Hagel hearings reveal Israeli imprint on Capitol Hill

The only commitment any US senator should consider is a nominee’s commitment to the United States. And Iran’s possible acquisition of some nuclear weapons someday pales in the shadow of Israel’s existing nuclear arsenal (300-400 nuclear weapons, by best estimates).

by Dr. Alan Sabrosky

Chuck Hagel top nominee for Defense Secretary hammered at the Senate hearings for his past comments on Israel.

I was appalled that “GOP lawmakers began sharply questioning his (Hagel’s) commitment to Israel and his willingness to take a hard line with Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Several (mostly Jewish) Democratic senators expressed elsewhere varying concerns for similar reasons.

Hello? The only commitment any US senator should consider is a nominee’s commitment to the United States. And Iran’s possible acquisition of some nuclear weapons someday pales in the shadow of Israel’s existing nuclear arsenal (300-400 nuclear weapons, by best estimates).

Many Jewish groups and columnists, all of whom support Israel, are strongly supporting Hagel. It is “only” the likes of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and the neo-conservatives who brought us the past decade of wars, plus those evangelicals following their lead, who really oppose him.

None of these groups has America’s interests at heart.

All, however, are fully prepared to spend American lives and treasure so that at the end of the day, armed Jewish settlers can play “master race” over impoverished and terrorized Palestinians, and Israel can pursue its goal of regional hegemony — assured by its US support base that its tail can and will wag the American dog, no matter what — with the neo-conservatives taking great care to ensure that they themselves will never be exposed to the dangers of war, cowardice and hypocrisy being their hallmarks.

Israel’s designs are not worth a single American life (to say nothing of the lives we take waging Israel’s wars) nor a single US dollar.

As a 10-year Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam and an Army War College graduate, the attitude of those “GOP legislators” who see the US as Israel’s global muscleman is professionally offensive and ethically insulting. The attitude of those Democratic senators who evaluate a nominee’s fitness for office principally if not exclusively in terms of what is good for a foreign country is equally disgusting.

Hagel is making a very good showing, despite being forced by the circumstances attending his nomination to publicly recant many of his earlier positions, and even to apologize for some, despite the fact that all were both honest and accurate. But the people who put him in that position need to look in their mirrors, review their oaths of office and remember both their citizenship and their sworn responsibility to the American people – and then reflect on the consequences of their betrayal.

UK correspondent Stuart Littlewood correctly asserts:  “George Galloway would have made mincemeat of those Inquisitorial bar-flies.”

Not only Galloway, but most M.P.s across the political spectrum in Europe would have ripped those speech-reading clowns to ribbons.