U.S. foreign policy: oil and domestic constraints

Readings:

visit AIPAC , the Council for the National Interest, and Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy," London Review of Books, March 2006

 

optional: Paul Findley, They Dare Speak to Speak Out, 25-49

 

The Domestic US Arab-Israeli conflict

Kerry vs Bush 2004 silence!

Obama vs. McCain 2008 - same story!

domestic constituents and US public opinion:

Oil lobby vs. pro-Israel lobby? Arab-Americans? Muslims?

 

Congress and AIPAC: Paul Findley's story

 

policy struggles: Powell vs. Wolfowitz

Recall G.W.H. Bush, Scowcroft and Gulf War I

Spring 2002: Powell's loss of the peace process; then WMD intelligence

 

Isasue of espionage

FBI indictment of AIPAC 's Steve Rosen (Aug 2005) with sting using Lawrence Franklin, the Pentagon colonel who wanted to use AIPAC vs. Powell re Iran policy.

Recall Jonathan Jay Pollard naval spy affair 1986 - continuing Israeli efforts to release him:

"Israel Seeks Release of Spy," Middle East Times, Aug 15, 2003

- see the Pollard website but also summer 2008 spy case

Today in DC: a change of priorities??

 

Basic issues (raised by the conservatiove Pat Buchanan concerning US Iraq war):

whose national interest?

is it anti-semitic to raise the question?

 

Another recommended reading: Norman Finkelstein, Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History (Univdersity of California Press, 2005)

 

Video: BBC, Elusive Peace

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Nov. 15, 2005/Nov. 10, 2008
Department of Government, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas at Austin.
Questions, Comments, and Suggestions to chenry@mail.utexas.edu