted there."

Asked about the impact of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has been considered the second-most influential lobby in Congress behind the American Association of Retired People (AARP), according to various rating services, Levin replied:

"AIPAC has always reflected more rather than less the views of the Israeli government" regardless of which party was in power in Israel. "There have been a lot of Jewish members (of Congress) who have not always agreed with the incumbent prime minister of Israel," he added. "We are not monolithic, and we haven't been bashful about raising our concerns."

Whereas support for Israel is strong among Jewish members of Congress, it no longer is so nearly unanimous as it was prior to the Republicans taking over Congress, Filner said.

"Five or six years ago, every Jew--almost by definition--would vote for the foreign aid bill, because it had foreign aid for Israel and you couldn't possibly want to undermine that. Well, now if there is something in the foreign aid bill that is a problem on some other issue, people may--to make a point-vote against it. If they throw in something like anti-family planning -- this is since the Republicans have been in the majority -- then all of a sudden the bill is not so clear cut."

Filner said like most Jewish members of Congress, he often is invited to make an appearance before Jewish groups holding their national meetings in Washington.

"I just happened to follow (former House Speaker Newt) Gingrich one time, and I gave the standing speech that I give now. The Republicans come to all these groups, they see Jewish, and they talk about Israel, Israel, Israel. So I get up there--to a Federation or JCRC or UJA group-- and say 'hey, ask these folks where they stand on prayer in the schools, or on public education or on choice issues. They come here and they want your support because they are for Israel. Well, Israel is very important. It is a key issue. But so are these other issues. Don't let them get away with it.'

"Invariably," Filner said, "people will come up to me and say 'I am glad you said that. We have been here all day and no one else has.'"

Filner said he was disappointed the time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a joint session of Congress that the time has come when Israel, with its strong economy, should begin reducing its dependence on foreign aid.

"I was watching the Republicans," Filner recalled. "He just saved their rear ends because their budget already required us to decrease. Politically I would have said let them put forward a budget that decreases the aid, and then we can get them on that. Don't start your negotiations saying we accept a decrease in aid. I saw politically how they just lit up -- that saved them so much. They could say 'well, the prime minister himself said we had to start.' So we ended up cutting aid to a certain degree and not getting any political price paid for it."

Alpha

http://www.nowarforisrael.com

http://nomorewarforisrael.blogspot.com

http://gorillaintheroom.blogspot.com

http://www.nogw.com/warforisrael.html

Marine squad decimated

By Ellen Knickmeyer

The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/11/AR2005051101737.html

HABAN, Iraq - The explosion enveloped the armored vehicle in flames, sending orange balls of fire bubbling above the trees along the Euphrates River.

Marines in surrounding vehicles threw open their hatches and took off running toward the destroyed vehicle. Shouting, they pulled to safety those they could, as the flames ignited the bullets, mortar rounds and grenades inside.

Gunnery Sgt. Chuck Hurley emerged from the smoke and turmoil around the vehicle, circling toward the spot where helicopters would later land to pick up casualties. As he passed one group of Marines, he uttered just one sentence: "That was the same squad."

Among the four Marines killed and 10 wounded when an explosive device erupted under their Amtrac yesterday were the last battle-ready members of a squad that four days earlier had battled foreign fighters holed up in a house in the town of Ubaydi. In that fight, two squad members were killed and five wounded.

In 96 hours of fighting and ambushes in western Iraq, the squad had just ceased to be.

Alpha

http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2005/05/13/news/local/bcover0513.txt

By: MARILYN H. KARFELD Senior Staff Reporter

John Bolton, UN ambassador nominee, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2003. PHOTO/AVI OHAYON/GPO
Major Jewish organizations are strongly supporting the nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a fact that has flown under the public radar.

Thus far, the discussion in the Jewish community as well as nationally has centered on Bolton's alleged bullying behavior toward his subordinates.

During confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, senators heard testimony that Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control, repeatedly intimidated or tried to fire those intelligence analysts who disagreed with him. Other critics complained about his anti-UN statements and less-than-diplomatic negotiations on international issues.

However, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), B'nai B'rith International (BBI), the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) all back Bolton's nomination.

Most of the organizations have written letters to Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, or to Bill Frist, Senate majority leader, endorsing Bolton's confirmation as UN ambassador.

The Jewish groups all cite Bolton's forceful role in the successful 1991 U.S.-led effort to repeal a 16-year-old United Nations resolution equating Zionism with racism. The Jewish organizations also emphasize that Bolton will be able to reform the UN.

