Findley: The High Cost of Subservience to Israel

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CRIMES AND CORRUPTION OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS

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The High Cost of Subservience to Israel

June 8, 2007 / By Paul Findley

In the greatest service of his long public life, former President 
Jimmy Carter warns of the grave consequences of America's phenomenal 
subservience to Israel. In his latest book and recent lectures, he 
focuses on how Israel's cruel occupation, made possible by massive 
and unconditional U.S. support, has subjected the Palestinian people 
to terrible suffering for forty long years. Beyond that grave human 
tragedy, candid observers must cite U.S. complicity in Israeli 
lawlessness as the major factor that prompted the horror of 9/11 and 
lured America into launching three costly, wrong-headed, and failing 
wars - Afghanistan, Iraq and the War on Terror.

The linkage is easily identified.

America's support of Israel's brutality was the main motivation for 
9/11. It was the ultimate expression of Arab fury over America's 
double standard that routinely ignores Israeli violations of Arab 
human rights. Nine-eleven would not have happened if any U.S. 
president in the last forty years had refused to finance Israel's 
humiliation and destruction of Palestine. Michael Scheuer, a former 
CIA analyst now a consultant to CBS News, recently told a 
congressional committee that "our unqualified support of Israel" was 
the main reason for 9/11. Marine General Anthony Zinni, President 
George W. Bush's first special envoy to the Middle East, has stated 
that the United States invaded Iraq for Israel and oil. Osama bin 
Laden repeatedly said it was payback for U.S. support of Israel's 
brutal treatment of Palestinians and other Arabs and for U.S. 
complicity in 1982 when Israeli forces used U.S.-donated munitions to 
massacre over 18,000 innocent Arabs in Lebanon.

The U.S. acts of war in Afghanistan and the War on Terror were 
President Bush's retaliation for 9/11. Israel - and only Israel - 
urged the United States to invade Iraq. Israel's lobby in Washington 
pushed hard and prevailed. To our foreign critics, these wars focus 
on killing people outraged by our pro-Israel bias. Our government has 
done nothing to redress the grievances of Israel's victims.

Despite this grim record, U.S. subservience to the wishes of Israel's 
leaders does not change. Unconditional aid to Israel keeps flowing, 
as does Israel's savage treatment of Palestinians and other Arabs. 
Moreover, the Bush administration is fully and openly pledged to do 
whatever is necessary - even acts of war - to halt Iran's nuclear 
program even if its projects are lawfully limited to peaceful 
purposes. Israel is the only nation urging the United States to 
attack Iran. The lobby is pushing hard again. If the U.S. assaults 
Iran it will be on Israel's behalf.

Congress, like the rest of America, is totally devoid of debate on 
the amazing role of this small nation in critical U.S. policy. 
Members are fulsome in public praise of the Jewish state, but no 
politician mentions the illegal behavior of Israel or the staggering 
burden it imposes on our country.

How did Israel gain this influence?

It all started 40 years ago. On June 8, 1967, the U.S. 
commander-in-chief, President Lyndon B. Johnson, turned his back on 
the crew of a U.S. navy ship, the USS Liberty, despite the fact that 
the ship was under deadly assault by Israel's air and sea forces. The 
Israelis were engaged in an ugly scheme to lure America into their 
war against Arab states. They tried to destroy the Liberty and its 
entire crew, then pin the blame on the Arabs. This, they reasoned, 
would outrage the American people and immediately lead the United 
States to join Israel's battle against Arabs.

The scheme almost worked. It failed because, despite the 
carefully-planned multi-pronged assault, the Liberty crew managed to 
broadcast an SOS over a makeshift antenna. When the appeal reached 
U.S. aircraft carriers nearby, the commanders immediately launched 
fighter planes to defend the ship. Informed of the launch, President 
Johnson ordered the rescue planes to turn back immediately.

For the first time in history, forces of the U.S. Navy were denied 
the right to defend a Navy ship under attack. Johnson said, "I don't 
care if the ship sinks, I am not going to embarrass an ally." Those 
were his exact words, heard by Navy personnel listening to radio 
relays. The ally Johnson refused to embarrass was Israel. To him, 
saving Israel from embarrassment was more important than saving the 
lives of the Liberty crew.

The day yielded infamy - deceit, lies and cover-up at the highest 
level. When the SOS reached the top military commanders in Israel, 
they immediately canceled the assault, claiming it was a case of 
mistaken identity. At the White House, Johnson accepted Israel's 
claim, even though he knew it was a lie. Then Johnson magnified the 
day's infamy by ordering a cover-up of the truth. Liberty survivors 
were sworn to secrecy. Even those in hospital beds and badly wounded 
were threatened with court martial if they told anyone what actually 
happened. The cover-up has been continued by every administration 
since Johnson's.

