The Kristol-Abrams cabal is on the war path again, concerned that the next United States secretary of defense might not be more loyal to Israel than he is to his own country. For the Emergency Committee for Israel, run by William Kristol, Elliot Abrams and their cohorts, placing the interests of Israel first should be the raison d’être of U.S. national security and foreign policy.
This is an ad the committee is now running on cable networks in the hope they can torpedo Chuck Hagel’s nomination for defense secretary — before the nomination has even been made.
President Obama faces a challenge: is he going to capitulate to the Israel lobby as he has so often before, or will he for once show he has a backbone?
If he bows to this pressure, not only will he be confirming that Washington remains Israeli occupied territory, but he will be signalling to all other interest groups, such as the NRA, that in spite of the fact that he never needs to win another election, he remains a pushover.
So the Israelis are afraid of Hagel because he said he didn’t want to go to war on Iran? One could almost think that they-Israelis- are starting to panic that the U.S. just might be at the point of having had enough of the B.S. that the Israelis are doing. It’s time for a dramatic change to take place between the 2 countries. Warmongering gets us nowhere except deeper into the cesspool. The M.E. could use a new direction, perhaps it will come about.
Simply because pro-Israel neocons have launched an offensive against Chuck Hagel, currently the leading contender to succeed Leon Panetta as DoD head, that does not mean that progressives or those on the left should rally in support of the “moderate” Republican.
For those who may be unaware, as US Senator from Nebraska, Hagel led the charge in opposition to the US signing of the Kyoto protocols that would have set limits on global hydrocarbon emissions. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of Chevron while occupying the chairmanship of the Atlantic Council, the influential corporate liberal foreign policy NGO .
I imagine things could become clearer for some if a guy from Chevron in the leadership of one of the major imperial policy “thinbk tanks” also actually sat at the Pentagon helm, but caveat emptor.
To suggest that Hagel should garner support simply because he is coming under attack from the right by those hawks some of us love to despise is to miss the perennial forest for the trees.
I don’t think that Hagel’s defense from the left is quite as knee-jerk as the enemy of our enemies must be our friend. If he heads the Pentagon, Iran will be at the top of his agenda and the assumption is that he will be able to provide some of the backbone Obama generally lacks in resisting pressure to start another war. In standing up to pressure from Congressional chickenhawks and the Israel lobby, Hagel’s strongest armor comes from being a combat veteran – a fact that obliges other Republicans to always show some deference. The more pressing question is whether Obama will cave under pressure before even nominating Hagel.
I agree with Allen, and am weary of the automatic support of the “liberals” towards anyone (including Obama) if he/she is attacked from the right.