In his letter, Abraham Foxman, ADL national director, called Bolton "a man of principle and integrity." Daniel S. Mariaschin, BBI executive vice president, said Bolton can have an "immediate and important impact" on efforts to reform the UN.

Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stunned his own party in April when he asked the committee to delay its scheduled vote on Bolton's nomination to allow more time to consider complaints about his verbally abusive behavior.

The vote was rescheduled for Thursday morning, May 12, after this article went to press.

Prof. Michael Scharf, director of the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center at Case Western Reserve University, an expert in international criminal law, worked with Bolton in the State Department from 1991-93. Scharf was the attorney adviser for UN affairs and Bolton, then assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, was his client.

While Scharf praises Bolton's achievement in repealing the UN resolution equating Zionism with racism, he feels Bolton would not make a good UN ambassador.

Revoking the UN Zionism resolution, which Scharf says he and Bolton worked on for an entire year, "changed the whole environment at the UN for the Mideast peace process. While that resolution was on the books, it was all about bashing Israel."

But, Scharf notes, Bolton did not point to that success when the Senate committee asked him his top accomplishment. Instead, he cited the unsigning of the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court. While 99 nations have ratified the statute and belong to the ICC, the U.S. does not.

Bolton does not believe "international law is real law," says Scharf. "He thinks it's all political commitments that can be broken at will."

That emphasis, the Case professor says, illustrates why Bolton is not the right man to be the top U.S. diplomat at the UN. To Bolton, revoking the Zionism resolution "paled in comparison to being able to try to wreck the ICC," Scharf adds.

"That's a sad reflection of where his priorities are and what kind of leader he would be if confirmed. In 1991, he was willing to use the UN to constructively try to make it a better institution. By January 2001, in revoking the ICC, he's become a human wrecking ball, seeking to repeal international institutions rather than to reform them."

Having worked with Bolton, Scharf has concerns about how effective he'd be at the UN. "You need a really savvy negotiator, not a bully. Bolton has only one diplomatic tool, the club."

Voinovich is not giving any interviews on the Bolton nomination, says his spokesperson Marcie Ridgway. He won't address any specific issues about Bolton, including his leadership on revoking the Zionism resolution.

Rather, Voinovich's main concern was about Bolton's interpersonal skills, Ridgway adds. "He needed some more time to review some of the allegations and to look at the record. It's the committee's job to vet the nominee. It's better for Mr. Bolton to attend to these allegations personally, versus letting it go to the Senate floor and be a free-for-all."

However, Ridgway also noted that while Voinovich "went into the hearings as a ‘yes' vote, he did not come out a ‘no' vote. That's an important point."

In his letter to Frist, Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said he worked with Bolton in the past and found him to be "a paradigm of integrity, intelligence and consistency. He was not at all as portrayed in the media of late."

Jewish organizations have also focused on Bolton's support for Israel while he's been at the State Department. While AIPAC did not send a letter endorsing Bolton, and the organization is not actively lobbying for him, they do favor his nomination.+

"John Bolton has stood for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship and understands the important role that the UN plays in world affairs today," Andrew Schwartz, AIPAC press secretary, told the CJN. "He will be a superb representative of American interests at the UN."

Bolton is speaking at AIPAC's May 22-24 policy conference in Washington, D.C.

In their endorsements, the Jewish organizations point to Bolton's diplomatic experience and high principles.

"It is not clear that the current problems of the UN can be ‘fixed,'" wrote Tom Neumann, JINSA executive director, in his letter to Lugar. But, "the path to effective progress lies in a U.S. ambassador with the ability to define discrete problems ... form coalitions ... and most important, (with) a clear moral compass defining democracy as a higher order of government." When not a government employee, Bolton has been a member of JINSA's board of advisers.

In addition to being instrumental to the U.S. withdrawing its signature from the treaty setting up the ICC in The Hague, Bolton was responsible for the U.S. pulling out of the "outmoded" Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia and the "unworkable" Kyoto Protocol on fighting climate change, said Neumann.

The ambassador-nominee is also the architect of the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear capabilities and the author of the nuclear Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), Neumann noted.

Tom Casey, director of the State Department press office, says it makes sense that Jewish organizations are backing Bolton. "I don't think you'll find anyone in this administration who is a stronger friend of Israel." Overturning the Zionism equals racism resolution "changed the ways the UN has dealt with Israel and Israeli-Palestinian issues."

Although critics point to Bolton's seeming disdain for the UN, Casey says Bolton, like others in the administration, recognizes that while it needs serious reform, the UN is central to the U.S.'s international leadership role.

He pointed to Bolton's work on PSI, a global effort to track and interdict nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Last year, Bolton helped persuade the UN Security Council to approve resolution 1540, a nuclear non-proliferation pact.

