Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: AIPAC's Man in the Obama Camp

AIPAC's Man in
the Obama Camp
Philip Giraldi
Barack Obama's first appointment, that of Chicago Congressman Rahm
Emanuel as his chief of staff, is quite frankly unsettling and
suggests that voters who had hoped for real change in Washington will
be disappointed. There should also be some concern on the part of
Americans who believe that a close and continuing relationship with a
foreign government might disqualify one for high office in the United
States.
Emanuel, far from serving as a neutral gateway to the president, has
some very strong views on foreign policy, particularly regarding the
Middle East, views that are closer to those of George W. Bush and Dick
Cheney than they are to the millions of voters who thought that Obama
would put an end to "wars of choice." And Obama appears to share at
least some of those views, though he might be driven primarily by
unwillingness to antagonize Israel's numerous cheerleaders in the
Democratic Party. During the presidential campaign Obama refused to
meet with American Muslims, and on a fact-finding trip to the Middle
East last summer he spent several days in Israel but only 45 minutes
with Palestinian leaders.
More recently, Obama did not respond to a congratulatory letter from
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the only world leader to be
snubbed in that fashion. In his first press conference on Nov. 7,
Obama, who has promised to do "everything in his power" to
denuclearize Iran, reiterated that Iran's development of a nuclear
weapon would be unacceptable, a position adhering closely to the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) line. There are also
reports that Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has already called
Vice President-elect Joe Biden to tell him that even talking to Iran
would be a sign of weakness, a signal that Israel might be willing to
unleash its all-powerful lobby against the Obama administration if it
is perceived as going too far.
The extremely partisan and foul-mouthed Emanuel, who has the
reputation of a junkyard dog, is a retread from the Clinton White
House, where he served in two senior advisory positions after
demonstrating his expertise in fundraising during the 1992
presidential campaign. Though born in Chicago, he was an Israeli
citizen through his father until he, according to his own account,
renounced his dual citizenship when he turned 18. When the United
States went to war with Iraq in 1991 the 31-year-old Emanuel rushed
off to join the colors, though the colors in this case were the blue
and white flag of Israel. He claims that he was a civilian volunteer
in the Israeli army who was assigned the task of "rust-proofing
brakes" on military vehicles, an assertion that has been questioned
because his father's background suggests that he would likely have
been offered something much more important.
Emanuel's father, an Israeli physician, was a member of the terrorist
group Irgun in the 1940s. Irgun was responsible for blowing up the
King David Hotel and ethnically cleansing much of Palestine through
selective massacres of Arab civilians. In an interview in the
Jerusalem Post, Dr. Benjamin Emanuel said he was convinced that his
son's appointment as White House chief of staff would be good for
Israel. "Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel,"
he was quoted as saying. "Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab?
He's not going to clean the floors of the White House." Commenting on
his father's statement, Rahm Emanuel noted that Obama does not need
his influence to "orientate his policy toward Israel."
Other Israelis and prominent American supporters of Israel also see
Emanuel as their man in the White House. The respected Israeli
newspaper Ha'aretz hailed his appointment, describing him
unambiguously as an Israeli. William Daroff of the United Jewish
Communities also praised Emanuel, describing him as "a good friend of
Israel, coming from good Irgun stock." Ira Forman, head of the
National Jewish Democratic Council, welcomed the appointment, saying,
"It's just another indication that despite the attempts to imply that
Obama would somehow appoint the wrong person or listen to the wrong
people when it comes to the U.S.-Israel relationship … that was never
true," an indication that some will actually expect Emanuel to act on
behalf of Israel when the chips are down.
Emanuel left the Clinton administration in 1998 and went to work for
Bruce Wasserstein, a major Democratic donor and head of the Chicago
investment bank Wasserstein Perella. He made $18 million in a little
over two years. He was deliberately placed in a position where he
could exploit his White House connections, which he did, to obtain a
nest egg to finance his political career. In 2000 he was named by
Clinton to the board of Freddie Mac, where he earned an additional
$260,000 but was later criticized for not taking his oversight
responsibility seriously. In 2002, he was elected to Congress, where
he was noted for his ability to attract large political contributions.
Emanuel soon moved into a leadership position, eventually becoming
chairman of the Democratic Caucus in January 2007, the fourth-ranking
Democrat in Congress.
