The Jane Harman case is confusing to newcomers. The most important question that arises is why now? Why four years after the phone call? It is the most important question because it speaks to the fact that the central fight here, between the Israel lobby and the critics of the Israel lobby, is a fight that has been going on for more than 60 years in the underground of the Washington establishment. It never dies because it involves principled conflicts that are never resolved. They are never resolved because the press and our politicians can’t deal with these questions due to Harman-style orthodoxy/corruption, and the battle is suppressed. Though now and then it breaks the surface.
The specific reason the story is coming out now is that my side, the critics of the Israel lobby, are about to lose a battle: it looks like the case against Steven Rosen and Ken Weissman, the Israel lobbyists charged with sharing secrets with the Israelis five years ago, a case postponed forever, is going to get dropped by the Justice Department. The lawyers who believe in that case are surely upset about this and have managed to leak one of the big truffles of their investigation to the press so as to goose the public outrage over the central issue at stake: corruption of policymaking due to the Israel interest. I don’t know that they’re the source. But that’s my supposition.
We may lose this fight, but we are winning the larger battle. Remember that We lost the Chas Freeman fight, the nomination of an Arabist/realist to the National Intelligence Council, but we won that one too because he freely exposed the Israel-first gang that had gone after him. Suddenly the Israel lobby was on the front pages. It’s on them again, a month later, with the Times coverage of Harman. This is unprecedented. At last the Israel lobby, which people denied as a fact of our political life when Steve Walt and John Mearsheimer had the Emperor’s-new-clothes temerity to say it existed three years ago, is being openly mentioned. Andrea Mitchell said frankly on MSNBC the other day that it is a well-known and powerful lobby.
We are winning in this overall struggle because the central question, the justice of U.S. foreign policy to the Palestinians, has never been discussed and is never going away. It demands to be discussed. The Forward has a smart but slightly panicky piece today saying that the Harman case reflects a longheld belief in the federal government, among the professionals, that Jews have dual loyalty to Israel, going back almost to the foundation of the state. This is true. At least since the Truman overruled his State Department when it wanted to try and reverse partition in the spring of 1948, because bloody riots and ethnic cleansing had begun in Palestine, which partition was supposed to end, the lobby has won through White House access of the sort Harman allegedly boasted of in the wiretapped call; and those who are critical of a Jewish state or its policies have been excluded and smeared, as antisemites. The Forward piece carried that implication tday. The issue has never gone away and many presidents have bitched about it. Kennedy was upset abut Jewish influence-peddling on the matter even as Israel was acquiring nuclear weapons in defiance of his policy (Sy Hersh reported in the Samson Option). Nixon bridled at the lobbying. Jimmy Carter threw himself against the Israel lobby and didn’t get reelected. George Bush I also took on the Israel lobby, the evil settlements policy that has now all but destroyed the two-state solution, and didn’t get a second term. Bill Clinton and George Bush II embraced the expansion and the lobby, and had two terms. Chuck Percy and Paul Findlay sacrificed their political futures over trying to get the issue discussed.
The tragedy of our politics is that Barack Obama ran last year in some large measure against the neoconservative policy on the Middle East and the issue was never openly debated. Obama toed the line–and secretly believed that Palestinians are suffering the most. The neocons wanted to have that fight, and so did I. We both thought we would win if we could have it out; or they thought that McCain had a better chance of winning. But that question was ruled out of the presidential campaign, a time when people would get a chance to choose over the issue–just as Al Franken and Norm Coleman refused to differ on the question in the midst of their battle–and now the unresolved struggle has been imported into the Obama administraiotn. He knows that resolving the issue is essential to the American interest in the Middle East, and to peace. It’s the core issues, As King Abdullah and every other leader has told him. But because we could not have it out last year, a silent struggle is now taking place inside his administration, as Bruce wolman has put it, between the realists and the Israel-firsters. Obama can throw a signal to one side and the other, but he can’t take a firm stand against the Israel firsters without political cover. A few critical congressmen, Brian Baird and Kucinich and Donna Edwards, aren’t going to give him that political cover. He needs his progressive base to take a stand on the question and openly, and allow the influential elites to divide on the issue on talk shows and at dinner parties. He can’t drive the wedge without a sledgehammer– public opinion, the press.
