Lobby Loitering
Oct 30th, 2007 by Donagh
The Walt-Mearsheimer book The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy is getting a lot of attention at the moment and it has inspired James Fallows to list those American minority lobby groups who have influence US foreign policy to the detriment, he believes, of the US:
• To the (large) extent that the Armenian-American lobby ginned up support for a pointless and destructive resolution condemning sins of the Ottoman Empire, it advanced its own causes at the expense of larger American interests. The people who did this are mainly from one ethnic group (Armenian-American) and of one religion (Christian, notably Armenian Apostolic or Armenian Orthodox).
• To the (huge and obvious) extent that the Cuban-American lobby has muscled the United States into its small-minded and punitive embargo of Castro’s Cuba these last 45 years, it has advanced its own causes at the expense of larger American interests. The people who have done this are mainly from one ethnic group (Cuban-American) and of one religion (Christian, notably Roman Catholic).
• To the (ongoing) extent that AIPAC — the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which calls itself “America’s Pro-Israel Lobby” — is trying to legitimize a military showdown between the United States and Iran, it is advancing its own causes at the expense of larger American interests. The people who are doing this are not from one ethnic group in the conventional sense but are mainly of one religion (Jewish).
To observe these patterns, and warn against them (including the disastrous consequences of attacking Iran), is not to be anti-Armenian, anti-Orthodox, anti-Cuban, anti-Catholic, or anti-Semitic.”
Which I think is true. But then a thought occurred to me. What if such lobby groups are having such influence because the cause suits the larger aims of the US Government, even while the pressure that such support brings may be damaging to the United States as a nation. The support for the Armenian Genocide could be a stick with which to beat Turkey. Regarding Cuba, surely there is the economic case of trying to wrest control of a formerly strong economic ally and in the case of Israel, does support of that country not have something to do with the US governments larger plans in the Middle East?
Which is a whole can of worms, which I’ll leave out to wriggle freely.
Incidently, Gabriel Schoenfeld of Commentary Magazine says that Fallows is unpatriotic for saying this(although he has to misquote him to make his case). But then Commentary Magazine is controlled by Norman Podhoretz (he who wants to bomb Iran and advisor to the no-hope Rudy Giuliani), which would also account for the fact that his son, John, has just been made editor.
Via First Drafts – The Prospect magazine blog.
I imagine this book is an elaboration of their essay in the LRB about a year ago which drew the fury of the pro-Israeli lobby in a kind of ironic self justifying way. It reminded me of the Danish Cartoon which satirized the Muslim world as being unreasonably violent. The cartoon provoked a wave of violent protest across the muslim world which, though a bit blown up in western media, did result in several deaths and embassy burnings.
Indeed, the reaction to the book has been so widespread, sustained and vociferous among those who consider such criticism as tantamount to anti-semitism that one would almost consider it a conspiracy…;-) -which, of course is a joke.
I read the original article, and although it is compelling and many of its findings are no doubt true, I think they overstated the influence that such a lobby can have on people who are acting according to adtheir own deluded mixed up, ill-thought out, badly judged amoral game plan.
As Jim Holt said at the end of his It’s the Oil article in the LRB:
“Still, there is reason to be sceptical of the picture I have drawn: it implies that a secret and highly ambitious plan turned out just the way its devisers foresaw, and that almost never happens.”
And I’d say, ditto for the idea that the Jewish lobby in the US is influencing US foreign policy.
Its interesting though in relation to the visiting of King Abdullah to Britian. No one is suggesting that American and British Saudi’s are organising themselves into a lobby and pressing the US Government and Britian to support them absolutely, no matter how ikky their domestic politics are. And yet they support them anyway, dispite the complications that this involves.
Say, all this talk of the Israeli lobby makes me want to go looking for phentermine online.
Yea, the phentermine online lobby seems to have gone in to overdrive since I mentioned the Walt-Mearsheimer book.
I would agree that they overstated their case, and your point that the policy promoted by the Israeli lobby may have suited the government anyway. I immediately thought of Ireland in Europe - if a tough measure is required, say on environment, the Irish government will be too cowardly to implement it, instead waiting for the big bad Eu guys to do it.
Nevertheless, I remain convinced that the Israeli lobby is generously funded, well organised, and in the end, a lobby many times more powerful than mere numbers of Jewish Americans would suggest.
But in the end they are one of many powerful lobbies - oil, motor, defence, media, and so on, together with the ‘national/ethnic’ ones along the lines you mention.
Indeed, and you can even vote for the worst ones
http://www.eulobbyaward.org/2007/