\nSee the update below…<\/i><\/p>\n
Laura Rozen has his own response<\/a> to the controversy and explanation of his withdrawal. And I’ll tell you that based on this one paragraph alone, we dodged a major bullet today:<\/p>\n The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired, still less to factor in American understanding of trends and events in the Middle East. The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth. The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views, the substitution of political correctness for analysis, and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our government other than those that it favors.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I received no emails from AIPAC nor any Israli or Jewish organizations. I’m perfectly capable of reading the man’s recdord and raising my own concerns.<\/p>\n Even when he tries to exculpate himself – as he does in this ‘explanation’ of his comments on Tienamin Square<\/a> – he presents himself<\/a> as a tireless courtier for typrants wherever they may be.<\/p>\n For myself, I side on this — if not on numerous other issues — with Gen. Douglas MacArthur. I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be. Such folk, whether they represent a veterans’ “Bonus Army” or a “student uprising” on behalf of “the goddess of democracy” should expect to be displaced with despatch from the ground they occupy.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I hope Obama gets a genuine iconoclast in the role. But I’d like one not in the pocket of other countries, please – especially of other countries led by murderous tyrants. We must, by necessity, share a planet with them. But I’d rather not share my government with them.<\/p>\n