The White House holds conflicting views on the UN, Scharf points out. When the administration needs the UN, they view it as very good. But when the UN gets in the way of U.S. foreign policy, the Bush administration views it as an obstacle and inconvenience.

"At some point the U.S. needs an exit strategy from Iraq," Scharf says. "The UN will be that strategy. We need a diplomat there who can achieve that."

—with reporting from Ellen Schur Brown

Bolton played leading role in repealing Zionism is racism resolution in UN.

"John Bolton has stood for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship."

Andrew Schwartz, American Israel Public Affairs Committee

Alpha

Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 14:56:47 -0700
From: "Jeff Blankfort"

Subject: For AIPAC: FBI Probe: More Questions Than Answers

http://www.forward.com/main/printer-friendly.php?ref=nir20050511933

"Some activists are arguing that the investigation is politically driven by administration officials who are striving to prove that neoconservatives in the defense department and the American Jewish establishment have conspired to hijack American's foreign policy to serve Israel's interests.

"I have never been a big fan of conspiracy theories, but in this case it really seems like there is a fishing expedition" against pro-Israel lobbyists, said Barry Jacobs, who is a director of strategic studies at the American Jewish Committee's Washington office. According to Jacobs, a former State Department official with broad contacts in Washington's bureaucracy, the notion that American Jews and Pentagon neoconservatives conspired to push the United States into war against Iraq, and possibly also against Iran, is pervasive in Washington's intelligence community. "I strongly believe that this is what's behind the investigation," Jacobs said.'

If the "intelligence community" believes that, it is likely that they have good reasons to do so.

News
FBI Probe: More Questions Than Answers
By Ori Nir
May 13, 2005

WASHINGTON — More than a week after a Pentagon official was charged with passing secret information to two employees of Washington's pro-Israel lobby, Jewish communal leaders are still puzzled about the FBI's investigation into the scandal.

"There still are more questions than answers out there," said one Jewish communal official, after participating Monday in a conference call with Howard Kohr, executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Although the call — with leaders of Jewish community-relations councils across the country — was off the record, Kohr refused to answer any questions in detail, participants said. He just reassured them that the investigation was about "leaking," not about espionage, and that the government had told Aipac that the organization is no longer the subject of the investigation.

According to media reports, law enforcement officials allege that Pentagon official Larry Franklin passed classified information along to two Aipac officials, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman. The two men were recently dismissed from their posts.

Asked why Aipac dismissed Rosen and Weissman, after months of publicly defending the two employees, Kohr reportedly replied that they engaged in "certain conduct that [Aipac] can't condone." Kohr did not elaborate and was not pushed to do so, participants in the call said.

Many Jewish communal leaders believe that dismissing Rosen and Weissman before Aipac's upcoming policy conference and before Franklin's arrest was a smart move that has helped the organization dissociate itself from the scandal. Jewish activists say that because they agree that this was the right step for Aipac to take, they are not putting any pressure on Aipac officials to disclose the reason for the dismissals.

Jewish communal leaders seem less concerned with the details of the firing than with the question of why the FBI investigation is continuing. If — as charges against Franklin apparently indicate — Rosen and Weissman are only suspected of verbally receiving secrets from Franklin, and perhaps passing them on to an Israeli diplomat, and if Aipac as an organization is no longer a target of this investigation, many wonder why the FBI seems to have deepened and broadened its probe.

Other questions are reverberating among Jewish organizations: Why is the FBI still interviewing people intimately familiar with the organization? Why is the FBI, judging from several indications, combing through documents it confiscated from Aipac's offices in December? Why hasn't the FBI dropped its investigation against the two former Aipac employees or concluded the investigation with indictments?

As Jewish organizational officials struggle to answer these questions, two theories have emerged.

Some activists are arguing that the investigation is politically driven by administration officials who are striving to prove that neoconservatives in the defense department and the American Jewish establishment have conspired to hijack American's foreign policy to serve Israel's interests.

"I have never been a big fan of conspiracy theories, but in this case it really seems like there is a fishing expedition" against pro-Israel lobbyists, said Barry Jacobs, who is a director of strategic studies at the American Jewish Committee's Washington office. According to Jacobs, a former State Department official with broad contacts in Washington's bureaucracy, the notion that American Jews and Pentagon neoconservatives conspired to push the United States into war against Iraq, and possibly also against Iran, is pervasive in Washington's intelligence community. "I strongly believe that this is what's behind the investigation," Jacobs said.

Several other officials with Jewish groups, who are also thoroughly familiar with Washington's bureaucracy, agreed with Jacobs's assessment.

