Atlas Shrugs

"never anything new in the inventory at the Anti-Jew Store"

The Weekly Standard rips the tools at Harvard a new one;

But Is It Good for Harvard?

According to Mearsheimer and Walt, the Lobby (they always use a capital L) is so vast it unites not just Jews but "prominent Christian evangelicals like Gary Bauer, Jerry Falwell, Ralph Reed, and Pat Robertson, as well as Dick Armey and     Tom DeLay," not to mention a group they charmingly dub "neoconservative gentiles," such as "John Bolton, the late Wall Street Journal editor Robert Bartley, former Secretary of Education William Bennett, former U.N. Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick, and columnist George Will." The Lobby also infected the policies of the Clinton administration and dictates policy not just at magazines like this one, but also at the New York Times and most think tanks in Washington. In short, anyone of significance who has ever disagreed with Mearsheimer and Walt's neorealist foreign policy prescriptions is suspect, especially the Jews.

In real life, of course, the individuals and groups they identify have divergent and in some cases mutually hostile views about the conduct of U.S. foreign policy. Hawks when it comes to the Middle East tend to be hawkish about the rest of the world, too. Many of the Iraq interventionists also backed intervention on behalf of Bosnian Muslims, not to mention U.S. aid and comfort to Tibetan Buddhists, Confucians in Taiwan, and animists in Rwanda. Israeli views, for that matter, are all over the map about what the Bush administration is and should be up to in the Middle East and Iraq. Honest scholars of U.S. policy in the Middle East will be amused to learn that the word     OPEC appears only once in the 83-page paper and that "AIPAC and its allies . . . have no serious opponents in the lobbying world." Men perspire and ladies glow, goes the adage. So Arabs, we suppose, don't lobby, they just bestow gifts, like the $20 million Saudi prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abd al-Aziz Al-Saud recently gave to the Kennedy School.

But really: Scholars who uncritically offer as evidence for their thesis a malicious blog by the Nation's Eric Alterman purporting to identify 61 "columnists and commentators who can be counted upon to support Israel reflexively and without qualification" hardly merit a serious rebuttal. Mearsheimer and Walt are following a well-worn, yet still slippery trail. As our contributor Stephen Schwartz likes to say, there is never anything new in the inventory at the Anti-Jew Store.

On Harvard, Barry Rubin Nails It

Harvard Paper on Israel Drew From Neo Nazi sites

Jew hate by any other name is uh.....Jew hate. Barry Rubin draws on equivalency, the left's favorite tool, here

[Editor’s Note: While walking on the Harvard campus, I saw a manuscript blow out of a dumpster and fall at my feet. Curious, I picked it up and read it thoroughly. This is the remarkable text you are about to read and which no doubt will soon be published by two prestigious political scientists who are so innovative and courageous that they understand one need not know anything about a subject in order to pontificate about it. --Barry Rubin]

All analysts agree, and it is not even a matter of controversy, that a powerful lobby has seized control of U.S. foreign policy and used it for another country’s interests. This manipulation has been very damaging to the United States and it is time that this cabal is exposed.

That is why it is necessary to analyze the pro-British lobby’s terrible effect in damaging U.S. interests and subordinating our beloved country to an evil alien state.

In fact, the United States gets nothing from its alliance with England, a country which has repeatedly undermined American interests and defied American leaders. Moreover, U.S. support for Britain has angered such important forces as the Irish, Argentinean, and French peoples. It is time that this mistaken policy is challenged and changed.

Meanwhile, did you know...?

Israel is the largest Middle Eastern investor in the United States.

The U.S. State Department published foreign investor rankings Wednesday. Israel was first from the Middle East, with $4.1 billion, followed by Kuwait, with $1.2 billion. [not that it matters- Atlas]

Volokh Takes The Neocon to Task on Harvard Culpability in Walt-Gate

Funny little blogbit here

UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh takes the Neocon to task for the recent post “Harvard Running From its Own Dean’s Report”. Volokh, whom I have known for years and have the highest respect for, does not disagree with the Neocon’s analysis of Mr. Stephen Walt’s paper, however, he strongly disagrees with my assessment of Harvard’s culpability in the matter as an institution. The Neocon must bow to Professor Volokh’s Superior knowledge in this area, although I do put up a good fight. Here is the exchange.

Joe over at Neocon sent me this exchange to which I replied;

Joe, you are an animal.

And frankly, respect reshmect (!) Mr. V is splitting hairs and citing "insider trade knowledge" when in fact the world at large is attributing that report to Harvard.
Bah dah bing Bad dah boom.

They always protect their own and I am damn sick of all these fancily clad Jew hating diatribes disguised as geopolitical discourse on the Middle East.
Rant over.
Your pardner in crime, Pamela

PS  Calling you an animal in Atlas vernacular is a wild compliment. Don't get no better.

