Chalabigate
"Weapons of Mass Deception"
2004-11-25
Kerry and Bush send in top guns to woo AIPAC
In the middle of a spy investigation implicating AIPAC, U.S officials are competing to win the support of the very same lobby group suspected of handlong classified pentagon intel.
By Nathan Guttman, Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies
Senior advisers to both U.S. presidential candidates have appeared over the past two days before a American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) meeting in Florida in a last-ditch attempt to influence the votes of American Jews."People are going to have to draw together and say to Yasser Arafat, 'All right, the game is up. You really need to do the things you agreed to,'" National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told several hundred people at the meeting Monday. "There also has to be - finally - a conversation, a discussion with Yasser Arafat by those who still talk to him - we're not among those - ... to say 'All right, land is now being returned to the Palestinian people,'" Rice said. "You said that's what you wanted all these years. Now it is time to step aside."Richard Holbrooke, John Kerry's foreign policy adviser, took a similar tone when he spoke to AIPAC on Sunday. Holbrooke, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, noted that Kerry is in complete agreement with President Bush on disengagement and not negotiating with Arafat. However, he stressed that Kerry would be more involved than Bush and would send a special envoy to the Middle East. Holbrooke is touted as Kerry's possible choice for secretary of state or as the Middle East special envoy. Aware of the sensitivity of the Jewish community to attempts to force Israel to agree to concessions, Holbrooke made it clear that Israel would not be pressured into concessions when there is no Palestinian partner. As Kerry has stated previously, Holbrooke highlighted the difference between the Democratic candidate and Bush in dealing with Saudi Arabia. He noted that Saudi Arabia boycotts Israel and its children study from maps on which Israel does not appear, and that the Bush administration had not done enough in this regard.The appearance of the candidates' senior advisers at the AIPAC meeting shows both a desire to prove their friendship to Israel on the eve of the elections and that AIPAC wields power. Only two months after a Pentagon analyst was suspected of handing information to AIPAC activists, neither of the candidates' two senior advisers had any qualms about appearing publicly before the organization, and AIPAC officials said the relationship with the administration had not been harmed.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/493382.html
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
By Nathan Guttman, Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies
Senior advisers to both U.S. presidential candidates have appeared over the past two days before a American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) meeting in Florida in a last-ditch attempt to influence the votes of American Jews."People are going to have to draw together and say to Yasser Arafat, 'All right, the game is up. You really need to do the things you agreed to,'" National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told several hundred people at the meeting Monday. "There also has to be - finally - a conversation, a discussion with Yasser Arafat by those who still talk to him - we're not among those - ... to say 'All right, land is now being returned to the Palestinian people,'" Rice said. "You said that's what you wanted all these years. Now it is time to step aside."Richard Holbrooke, John Kerry's foreign policy adviser, took a similar tone when he spoke to AIPAC on Sunday. Holbrooke, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, noted that Kerry is in complete agreement with President Bush on disengagement and not negotiating with Arafat. However, he stressed that Kerry would be more involved than Bush and would send a special envoy to the Middle East. Holbrooke is touted as Kerry's possible choice for secretary of state or as the Middle East special envoy. Aware of the sensitivity of the Jewish community to attempts to force Israel to agree to concessions, Holbrooke made it clear that Israel would not be pressured into concessions when there is no Palestinian partner. As Kerry has stated previously, Holbrooke highlighted the difference between the Democratic candidate and Bush in dealing with Saudi Arabia. He noted that Saudi Arabia boycotts Israel and its children study from maps on which Israel does not appear, and that the Bush administration had not done enough in this regard.The appearance of the candidates' senior advisers at the AIPAC meeting shows both a desire to prove their friendship to Israel on the eve of the elections and that AIPAC wields power. Only two months after a Pentagon analyst was suspected of handing information to AIPAC activists, neither of the candidates' two senior advisers had any qualms about appearing publicly before the organization, and AIPAC officials said the relationship with the administration had not been harmed.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/493382.html
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Milton Frihetsson, 02:31