I'm optimistic because the Harman case came up three years ago, in Time Magazine, and died, and now it has come up again and gotten legs. It could not have become such a big story without political ground, created by the horrors of Gaza, and the Netanyahu/Lieberman election, and before that by the horrors of Iraq. Americans know that our Middle East policy is skewed toward permanent war, one that Rahm Emanuel and Jane Hamran supported. Progressive Democrats are beginning to rally around the issue at last.
What the Harman leak suggests is that the establishment press and the disgruntled Israel critics within government have found each other at last. The story took 4 years, or 60 years to get out, but it is out, and there is a suggestion in the coverage that the intelligence of the American political process may at last be brought to bear on this question—instead of the intelligence of the back room dealers. When that happens, expect fairness.
Related posts:
- Why did the Harman case break now?
- Daniel Schorr dismisses Harman case as ’something of a brouhaha’
- Harman primary opponent: ‘Let us remind Harman and the rest of Congress that they represent the people of the United States of America.’
- Harman, with Lanny Davis, seem to want to portray the matter as a partisan foodfight
- Latest on Harman scandal – There was no timely leak, Harman was not the object of the tap and a useful timeline of events
{ 33 comments }
It broke because somebody vindictive illegally chose to leak to the press evidence involved in an active prosecution, thereby risking entire valid cases of illegality in the process of prosecution.
I think that is a stretch. I agree the prosecution might have some problems bringing in the HARMAN's wiretap into the ROSEN/WEISSMAN trial. However, who is say that these wiretaps were part of another/separate investigation into Israeli influence in governmental affairs?
why is it coming out now? here is a sequence of events to ponder.
a while back there was a published article on haaretz saying that obama was gonna put pressure on the dems to push for the two state solution in order to circumvent netanyahu's trying to pull string through the lobby and thus through congress.
last week rahm emanuel said israel would have to withdraw from jerusalem and the west bank in order to get US cooperation on the iranian nuke threat.
this week there is the harman story.
this is playing hardball by the administration with the obstructionists, be they republican or democrat, to obama's mid-east vision. there is a new sheriff in town.
isn't it strange that this kind of high-level leak is coming out and there is no outcry from the administration about national security being compromised, blah, blah, blah?
this is a warning to those enthralled with the likud line that the administration has got your number. better watch it. who knows what will come out next.
The Neocons (israeli firsters) own everything, including the criminal sides. The only way through is to realize we are all humans.
But the clever elite keep society in mayhem, constantly undermining trust and perpetuating corruption and deviance.
It is going to end up with a draconian sharia law as the only way through. No amount of reason is going to appeal to the rifraf.
And the mystery of why the story broke now, by which power base disclosed it is still unknown, but perhaps this scandal and Chas Freeman are inevitable and we will see more and more scandals like these with increasing frequency. Due to the innate maladjustment of perpetuating untenable myths – like (As Gilad Atzmon said) racial continuum in the Jews.
Until in the end, a Jew will be clobbered for denying Jewishness or for stating it.
Witty, if I read you correctly, your are pissed that the Harman revelations may have compromised some big "valid" prosecution of Israeli espionage? Who are you kidding?
The lawyers who believe in that case are surely upset about this and have managed to leak one of the big truffles of their investigation to the press so as to goose the public outrage over the central issue at stake: corruption of policymaking due to the Israel interest.
Whoever is responsible, America owes them a debt of gratitude for their heroism. Keep the pot boiling! America needs you!
When the facts kick your ass, the next thing to do is try to get public outrage on your side. That has been the palestinian tactic for years.
The possible dropping of the charges has nothing to do with "the lobby" and everything to do with the problematic nature of the case itself. It was made more problematic when an Article III Judge, free from any political pressure, made various rulings which 1) set a very, very high legal standard for conviction and 2) allowed the defense to put on certain types of evidence that the government would rather not allow.
There is only one side playing dirty here, and its Phil's side. People who harbor such pathological hatred toward Israel that they are willing to leak secrets in order to pressure prosecutors who are supposed to follow the law, rather than politics, and who decide to smear a member of Congress while they are at it.
If the Israel lobby has a lot of power, it wont be shown in this episode. If the lobby was so powerful, then why did the U.S. bring its prosecutorial might down against them in the first place, particularly since this is a rarely invoked law and, to be generous, a highly creative interpretation of it?
At the very least, Phil tacitly admits that he's part of a group that is willing to pervert the judicial system for political gains. Shame on you!
The illegal leak was likely made by someone within justice or defense that was pissed off at AIPAC and sought to slap them down.
You might like their motivation, but the action was likely illegal and likely malevolently motivated.