It's moments like these I just love the sphere.

Update: A Harvard School Distances Itself from Dean's Paper 

Harvard Paper on Israel "TRASH"

Harvard Paper on Israel called Trash by Solon

Harvard Backs Away from "Israel Lobby" Professors;
Removes Logo from Controversial Paper,  Camera Org

Camera organization has good news to report! A controversial research report, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, by Harvard professor Stephen Walt and University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer, that criticizes the “Israel lobby” for allegedly distorting the foreign policy of the United States to the detriment of U.S. interests, and which has been severely criticized as inaccurate and wrongheaded, no longer sports the Harvard or Kennedy School of Government logos that previously appeared on the report's front page.

In a further sign that Harvard and the University of Chicago are distancing themselves from Professors Walt and Mearsheimer, the report also no longer includes the pro-forma disclaimer used for all other research reports on that Harvard website. In its place is a far stronger disclaimer, in much larger type. The original disclaimer read:

The views expressed in the KSG Faculty Research Working Paper Series are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the John F. Kennedy School of Government or Harvard University. Copyright belongs to the author(s). Papers may be downloaded for personal use only.

The new, much more prominent disclaimer reads:

The two authors of this Working Paper are solely responsible for the views expressed in it. As academic institutions, Harvard University and the University of Chicago do not take positions on the scholarship of individual faculty, and this article should not be interpreted or portrayed as reflecting the official position of either institution.

It is especially notable that while the original disclaimer merely stated that Harvard did not necessarily share the views expressed in the article, the revised disclaimer goes much further, stating that:

1. The two authors are "solely responsible" for the content.
2. This article should not be interpreted or portrayed as reflecting the official position of either institution [Harvard or Univ. of Chicago].
3. The institutions take no position on the "scholarship of individual faculty."

As both universities, in fact, routinely take positions on the "scholarship" of faculty members --  regarding tenure, hiring, salaries and so on -- the addition of wording apparently distancing the universities from the document's "scholarship" suggests a devastating vote of no confidence by Harvard and the University of Chicago in the work of Professors Walt and Mearsheimer.

Harvard and the University of Chicago should take the obvious next step and remove the paper from their websites pending correction of numerous errors of fact, logic and omission.

 

To read more about the controversy, go to:

CAMERA Analysis by Alex Safian, Updated March 22
Walt, Mearsheimer and Academic Malpractice by Rick Richman; Jewish Current Issues, March 22
www.martinkramer.org has several links on rightside menu, including "Israel Lobby" by Ruth Wisse, Wall St. Journal, March 22

Stephen Walt's War with Israel, by Richard Baehr and Ed Lasky; American Thinker, March 20
Anti-Jew Deja Vu, Best of the Web by James Taranto, March 22
A Friend Indeed, Best of the Web by James Taranto, March 21

Duke 1, Harvard 0 , Best of the Web by James Taranto, March 20 

NY Sun Analysis by  Eli Lake , March 20

ACTION ITEMS:

* Call the Dean of the Kennedy School, David Ellwood: 617-495-1122
Or email David_Ellwood@Harvard.edu
Or fax: 617-495-9118

If you cannot reach Ellwood, try his Chief of Staff, Rosemarie Day.
617-495-4260
Rosemarie_Day@Harvard.edu

Thank Harvard executives for removing the Harvard and Kennedy School logo from the online report and for putting a more clear disclaimer on the work, disassociating Harvard from the shoddy paper.  However, Harvard should remove the report entirely from its website until the authors fix its manifold deficiencies.

 

The authors' report is a deep embarrassment to Harvard University and the Kennedy School. While Mearsheimer and Walt are free to make any assertions they like, no matter how baseless, Harvard University should have nothing to do with such shoddy, biased work. 

* Similarly, write a letter to the president of the University of Chicago, Don Michael Randel.  In July, he will be succeeded by Robert J. Zimmer.  So at this time, we can still contact President Randel: drandel@uchicago.edu

The report co-authored by University of Chicago Professor Mearsheimer should be a deep embarrassment to the University of Chicago  . While Mearsheimer and Walt are free to make any assertions they like, no matter how baseless, the University of Chicago should have nothing to do with such shoddy, biased work and it should remove the report from its website until the authors fix its numerous deficiencies.

Harvard, the tool: "THE ISRAEL LOBBY" Bwahahahaha

New York Sun (click photo to enlarge)

The paper has won praise from anti-Semite and white supremacist David Duke, is being distributed by the Palestine Liberation Organization’s mission to Washington, and has been lauded by a senior member of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization.    
Less thrilled with the Harvard dean’s work is one of his colleagues, Marvin Kalb, a lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School and a senior fellow and founding director at the school’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy.

