Hagel sets early challenge for
Israel lobby By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - With President Barack Obama
reportedly primed to nominate former Republican
Senator Chuck Hagel to head the Pentagon, the
powerful Israel lobby, led by the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), faces a major
dilemma.
If it mounts a vigorous campaign
to fight Hagel's confirmation by the senate, it
could put at serious risk its relations with the
president, who is about to be inaugurated for
another four-year term.
Worse, if it loses
such a campaign, the aura of near-invincibility
that it has assiduously cultivated over the past
30 years - and
which has translated into
virtually unanimous votes on resolutions in both
houses of congress in support of Israeli policies
from the Occupied West Bank to Iran - will suffer
a serious blow.
Yet, if it acquiesces in
Hagel's confirmation, it will result in the
placement in a critical foreign policy post of a
man who prides himself on his independence.
Hagel has expressed strong skepticism
about - if not opposition to - war with Iran, and,
despite a record of strong support for Israel's
defense needs, has not hesitated to publicly
criticize both the Israeli government and its
supporters in the US for pursuing actions that
have, in his view, harmed Washington's strategic
interests in the Middle East.
"Hagel's
nomination presents AIPAC and other like-minded
groups with a tough choice," said Stephen Walt, a
Harvard professor and co-author of the 2007 The
Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy. "They may
not like his reasonable approach toward Iran and
his willingness to speak the truth about certain
Israeli policies, but he's a decorated war hero
who is hardly hostile to Israel."
That
Hagel will indeed be nominated has not been
officially confirmed, and two possible
alternatives - Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton
Carter and former Undersecretary of Defense for
Policy Michele Flournoy - have reportedly been
fully vetted for the post. Both have served under
the Obama and Bill Clinton administrations and are
considered accomplished technocrats who, however,
lack Hagel's political experience and stature.
But a number of highly placed sources and
well-connected journalists have reported that the
former Nebraska senator, who has co-chaired
Obama's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board since
2009, remains the president's preferred candidate
despite a furious three-week campaign led by
neo-conservatives, such as Weekly Standard editor
William Kristol Washington Post blogger Jennifer
Rubin, the Wall Street Journal's editorial page,
and the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), to
pre-empt his nomination.
Among other
charges, Kristol, who also heads the far-right
Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI), Rubin, and
other foes have accused Hagel, a highly decorated
Vietnam War veteran, with anti-Semitism and
hostility toward the Jewish state.
They
have also tried to enlist - with some initial
success that has subsequently dissipated - the gay
community in their campaign by citing, among other
things, his skepticism over easing the prohibition
of gay enlistment in the military and his
opposition to the nomination of an openly gay
ambassador in the 1990s.
Hagel
subsequently apologized, and both the ambassador
and most gay-supportive organizations have
accepted his apology.
While the
neo-conservatives, whose political views are close
to those of the ruling Likud Party and, in some
cases, the settler movement, have led the
anti-Hagel drive, the involvement of the
more-cautious Israel lobby - which includes AIPAC
and other major national Jewish organizations,
such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the
American Jewish Committee (AJC) - not to mention
numerous Christian Zionist groups, such as
Christians United for Israel (CUFI) - has been
more discreet.
Early on, the long-time
head of the ADL, Abraham Foxman, for example,
called Hagel's views on Israel "disturbing" but
said his group would not necessarily oppose the
nomination.
AIPAC itself has not commented
on Hagel, although its former spokesman, Josh
Block, who now heads The Israel Project (TIP) but
remains close to AIPAC, has been among the most
active participants in the campaign.
Despite also enlisting the support of the
Washington Post's editorial page, which expressed
concern over Hagel's generally non-interventionist
positions and support for cutting the defense
budget, the no-holds-barred nature of the
neo-conservative campaign has spurred a backlash.
It is particularly visible among
Republicans who hail from the more-moderate,
internationalist wing of the party most closely
identified with Dwight Eisenhower and George H W
Bush.
There is also resistance from
retired senior military, intelligence, and foreign
service officers who share a "realist" foreign
policy perspective and oppose the kind of
adventurism favored by neo-conservatives,
including Kristol, who led the charge into Iraq 10
years ago and are now beating the drums for war
with Iran.
For example, four former
national security advisers, including Brent
Scowcroft (who held the post under presidents
Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan), Zbigniew
Brzezinski (under Jimmy Carter), Gen. James Jones
(under Obama), and a former Reagan defense
secretary, Frank Carlucci, as well as several
former chiefs of the US Central Command have
signed letters in support of Hagel.
Many
observers close to the Pentagon believe that
Hagel's views, particularly regarding the folly of
attacking Iran and the damage inflicted by
Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian lands
on Washington's strategic position in the Middle
East, reflect those of much of the serving
military brass.
Four former US ambassadors
to Israel have also backed his nomination, as has
most recently Ryan Crocker, who was widely praised
by neo-conservatives during his tenure as
ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan and who has
also served as Washington's top envoy to Lebanon,
Kuwait, Syria, and Pakistan.
The sharpness
of the neo-conservative campaign - particularly
its allegations that Hagel is anti-Semitic and
anti-Israel - has evoked charges of McCarthyism
from his defenders, adding to the discomfort of
the Israel lobby's main organizations. Even CUFI,
sometimes described as more Zionist than the
Jewish organizations, disassociated itself from
some of the charges.
Thus far, only three
Republican senators have said they will oppose
Hagel if he is nominated, while several others who
have traditionally been close to the lobby,
including Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham,
have voiced strong reservations but refrained from
committing themselves. Some Democrats have also
quietly expressed concern.
But most
observers believe that, if nominated, Hagel, who
also heads the influential Atlantic Council think
tank, will be confirmed by a solid - if not
overwhelming - majority of senators. That makes
the lobby's position even more delicate.
During his two terms as senator, Hagel, a
consistent conservative on social and domestic
issues, was personally popular with his colleagues
on both sides of the aisle.
"Americans are
sick and tired of the smear tactics that Hagel's
main opponents have used, and going all-out
against him would reveal that AIPAC cares more
about Israel than it does about US interests,"
Walt told IPS. "Plus, why spend political capital
on a former senator whose colleagues on the Hill
are going to confirm him anyway?"
AIPAC
and like-minded groups will no doubt be influenced
by the views of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, whose right-wing coalition is favored
to win elections later this month.
The
major US Jewish organizations and AIPAC have
historically given great weight to the policy
preferences of Israel's elected leadership, even
as they have privately urged them to take a
different course.
But for Netanyahu, who
has been sharply criticized by retired senior
officials of Israel's national-security
establishment for allegedly endangering the Jewish
state's strategic ties with the US by repeatedly
defying Obama, the stakes are also high.
If he is seen as backing any effort to
defeat Hagel's anticipated nomination, his ties
with the White House - already tenuous given his
scarcely veiled support for Mitt Romney in the
November presidential campaign - will likely only
worsen.
Jim Lobe's blog on US
foreign policy can be read at
http://www.lobelog.com.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
