John Mearsheimer has a strong piece in the latest Atlantic Monthly about Chas Freeman and the Israel lobby. Oh wait, sorry– the piece is in the London Review of Books. Gosh. How can I make such mistakes? Titled, "The Lobby Falters," the piece is very good about the role of the internet in the saga. And this excerpt begins with a belief I share: once we get a real debate about Israel, the party's over. Mearsheimer:
An even more important reason for the lobby to drive Freeman out of his
job is the weakness of the case for America’s present policy towards
Israel, which makes it imperative to silence or marginalise anyone who
criticises the special relationship. If Freeman hadn’t been punished,
others would see that one could talk critically about Israel and still
have a successful career in Washington. And once you get an open and free-wheeling discussion about Israel, the special relationship will be in serious trouble.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the Freeman affair was that the mainstream media paid it little attention – the New York Times,
for example, did not run a single story dealing with Freeman until the
day after he stepped down – while a fierce battle over the appointment
took place in the blogosphere. Freeman’s opponents used the internet to
their advantage; that is where Rosen launched the campaign. But
something happened there that would never have happened in the
mainstream media: the lobby faced real opposition. Indeed, a vigorous,
well-informed and highly regarded array of bloggers defended Freeman at
every turn and would probably have carried the day had Congress not
tipped the scales against them. In short, the internet enabled a
serious debate in the United States about an issue involving Israel.
The lobby has never had much trouble keeping the New York Times and the Washington Post in line, but it has few ways to silence critics on the internet.
…Freeman’s
remarkable statement [on stepping down] has shot all around the world and been read by
countless individuals. This isn’t good for the lobby, which would have
preferred to kill Freeman’s appointment without leaving any
fingerprints. But Freeman will continue to speak out about Israel and
the lobby, and maybe some of his natural allies inside the Beltway will
eventually join him. Slowly but steadily, space is being opened up in
the United States to talk honestly about Israel.
Interesting to reflect that a few years ago, when, say, the right wing blogosphere got Dan Rather out at CBS over his (meaningless) credulity on the Bush National Guard story, it was the blogosphere making noise that finally got picked up by the mainstream media. Now, as Mearsheimer shows, important people are following important stories on the internet. Better shine my shoes.