“I do not regard this as a Kennedy School Research Paper, because it clearly does not meet the academic standards of a Kennedy School research paper,” Mr. Kalb, who is also the faculty chair for the Kennedy School’s Washington programs, told The New York Sun in an e-mail yesterday after reading the paper.     “It is a rather sensational example of ‘realist’ journalism,” he continued. “My sense is that Dean Walt would be better advised to stick to scholarship and leave journalism to journalists, who generally check their ‘facts’ before publishing them.”

Now I ask you, look at the brain trust and ask yourself, who would I want on my team?

Background here and here

Neocon has more: David Duke: Harvard Has Finally Vindicated Me!!!

Harvard and David Duke of One Mind

David Duke claims vindication by Harvard Dean.

VIDEO here:American White Supremacist David Duke Addressing Damacus Demonstration in Support of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad: My Country Is Also Occupied by the Zionists

VIDEO here American White Supremacist David Duke: Israel Makes the Nazi State Look Very Moderate

This is rich, really rich. On Friday I eviscerated  Harvard’s  Kennedy  School  of  Government  for their Jew hating diatribe against Israel, American Jews and the public affairs committee that lobbies to save Israel from the very real existential threat posed by her every surrounding neighbor. The paper, however, is winning unqualified support by David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, who  claims to be vindicated by a Harvard Dean.  That says it all. doesn't it? Read it all in today's New York Sun

Duke, a former Louisiana state legislator and one-time Klu Klux Klan leader, called the paper “a great step forward,” but he said he was “surprised” that the Kennedy School would publish the report.”

In my post "Dhimmitude and Jew hatred at Harvard" here I wrote;

Harvard, recipient of millions in bloody Wahhabi Saudi dollars, issued an extraordinarily antisemitic paper on the American Israel public affairs committee AIPAC here

AIPAC, which is a de facto agent for a foreign government, has a stranglehold on the U.S. Congress....

I am a member of AIPAC and I am a de facto agent? Uh uh. I am just a girl. A quintessentially American girl. Just a believer in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for every individual. Those of us that support AIPAC do so because we worry about the existential threat to Israel.

The combination of unwavering U.S. support for Israel and the related effort to spread democracy throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardized U.S. security. ... Why has the United States been willing to set aside its own security in order to advance the interests of another state?...

This is intellectually dishonest and historically inaccurate.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the most critical thing to understand about conflict in the Middle East," he told us, "is that it is not a conflict between Arab and Jew.  It is a conflict between the 10^th century and the 20^th." More at To the Point here

Now it seems former Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke is weighing in, yes that David Duke

A paper recently co-authored by the academic dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government about the allegedly far-reaching influence of an “Israel lobby” is winning praise from white supremacist David Duke.

    The Palestine Liberation Organization mission to Washington is distributing the paper, which also is being hailed by a senior member of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization.

    But the paper,“The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” by the Kennedy School’s Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, is meeting with a more critical reception from many of those it names as part of the lobby.The 83-page “working paper” claims a network of journalists, think tanks, lobbyists, and largely Jewish officials have seized the foreign policy debate and manipulated America to invade Iraq. Included in this network, the authors say, are the editors of the New York Times, the scholars at the Brookings Institution, students at Columbia, “pro-Israel” senior officials in the executive branch, and “neoconservative gentiles” including columnist George Will.

  “I have read about the report and read one summary already, and I am surprised how excellent it is,”he said in an e-mail.“It is quite satisfying to see a body in the premier American University essentially come out and validate every major point I have been making since even before the war even started.” Duke added that “the task before us is to wrest control of America’s foreign policy and critical junctures of media from the Jewish extremist Neocons that seek to lead us into what they expectantly call World War IV.”

Former Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke and Harvard. Intellectual equals - isn't that special?

Even Allan Dershowitz with whom I frequently diverge states the painfully obvious.

A professor at Harvard Law School, Alan Dershowitz, whom the authors call an “apologist” for Israel, said he found much of the paper to be “trash.” He said, “It could have been written by Pat Buchanan, by David Duke, Noam Chomsky, and some of the less intelligent members of Hamas.An intelligent member of Hamas would not have made these mistakes.”  

  Those mistakes for Mr. Dershowitz include, for example, the assertion that “There is no question,for example,that many Al Qaeda leaders, including bin Laden, are motivated by Israel’s presence in Jerusalem and the plight of the Palestinians,” which Mr. Dershowitz says “is just absurd.”

  And Martin Peretz, a retired lecturer at Harvard, who is editor of The New Republic, a magazine named in the report as one of those that “zealously defend Israel at every turn,” said, “It is easier to attribute disloyalty to Jews than to question the loyalty of Islamists.This is really questioning the loyalty of Jews, that is what this is about.

