This is a must read expose on the powerful Israeli Lobby and its grip on America's foreigh policy.
Here are some excerpts from the paper:
The Israel Lobby
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt
For the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967, the centrepiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with
Israel. The combination of unwavering support for Israel and the related effort to spread ‘democracy’ throughout the region has inflamed Arab and
Islamic opinion and jeopardised not only US security but that of much of the rest of the world. This situation has no equal in American political
history. Why has the US been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of another state?
One might assume that the bond between the two countries was based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, but neither
explanation can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the US provides.
Instead, the thrust of US policy in the region derives almost entirely from domestic politics, and especially the activities of the ‘Israel
Lobby’. Other special-interest groups have managed to skew foreign policy, but no lobby has managed to divert it as far from what the national
interest would suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that US interests and those of the other country – in this case, Israel – are
essentially identical.
Since the October War in 1973, Washington has provided Israel with a level of support dwarfing that given to any other state. It has been the largest
annual recipient of direct economic and military assistance since 1976, and is the largest recipient in total since World War Two, to the tune of well
over $140 billion (in 2004 dollars). Israel receives about $3 billion in direct assistance each year, roughly one-fifth of the foreign aid budget, and
worth about $500 a year for every Israeli. This largesse is especially striking since Israel is now a wealthy industrial state with a per capita
income roughly equal to that of South Korea or Spain.
Other recipients get their money in quarterly installments, but Israel receives its entire appropriation at the beginning of each fiscal year and can
thus earn interest on it. Most recipients of aid given for military purposes are required to spend all of it in the US, but Israel is allowed to use
roughly 25 per cent of its allocation to subsidise its own defence industry. It is the only recipient that does not have to account for how the aid is
spent, which makes it virtually impossible to prevent the money from being used for purposes the US opposes, such as building settlements on the West
Bank. Moreover, the US has provided Israel with nearly $3 billion to develop weapons systems, and given it access to such top-drawer weaponry as
Blackhawk helicopters and F-16 jets. Finally, the US gives Israel access to intelligence it denies to its Nato allies and has turned a blind eye to
Israel’s acquisition of nuclear weapons.
Washington also provides Israel with consistent diplomatic support. Since 1982, the US has vetoed 32 Security Council resolutions critical of Israel,
more than the total number of vetoes cast by all the other Security Council members. It blocks the efforts of Arab states to put Israel’s nuclear
arsenal on the IAEA’s agenda. The US comes to the rescue in wartime and takes Israel’s side when negotiating peace. The Nixon administration
protected it from the threat of Soviet intervention and resupplied it during the October War. Washington was deeply involved in the negotiations that
ended that war, as well as in the lengthy ‘step-by-step’ process that followed, just as it played a key role in the negotiations that preceded and
followed the 1993 Oslo Accords. In each case there was occasional friction between US and Israeli officials, but the US consistently supported the
Israeli position. One American participant at Camp David in 2000 later said: ‘Far too often, we functioned . . . as Israel’s lawyer.’ Finally,
the Bush administration’s ambition to transform the Middle East is at least partly aimed at improving Israel’s strategic situation.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
www.lrb.co.uk...
This is a very very controversial paper. Nobody has had the guts before to openly say things as they are.
Here's an excerpt from a newspaper dealing with this report:
Sound like the rantings of President Ahmadinejad of Iran or Louisiana anti-Semite David Duke? It turns out that those are selections from a paper
issued this month by the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government in its "Faculty Research Working Papers Series" and written by two American
professors, Stephen M. Walt and John Mearsheimer. The paper, posted on the Internet, is starting to attract attention not only because of its
substance but because of the affiliations of the authors. Mr. Walt is the academic dean of Harvard's Kennedy School, a graduate school for students
preparing for careers in public service. He also holds the Robert and Renee Belfer professorship in international affairs at the Kennedy School. Mr.
Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison distinguished service professor of political science and co-director of the Program on International Security
Policy at the University of Chicago.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
www.nysun.com...
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Middle East policy is not in America's national interest and is motivated primarily by the country's pro-Israel lobby,
according to a study published yesterday by researchers from Harvard University and the University of Chicago.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
www.haaretz.com...
Check out this clip from "Scarborough Country" from MSNBC dealing with this paper.
www.vidilife.com...
[edit on 22-3-2006 by NuclearHead]
[edit on 22-3-2006 by NuclearHead]