Its modern Swift Boating.
Witty, sometimes you are intellectually honest. I hope you are not defending Rosen and Weissman, even if they passed U.S. secrets to Israel agents. Are you??
Man, I'm hoping the Israel-firsters who have infiltrated the Justice Department are not behind this AIPAC wet-dream. Let's face it, there are a dozen patriotic American law enforcement officials who are chomping at the bit to prosecute Rosen and Weissman. There must be some immense pressure being put on the higher-ups to deep-six this case (perhaps thanks to Jane Harman "waddling in").
Larry Franklin pleaded guilty and got 12 1/2 years in prison. These butt-boys get to skate? Phil, I'm a huge fan of Mondoweiss, but it's hard to say our side is winning when Dennis Ross gets appointed to cover the Iran desk, Chas Freeman goes down in flames and Rosen/Weissman glom onto a get-out-of-jail-free card courtesy of Eric Holder's office.
Note to Justice: don't be pantywaists. Go to trial and kick some righteous ass in the name of America first.
"when an Article III Judge, free from any political pressure, made various rulings which 1) set a very, very high legal standard for conviction"
This sentence does not compute.
The sequence of events is something to ponder…of course, if the AIPAC case gets tossed out as has been reported then the charges against Harman will go away as well.
Perhaps she has been revealed as one who sold her allegiance to Israel will make her vulnerable to future challengers of either party.
It is wrong to trivialize Israeli agents spying or exerting undue influence on various governmental institutions and politicians. The Zionists and their co-conspirators like to portray the relationship between Israel and US as a
"Thunderdomian Master blaster" , and limits the discussion to who's the master and who's the Blaster. That picture is not only wrong, it is dangerously delusional. The Zionists plays along only as far as it serves their own interests, and have no second thought in acting against vital US interests on security issues. This pattern goes all the way back to WWl , (In a quid pro quo deal with the English dragging the US into the war in exchange for the Balfour declaration )
The lavon affair
The attack on " USS Liberty."
And The Case Against Jonathon Pollard
The rest of MoSSad's (un)rap sheet you can find here:
So when Witty is trying to rationalize or trivialize the actions of Larry Franklin and AIPAC-and by extension congresswoman Harman he is in fact putting the interests of Israel above those of US. I don't know who inside FBI leaked this story, but comparing that patriotic action to "Swift boating" is both false and repugnant. This is not a question of whether Rosen and Wiseman are guilty or not. That question is best left to the court in due time.-Soon I hope. More important is the fact that members of Congress are being blackmailed by Israeli agents of influence. This is unconstitutional and must be addressed both by the administration and the judiciary system.
The hasbara agents here need to reread Phil's article this thread is linked to; the dots are connected. There's the pattern revealed. The task is to inform the public because the MSM won't do it.
A lot of assumptions here, but I agree with the sentiment. The case does sound problematic. But that's no reason not to pursue it. But if a conviction became unlikely…well, that would be.
AIPAC's lock on Washington was completed early in Clinton's term. To get them out now would mean exposing every blackmailed Senator and Representative in Washington. An unlikely event.
Wiretap irony: Rep. Harman's husband makes the best audio recording equipment in the world.
See
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/audio-irony/
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from Washington, DC
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Phil, Glenn Greenwald likes readers (or so he says) to correct those little typos which always sneak in when writing is rushed.
So in that spirit, you might want to give Richard "wolman" his uppercase "W"
"When the facts kick your ass, the next thing to do is try to get public outrage on your side. That has been the palestinian tactic for years"
Chris Berel
As Chris Berel so correctly notes, the use of public outrage is restricted to Jewish victims of the Holocaust. There's not enough for anybody else, nor are they entitled to if there is. (Jeez, good thing Emancipation took place before WW2, huh)
But it really is to laugh, isn't it, Chris? Imagine, public outrage for the sufferings of Arabs! What is this world coming to?
Why, the next thing you know, somebody will combine Afro-American musical traditions with Western harmonies and conventions, and make a new, mongrelised form of popular music. It'll be very popular, if it doesn't kill "Ed" first.
I would think the republicans would be all over this. A high ranking democrat facing these allegations would be a great side track from the dems domestic agenda.
Where's the Larry Craig/David Vitter outrage?
"…problematic nature of the case itself…" or to be more precise 'this' case.
That is one argument. There is another argument — Why was AIPAC not put on trial, ending up being confined to only two suspected spies among a vast network…?