It proved to be a fateful turning point in Israel's power over U.S. 
foreign policy. The Liberty experience convinced Israeli officials 
that they could get away with literally anything - even the murder of 
U.S. sailors - in their manipulation of the U.S. government. 
Financial aid to Israel began to pour like a river, all of it with no 
strings attached. According to The Christian Science Monitor, this 
outpouring has now cost U.S. taxpayers over $1.4 trillion. Costs go 
far beyond money. Thousands of American families are blighted 
forever, with America's once high moral standing in shambles. Because 
of its unqualified support of Israel, Washington is hated worldwide 
as never before.

The principal source of Israel's influence is the fear it seems to 
instill in every sector of our society. The most effective instrument 
of intimidation employed by its lobby is the reckless accusation of 
anti-Semitism, often leveled at anyone criticizing any aspect of 
Israeli behavior. Several organizations, fundamentalist Christian as 
well as Jewish, lobby for Israel, but the principal one is the 
American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC]. I can personally 
certify that for many years it has cast a blanket of fear over 
Capitol Hill and blocked any semblance of unfettered discussion.

I unintentionally contributed to that fear in 1985 when my book, They 
Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby, 
was published. It reports in detail the efficiency of Israel's U.S. 
lobby, its history and tactics. Most of the text arose from my 
personal experience as AIPAC's prime target during my last five years 
as a Member of Congress. It also details the lobby's important role 
in the defeat of Senators Charles Percy and Adlai Stevenson, and U.S. 
Rep. Paul "Pete" McCloskey. In a rare burst of public candor about 
its partisan activities, AIPAC claimed credit for defeating 
re-election bids by myself in 1982 and Senator Percy in 1984.

My book became a bestseller. I hoped it would inspire public 
officials and other citizens to revolt against the lobby's influence 
on U.S. policy, but several of my former colleagues told me it had 
the opposite effect. One said, "After what AIPAC did to you and 
Percy, I vote with the lobby every time."

Israel's grip on America seems impervious. Two distinguished 
political scientists, John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago 
and Stephen Walt of Harvard, strode resolutely into the Middle East 
minefield a year ago by co-authoring a paper on Israel's lobby. More 
recently, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, a book written by former 
President Carter, revered worldwide for his effective work on 
international conflict resolution, was published.

These brave statements should have produced a groundswell of public 
protest demanding America's liberation from Israel. Although the 
professors and Carter have pursued the lecture circuit, no tide of 
outrage has developed. With few exceptions, America's major editors, 
producers, commentators, academics and politicians have given these 
courageous initiatives the silent treatment. Democratic leaders on 
Capitol Hill simply said, "Carter doesn't not speak for the 
Democratic Party."

Nationwide, the lobby's influence is pervasive, sustained and deep, a 
phenomenon unprecedented in U.S. history. Because of that power, the 
"other" Israel is almost never discussed openly and candidly any 
place in America, even in private conversation. It is impossible to 
explain the silence except as a reflection of profound fear.

The situation is highly dangerous. America has already paid a 
towering price for our subservience to Israel, and great additional 
burdens seem inevitable. If the United States is involved in acts of 
war against Iran, anti-American protest will rise to new heights, 
especially throughout the Islamic world. It will inevitably deepen 
the widely-held belief among Muslims that America seeks to undermine 
Islam.

The outlook for reform is grim. Elected officials of both major 
political parties in Washington seem hopelessly captured by Israel's 
agents. So does every serious candidate for the presidency in 2008. A 
senior U.S. Senator told me recently that Israel cannot expect to 
experience true security until Palestinians are secure in an 
independent state of their own, but he spoke off the record and has 
not made that wise declaration in public.

All U.S. citizens must accept a measure of responsibility for 
Israel's grip on America. Those of us who knew what was happening did 
not protest with sufficient force and clarity. Those who did not know 
should have taken their responsibility as citizens more seriously. 
They should have informed themselves.

The scene is likely to improve only if U.S. elected officials are 
criticized so forthrightly from home that they fear a constituent 
revolt more than they fear Israel's lobby. This, of course, will not 
happen until the countryside benefits from a rigorous and edifying 
public debate about Israel's role in our national life.

=====

Paul Findley, a U.S. Representative from Illinois 1961-83, resides in 
Jacksonville, Illinois. He is the author of five books, including the 
Washington Post seven-week bestseller, They Dare to Speak Out: People 
and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby, originally published by 
Lawrence Hill.

Posted by CRIMES AND CORRUPTION OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS 
mparent7777 Marc Parent CCNWON at 5:34 AM