Another theory being advanced by some Jewish activists is that FBI agents, who confiscated many documents from Aipac's offices, have found other potentially incriminating material not related to the Franklin scandal and are now investigating other issues. Specifically, Jewish activists say, material may have been found to refuel an old charge that Aipac should be registered as an agent for a foreign government.

Under American law, any person or group that acts "at the order, request or under the direction or control of a foreign principal" has to register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent. The repercussions of such registration would be immense. Such a step would transform a grassroots organization such as Aipac into something resembling a lobbying firm and would force the organization to be much more open about its activities, experts said.

"I think that all of us in the Jewish community in general mess up a lot when it comes to Israel advocacy," said one activist with a major Jewish group, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"No one ever gets caught in a criminal mess, because no one intends to do anything criminally," the official said, "but it is routine for us to say: This is our policy on a certain issue, but we must check what the Israelis think. We as a community do it all the time."

Another senior staffer with a major Jewish group explained: "Doing work as a lobbyist, I often think: What would the Israelis want me to do — so, where is the line between being a pro-Israel lobbyist and representing the wishes of somebody else? I don't know where that line is." The official continued: "When does [our work] change from being a cheerleader to being a client?"

Whatever the reason for the FBI's widening investigation may be, it is already having an impact on the conduct of Jewish activists in Washington.

"When I am meeting with Israelis, I am extra careful," said an official with a major Jewish group. "I wouldn't want to even create the impression of impropriety."

Still, most Jewish activists said, the Franklin scandal will not overshadow Aipac's annual policy conference later this month. The three-day convention, which is set to open May 22, will feature Prime Minister Sharon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, all the Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress and scores of other VIPs.

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Treason in high places: Pentagon Zionists, AIPAC and Israel

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2004/09/08/treason-in-high-places-pentagon-zionists-aipac-and-israel.php

Alpha

http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/print.php?id=14131

2005-05-20

AIPAC Will Focus on Policy at Gathering

by Ron Kampeas and Matthew E. Berger, Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Inside the massive Washington Convention Center, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be talking about the Gaza Strip withdrawal and the Iranian nuclear threat.

However, in the hallways and the social gatherings of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual policy conference next week, talk is likely to focus on the investigation into two former AIPAC staffers and the effect it could have on AIPAC’s ability to lobby for Israel.

AIPAC will be tasked with keeping its members focused on the important issues facing Israel and maintaining support in Congress if the Gaza pullout, planned for this summer, goes awry. The effort to keep attention focused on Iran’s presumed drive for nuclear weapons is also high on its agenda.

The organization is still perceived as a “behemoth,” congressional officials say, and will be taken seriously when it meets May 22-24 — but a cloud will linger over the proceedings.

“You deal with them as you would normally deal with them,” one congressional staffer said. He compared it to a friend who has a health problem: You don’t talk about the problem, and you hope that it resolves itself quickly.

There are two traditional success markers to an AIPAC policy conference. One is a roll call of members of Congress, diplomats and administration officials attending the Monday night dinner — last year there were nearly 200, including more than 40 senators — and the other is a lobbying day Tuesday, when thousands of AIPAC members descend on Capitol Hill.

How many lawmakers turn up Monday night and how the lobbyists fare Tuesday will be closely watched by the organization, its supporters and its critics. Some insiders, who asked not to be identified, say there may be apprehension about working with AIPAC, because of the FBI probe.

“I think most members of Congress and staffers who are invited to meet with AIPAC constituents and go to the dinner will still go,” a congressional aide said. “But I’m convinced, in the back of everybody’s mind, there is a kernel of concern and doubt that maybe we shouldn’t be playing ball with AIPAC the way we always have.”

AIPAC’s problems stem from an FBI investigation into Lawrence Franklin, a Pentagon analyst arrested earlier this month and accused of verbally passing classified information to Steve Rosen, AIPAC’s research director, and Keith Weissman, a top Iran analyst at AIPAC.

AIPAC fired both men last month, and Rosen associates tell JTA he expects to be indicted. AIPAC officials claim that they have been assured the probe is not targeting the organization or any other staffers.

“Nobody knows what the implications of this legal situation are,” a congressional staffer said. “It could be a blip, and AIPAC has had blips before.”

AIPAC has gone to great lengths to stress its bona fides, publicizing Rice, Sharon and other scheduled speakers, including leaders of both congressional chambers from both parties. Sharon’s presence is considered particularly significant. Israeli prime ministers rarely travel to the United States if they don’t have an audience with the president.

Sharon is expected to meet with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in New York before heading to Washington, but has planned no political meetings, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington said. Sharon also is expected to be welcomed in New York at a rally Sunday, a measure of American Jewish support for the disengagement plan.