————
Updates on Harman for those interested:
and
"…problematic nature of the case itself…" or to be more precise 'this' case.
That is one argument. There is another argument — Why was AIPAC not put on trial, ending up being confined to only two suspected spies among a vast network…?
————
Updates on Harman for those interested:
and
"…problematic nature of the case itself…" or to be more precise 'this' case.
That is one argument. There is another argument — Why was AIPAC not put on trial, ending up being confined to only two suspected spies among a vast network…?
————
Updates on Harman for those interested:
and
Test … I'm having problems posting?
oops sorry folks.
Not sure what was going on…? I wasn't get the letters and numbers box — so presumed my post wasn't going through… guess I was wrong.
Whether or not the case broke now, and whatever assumptions the Wittys of the world want to make of who leaked it,
the point to ponder for real Americans is, doesn't this Harmon scenario add to the growing conviction that the US government is corrupt, and not interested in the USA first, but in Israel–and that this is due to dual loyalty at the top rungs of our government as well as more generally, due to our campaign finance laws and the fact that our MSM is very biased in what it gives as information to the public?
It is wrong to trivialize Israeli agents spying or exerting undue influence on various governmental institutions and politicians. The Zionists and their co-conspirators like to portray the relationship between Israel and US as a
"Thunderdomian Master blaster" , and limits the discussion to who's the master and who's the Blaster. That picture is not only wrong, it is dangerously delusional. The Zionists plays along only as far as it serves their own interests, and have no second thought in acting against vital US interests on security issues. This pattern goes all the way back to WWl , (In a quid pro quo deal with the English dragging the US into the war in exchange for the Balfour declaration )
The lavon affair
The attack on " USS Liberty."
And The Case Against Jonathon Pollard
The rest of MoSSad's (un)rap sheet you can find here:
So when Witty is trying to rationalize or trivialize the actions of Larry Franklin and AIPAC-and by extension congresswoman Harman he is in fact putting the interests of Israel above those of US. I don't know who inside FBI leaked this story, but comparing that patriotic action to "Swift boating" is both false and repugnant. This is not a question of whether Rosen and Wiseman are guilty or not. That question is best left to the court in due time.-Soon I hope. More important is the fact that members of Congress are being blackmailed by Israeli agents of influence. This is unconstitutional and must be addressed both by the administration and the judiciary system.
Hmmm. Well. Let's try to recall that it's not so much that Israel has too much influence.
It's that Congresscritters GIVE the influence away. The influence is theirs to accept or reject. They do that with every interest lobbying them. In or out. Help or get lost.
The amount of influence Israel has is obnoxious, especially if you compare it directly (to the extent "influence" can be so compared) to the influence worked by Palestine over that same US Congress. The disproportion is staggering. And inexplicable.
Unless you remember that Israel does a bunch of stuff for the USA, like teaching its Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay personnel "aggressive interrogation" techniques via MOSSAD and Shin Bet agents who are experts in the field. Or like developing spy technology –an Israeli private enterprise specialty, along with weaponry– that will help our Fed Govt keep us under its thumb (see ATT v Klein).
Israel does the USA's dirty work on many fronts. Apparently that relationship is critically important to the operation of the US Fed Govt. Or at least, that's what our US Congress tells us when it gives so much influence and policy direction control to Israel.
George Washington on Israel
“A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification.” ~George Washington, ~page 269 of The 5000 Year Leap.
“The nation which indulges toward another habitual hatred or habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interests." ~ George Washington
"Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none." ~ Thomas Jefferson
"Unless you remember that Israel does a bunch of stuff for the USA, like teaching its Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay personnel "aggressive interrogation" techniques via MOSSAD and Shin Bet agents who are experts in the field. Or like developing spy technology –an Israeli private enterprise specialty, along with weaponry– that will help our Fed Govt keep us under its thumb (see ATT v Klein)."
I don't think that the US needed much help from the Mossad in figuring out that they could humiliate male Muslim prisoners by placing women's underwear on their heads!
As far as surveillance (BTW, I believe that that is Hepting v. ATT, not ATT v. Klein), I somehow don't see the connection.
You know who you remind me of? Let me give you a hint:
"The State Department is infested with communists. I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department."
Senator Joseph McCarthy, Wheeler, West Virginia, February 9, 1950
You know who you remind me of? Let me give you a hint:
"The State Department is infested with communists. I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department."
Senator Joseph McCarthy, Wheeler, West Virginia, February 9, 1950
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