In Congress, Emanuel has been a consistent and vocal pro-Israel
hardliner, particularly close to right-wing politicians such as Ariel
Sharon and Bibi Netanyahu, sometimes even more so than President Bush.
In June 2003 he signed a congressional letter criticizing Bush for
being weak in his support of Israel. The letter, signed by 34
Democrats, stated, "We were deeply dismayed to hear your criticism of
Israel for fighting acts of terror." The letter supported Israel's
policy of assassinating Palestinian political leaders because it "was
clearly justified as an application of Israel's right to self-
defense."
Not surprisingly, Emanuel has always been in favor of the Iraq war,
and he supports an aggressive policy toward Iran. In his 2006 book
with the pretentious title The Plan: Big Ideas for America he
advocates increasing the size of the U.S. Army by 100,000 soldiers and
creating a domestic spying organization like Britain's MI5. More
recently, he has supported mandatory paramilitary national service for
all Americans between the ages of 18 and 25.
Emanuel has always expressed intense hostility toward antiwar
Democrats. When, in November 2005, Congressman Jack Murtha made his
proposal for withdrawal from Iraq, Emanuel quickly declared that "Jack
Murtha went out and spoke for Jack Murtha." In late 2005 and early
2006, Emanuel played a key role as chair of the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in lining up candidates to run
against the Republicans for congressional seats in November 2006. Out
of 22 candidates vetted and supported financially by Emanuel, 20 were
pro-war, despite the fact that the Democratic Party base was not.
Antiwar candidates were routinely denied funding and support from his
DCCC. Only eight of Emanuel's candidates won, a percentage
considerably lower than the success rate for other Democrats, possibly
because voters had a hard time embracing their pro-war positions.
In a June 2006 congressional debate on Iraq policy, Emanuel made his
own views clear, declaring, "The debate today is about whether the
American people want to stay the course with an administration and a
Congress that has walked away from its obligations or pursue a real
strategy for success in the war on terror. … Democrats are determined
to take the fight to the enemy." In his speech, Emanuel fully embraced
the questionable "War on Terror" concept and aligned himself far to
the right of the Democratic Party base, which, at the time, was 60
percent in favor of immediate withdrawal from Iraq.
In July 2006, Emanuel was one of several congressmen who called for
the cancellation of an impending speech before Congress by visiting
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki because Maliki had called
Israel's bombing of Lebanon "aggression." Emanuel was joined by his
close friend and DSCC counterpart Sen. Charles Schumer, who asked;
"Which side is he on when it comes to the war on terror?" Emanuel
described the Lebanese and Palestinian governments as "totalitarian
entities with militias and terrorists acting as democracies" in a
subsequent speech on July 19 regarding a House resolution supporting
Israel's bombing, which produced thousands of civilian casualties.
On March 12, 2007, the Democratic Party leadership announced that it
would separate the issue of Iran from consideration of funding
measures for the troop surge in neighboring Iraq. Opponents of a
possible military action against Iran had sought specific language in
the appropriation that would deny funding for any military operations
outside Iraq without prior congressional approval. The proposal had
seemed reasonable enough, given the Bush administration's track record
on the use of force, but apparently it was not acceptable to Emanuel.
AIPAC mobilized immediately and began an intensive lobbying campaign
against the proposal, instructing its supporters to call and write
Congress, adding that it is best to telephone just after lunch, when
there are more staffers available to answer the phone. Emanuel
organized resistance to the measure from inside the House of
Representatives and promised AIPAC early in the process that the
offensive language would be dropped. The Democratic Party subsequently
held a number of closed-door meetings on the issue and decided that
the prohibition would not be included in the funding measure because
of "possible impact on Israel."
During the summer of 2008, Emanuel was a key player in the
marginalization and humiliation of former president Jimmy Carter,
whose book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid had outraged Israel's
supporters. Carter was not allowed to speak at the Democratic National
Convention, an unprecedented snub toward a former president and a
further indication, if one was needed, that in American politics it is
possible to do or say nearly anything as long as one does not
criticize Israel.
And now Emanuel is the president's chief of staff, one of the most
powerful positions in the White House. Perhaps there is a limit to the
mischief that he will be able to do; at this point one can only adopt
a wait-and-see policy. One thing is certain, however. If the subject
is Israel, Emanuel knows very clearly where his loyalty lies.


Hmmm...... Sergio
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