Justin Raimondo: The troublesome "Israel Lobby Takes the Offensive!"

The last few days have clearly reiterated American policy in the Middle East: Whatever the rogue State of Israel wants, Israel GETS! In America, the power of the "Israel Lobby" is stronger than ever. When I served as Intelligence Operations Officer of our 4th US Armored Division in Goeppingen, Germany, I was shocked that Israeli planes had machine-gunned our Ship, named "Liberty", in international waters. Since I was closest to our FAX machine, I brought the sad news to my boss, Colonel Antero Aakkula, and pointed out this atrocity. After one glance, he ordered me to run the news to the Commanding General (General Sherrer). The General took one look at the information, and commented: "With friends like these, we have no need of enemies". Since then, there has been no change in our "relationship" with the barbarous Israeli government. In America, the Israel Lobby is much greater than at any time in the past, and certainly since the 1967 war. We are faced, here in this great country, with the extraordinary spectacle of a US President confronting a foreign leader with a list of reasonable requests - negotiation in good faith, the abandonment of encroaching "settlements", and an end to the arbitrary humiliations endured by a people (the Palestinians), and the leaders of the opposition are taking the side of the foreign leader, supposedly from a Party which revels in its alleged "super patriotism"!? Romney, Huckabee, and the whole FOX network team went into overdrive following the President's Mideast speech, flaying him for "betraying" Israel. Men who have never fought for this country with a rifle in their hands, have the temerity to accuse our soldiers of a lack of "Patriotism."It even gets worse: CODEPINK activist Rae Abileah was arrested at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC. after "heckling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who probably entered this country to squeeze a few more dollars from our hard-working citizens. She was taken to the George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC, after heckling the Israeli Prime Minister, and is now being treated for neck and shoulder injuries. Speaking from her hospital bed, Abileah said she was in great pain, but that it was nothing compared to the pain and suffering that Palestinians go through on a regular basis: "I have been to Gaza and the West Bank, I have seen Palestinian homes bombed and bulldozed, I have spoken with mothers whose children have been killed during the invasion of Gaza, I have seen "Jewish-only" roads leading to ever-expanding settlements in the West Bank. This kind of colonial occupation cannot continue, she added. As a Jew and US citizen, I feel obligated to rise up and speak out against these crimes being committed in my name, and with my tax dollars!"