LA Times: 'Israel Lobby' Is 'Dead Hand of the Past'

Andrew Bacevich had a good piece in the most forward-thinking op-ed page in the country, the LA Times, that talked openly about the Isr**l l*bby and which urged neocons to repent of their Iraq invasion error:

McCain's national security team features a strong neoconservative presence, including pundits such as Max Boot and Robert Kagan, along with hawkish Washington insiders such as Randy Scheunemann and James Woolsey. All figured prominently among advocates of invading Iraq; none has yet to repent....

The very structure of American politics imposes its own constraints. ... A President Obama, even if his own party runs the Senate and House, won't enjoy all that much more latitude, especially when it comes to three areas in which the dead hand of the past weighs most heavily: defense policy, energy policy and the Arab-Israeli peace process. The military-industrial complex will inhibit efforts to curb the Pentagon's penchant for waste. Detroit and Big Oil will conspire to prolong the age of gas guzzling. And the Israel lobby will oppose attempts to chart a new course in the Middle East.

Comments

[Pat]

Andrew Bacevich retired as Colonel, and his son,a First Lieutenant, was killed in Iraq. No wonder he is pissed.

[morris]

@Pat: He might have a reason to be pissed.
But the real news is the LA Times published it!
It reads like an alternative blog! How amazing.
..............
Separately and O/T:
A holiday offered:

THE ULTIMATE MISSION TO ISRAEL
Monday, November 3 - Monday, November 10, 2008

Mission Highlights

* Briefings by Mossad officials and commanders of the Shin Bet.

* Briefing by officers in the IDF Intelligence and Operations branches.

* Inside tour of the IAF unit who carries out targeted killings.

* Live exhibition of penetration raids in Arab territory.

* Observe a trial of Hamas terrorists in an IDF military court.

* First hand tours of the Lebanese front-line military positions and the Gaza border check-points.

* Inside tour of the controversial Security Fence and secret intelligence bases.

* Meeting Israel's Arab agents who infiltrate the terrorist groups and provide real-time intelligence.

* Briefing by Israel's war heros who saved the country.

www.israellawcenter.org/template.php?section=MI

[samuel burke]

the press is to blame for letting these bastages blather on without holding them accountable for their prior prognostications....there ought to be a law that everytime some touted wiser than solomon type goes on national tv to instruct america in the ways of the world, alongside their name and face there ought to be a listing of all of that individuals prior pronouncements grading them on how wise they have been in the past.

the reason i say the press is at fault is because these guys go on tv, radio and print, to create popular opinion....otherwise we would not hear from them....without the support of the populace the national govt would not be able to embark on its imperial adventures.

i say let these ad-men for the empire with their ready made accreditations that are no better than lies, be given a report card to truly reveal their wisdom by judging their past performances....maybe then the empires prognosticators can be graded and mr and mrs average american can more wisely choose which way we want our nation to be steered.

Phil, why cant a report card for the neocons wiser than solomon pronouncements be kept on your blog alongside their name and face, eventually the cognizanti will grow balls to re-regurgitate their records in conversations around the watercoolers of this nations corporations and govt buildings and maybe this will lead to more responsible governance.

if the problem is limited venues for truth and misrepresentation of facts, then the solution is open discourse with the facts readily available to disrobe the lies, leaving the propagators thereof denuded of their accreditations.

let there be report cards please.

[patrick]

Bacevich was a vocal critic of the Iraq war before his son's death. In fact, I think he published articles before the invasion predicting the nightmare.

Bacevich should be the president.

[samuel burke]

http://counterpunch.com/roberts08262008.html
The power of the Israel Lobby is an important component of keeping Americans in the dark. Recently I watched a documentary that demonstrates the control that the Israel Lobby exercises over Americans’ view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The documentary is available here.

As a result of the US media’s one-sided coverage, few Americans are aware that for decades Israel has been ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their homes and lands under protection of America’s veto in the United Nations. Instead, the dispossessed Palestinians are portrayed as mindless terrorists who attack innocent Israel.

If one reads Israeli newspapers, such as Haaretz, or publications from Israeli organizations, such as the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, one gets a radically different view of the situation than the propagandistic version delivered by US media and evangelical pulpits.

Most Americans know of the 2000 attack by Muslim terrorists on the USS Cole in Aden harbor that resulted in 17 dead and 39 wounded American sailors. But few have heard of Israel’s 1967 attack on the USS Liberty that left 34 American sailors dead and 174 wounded. Pressured by the Israel Lobby, President Johnson ordered Admiral McCain, father of the Republican presidential nominee, to cover up the attack. To this day there never has been a congressional investigation.

[LeaNder]

Bill Moyers interviews Andrew J. Bacevich.