“Prime Minister Sharon is coming to stand with the American pro-Israel community at a crucial moment in the history of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” AIPAC spokesman Andrew Schwartz said.

AIPAC also is boasting about attendance at the conference, which is expected to top 5,000 people, including nearly 1,000 students.

Such self-promotion is unusual for the organization, which generally feels it can be most effective if it keeps its achievements behind the scenes. In the past, major speakers have not been confirmed until the week before the conference, and officials play down the expected attendance, instead of talking it up.

AIPAC officials insist that this year’s conference is business as usual, though they referred questions to Patrick Dorton, a Washington publicist whose experience in scandal management includes shepherding accounting giant Arthur Andersen.

“We’re promoting the policy conference the same way we’ve done it in years past,” Dorton said. “AIPAC continues to be proud of the work it does on behalf of its membership.”

A source close to AIPAC said Howard Kohr, the group’s executive director, will touch on the investigation briefly in a speech to delegates Sunday, but mostly will focus on AIPAC’s policy agenda.

The organization has real work to do. Topping its agenda will be preparing Congress for the Israeli withdrawal. The lobby is preparing a letter for lawmakers to send to President Bush, underscoring how the United States should support the peace process. Bush already has expressed interest in assisting Israel in the development of the Negev Desert and the Galilee, the regions likeliest to absorb some 9,000 settlers from Gaza and the northern West Bank. Israel has suggested that resettlement costs could run as high as $3.5 billion.

AIPAC will be charged with laying the groundwork for pushing through any additional aid packages. In addition to direct aid, that could mean new U.S. loan guarantees for Israel.

It will be important for AIPAC to show that it backs the disengagement plan, especially since it has a hawkish reputation in Washington. A draft of the group’s action agenda, which will be debated in executive committee at the conference, calls for supporting the “U.S. government’s backing” of the plan, rather than the plan itself. Officials said that was in keeping with the group’s philosophy of lobbying the U.S. government, not trying to influence Israeli policy.

In a twist, the disengagement plan could soon pit AIPAC against a traditional ally — Christian evangelicals, including several prominent lawmakers, who believe the disengagement violates biblical precepts and offers Palestinian terrorists a triumph. Dovish groups welcomed the tilt.

“It’s very significant that AIPAC intends to adopt formal policy language that embraces disengagement, and specifically the Bush administration’s endorsement of disengagement,” said Lewis Roth, assistant executive director of Americans for Peace Now.

Disengagement opponents said they won’t try to scuttle AIPAC’s support for the plan, which they believe is inevitable. Instead, they’ll try to ensure that any resolutions reflect the trauma it will impose on settlers.

Morton Klein, Zionist Organization of America president, said language should refer to the evacuation of thousands of “women and children from Gaza” and the northern West Bank “by force if necessary, and abandoning Jewish homes, schools and synagogues where Jews have been living for 35 years.”

Klein plans to continue protesting the plan but has pledged not to lobby against U.S. funding related to it.

As usual, the conference will see some protests. A coalition of right-wing Jewish groups are coordinating buses from New York to Washington, and plan to sleep outside the Convention Center in tents, simulating Gaza settlers who will be expelled from their homes under the withdrawal plan. The Council for National Interest, a pro-Arab group, also will protest, claiming undue Israeli influence in American foreign policy.

AIPAC is not shutting out disengagement dissenters. Natan Sharansky, who resigned recently from Israel’s Cabinet because he believes the time is not ripe for the withdrawal, will speak Sunday night. The former Soviet dissident was expected to speak of democratic ideals, not disengagement.

Another crucial plank at the conference is backing for the Iran Freedom Support bill, a measure to strengthen sanctions against Iran by penalizing foreign countries that invest in Iran’s energy sector and to provide funding to democratic groups in the Islamic republic.

The legislation, introduced by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), codifies much of what already is in the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, but includes a provision that would notify investors if a fund they own has shares in a company that is subject to sanctions. The goal is to create an investor backlash against companies that deal with Iran.

AIPAC also will focus on the Iranian nuclear threat. Delegates will learn about the nuclear fuel cycle and how Iran appears to be seeking a nuclear bomb.

The lobby will continue to stress the annual passage of foreign aid. This year’s aid package includes $2.28 billion in military aid for Israel and $240 million in economic assistance, as well as $150 million for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Alpha · Posted: Sun May 22, 2005 12:07 pm Post subject: Impacting on AIPAC

Impacting on AIPAC

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AIPAC Fifth Columnists Pushing US to Attack Iran for Israel