Eliot Engel (D-NY) on ME conflict: "I don't want to be an honest broker."

[BurtWorm]

At least he's honest about *something*! :eyes:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/25/AR2006072501324.html?nav=rss_politics

The sentiment has broad support in both parties. Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) said that language urging restraint to protect civilian life would have been interpreted as a slap at Israel -- and that at a time when world opinion is predictably against the Jewish state, the United States must stand firmly on Israel's side.

"I am very sensitive to Lebanon's budding democracy. I'm very sensitive to the delicate balancing act we're in, and I grieve for civilian casualties," Engel said. But he added: "I don't want to be an honest broker. I want to be a friend and ally of the only democratic government in the Middle East that is besieged by its enemies."

[ShortnFiery]

1. He's Christian

No, forgive me, I stand corrected!

He's not. :blush: http://www.nndb.com/people/495/000037384/

BTW, what's the Zionist Organization of America?

[BurtWorm]

2. He's Jewish, I think.

Christian Lebanese don't support Israel as a rule.

[ShortnFiery]

3. Yes, I generalized yes, but I was honestly astounded when I looked up his

biography. http://www.zoa.org/

Are all his constituents being served in his district? Or is this man serving his own PERSONAL agenda?

[BurtWorm]

4. He (and Schumer) are also members of the FDD along with most of PNAC

http://www.nndb.com/org/868/000048724/

[ShortnFiery]

5. They have a PERSONAL and NOT a POLITICAL bias -

IMO that is just not correct unless they state "up front" that they have this CLEAR BIAS? :shrug: :(

[godai]

6. To learn more about why, read this article

from the Washington Post Magazine

A Beautiful Friendship?
In search of the truth about the Israel lobby's influence on Washington

...AIPAC in recent years has parted with some of the staff members who gave it a harder edge, foremost among them Steve Rosen, its former director of foreign policy issues. Rosen and a fellow staff member, Keith Weissman, were fired last year after they were indicted under the 1917 Espionage Act for allegedly receiving classified information about administration strategy on Iran from Lawrence Franklin, the Pentagon's Iran desk officer. Their trial is scheduled for later this summer.

...There's nothing to hide. AIPAC's size, strength and agenda are all public information, much of it displayed on its Web site: the staff of 200 lobbyists, researchers and organizers; the $47 million annual budget; the 100,000 grass-roots members, almost double the number of five years ago; and the recruitment drive on 300 college campuses.

...IT'S A TUESDAY IN EARLY MARCH, and there are 5,000 people jammed at dining tables in the Washington Convention Center for AIPAC's annual gathering, including more than 50 senators and 100 House members and dozens of administration officials. Vice President Cheney gives a keynote address, as does John Bolton, the administration's fire-breathing ambassador to the United Nations. The Israeli election is coming up in a few days, and the leaders of the three major parties all appear via satellite hookup, including Ehud Olmert, who begins with a politician's prayer of thanksgiving: "Thank God we have you; thank God we have AIPAC."




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/12/AR2006071201627.html

[BurtWorm]

7. kick