Photo: David Duke, wearing Klan robes, attends a Klan rally in Euless, Texas.

University Prostituting for Islamic Petrol-Dollars, Goes After Jews

UPDATE: James Taranto of Best of the Web takes the Harvard paper down point by point. It is a must read;

Duke 1, Harvard 0

Let's take these points one by one:

• Israel is weak and surrounded by enemies. To the contrary, they say, Israel is by far the strongest regional power. Further, "Egypt and Jordan have signed peace treaties with it, and Saudi Arabia has offered to do so." This gives the Saudis far too much credit. True, as we noted in 2002, then Crown Prince Abdullah (now king) told the New York Times' Thomas Friedman that he was amenable to establishing full diplomatic relations, conditioned on Israeli withdrawal from the disputed territories (occupied by Egypt and Jordan before 1967 and Israel since). But Riyadh quickly made clear that it was unwilling even to talk to Jerusalem until after such a withdrawal. As we wrote then, "The Saudi position, in other words, amounts to: Give us land now, and maybe we'll give you peace later." It is true that Israel is the regional superpower, and that Cairo and Amman have signed peace treaties with the Jewish state, but it seems undeniable--and Walt and Mearsheimer do not deny it--that none of this would be true absent U.S. support for Israel. Thus their reasoning is circular: Israel doesn't deserve U.S. support because it has received U.S. support.
  
  
• Israel is a democracy. This they concede, but they also claim that "some aspects of Israeli democracy are at odds with core American values." In particular, they claim that Arab citizens of Israel "are treated as second-class citizens" and note that "a recent Israeli government commission found that Israel behaves in a 'neglectful and discriminatory' manner towards them." Yet even acknowledging that Israeli democracy is flawed, its political system is still vastly superior to those of its adversaries. Israeli Arabs enjoy more political and civil liberties than citizens of just about any Arab country; and the only Arab lands that come anywhere close to being democracies are Lebanon, Iraq and the disputed Palestinian territories--the last two only because of American intervention. That the Israeli government criticizes its own treatment of Arabs is a testament to its democracy; can anyone imagine, say, the Saudi regime offering similar criticisms of its treatm ent of Shiites, non-Muslims or women? American democracy, too, is not without its flaws. During World War II, for instance, black Americans were still disfranchised, and innocent Japanese-Americans were rounded up and put in camps. It does not follow that America was no better than Nazi Germany.
  
  
• Jews deserve a homeland because of their past oppression. Walt and Mearsheimer go so far as to allow that Israel's creation "was undoubtedly an appropriate response to the long record of crimes against Jews." But, they say, "it also brought about fresh crimes against a largely innocent third party: the Palestinians." They lay the plight of the Palestinians entirely at Israel's door, failing to acknowledge the Arab states' vast culpability. The Arabs rejected the 1947 U.N. partition of Palestine, which would have created a Palestinian Arab state including territories beyond the present-day West Bank and Gaza strip. The Arabs immediately declared war on the nascent Jewish state--a war in which Israel gained more territory--and they waged war again in 1967 and 1973. All Arab states except Jordan refuse to allow Palestinians to become citizens, preferring to let them linger as stateless refugees. Nor do the authors acknowledge that since the creation of Israel many Jews who settled there were fle eing persecution in Arab lands and (since 1979) Iran. Whereas Israel has 1.3 million Arab citizens, no Arab country except Morocco has more than a handful of Jewish ones.
  
  
• Israel is morally superior to its adversaries. Here they cite various alleged abuses by Israel during its war of independence and claim that "Israel's subsequent conduct has often been brutal, belying any claim to moral superiority." Even if we concede all the criticisms of Israel, they do not belie "any claim to moral superiority," only to moral perfection. Evaluating which side is morally superior would require a comparative analysis; the only thing Walt and Mearsheimer say about Arab misconduct is that "the Palestinian resort to terrorism is wrong but it isn't surprising. The Palestinians believe they have no other way to force Israeli concessions." No such excuses are offered for Israel's purported misdeeds.

Walt and Mearsheimer's method of analysis presumes Israel's guilt. Every past or present Israeli transgression is evidence of its wickedness, whereas Arab ones, if they are acknowledged at all, are "understandable." This approach paints a highly misleading picture. It is anti-Semitic in effect if not in intent.

Yup, read it all

To read CAMERA's in-depth analysis, "Study Decrying Israel Lobby Marred by Numerous Errors,"click here.

Yahoo - Hawk  says "Georgetown hosts the Pali Solidarity freaks and Harvard puts a patina of respectability on that piece of trash which CAMERA says is so filled with errors that "a student who submitted such a paper would flunk".

Amazing what $20 million from a Saudi sheik will do.....

Cheney, Gingrich, and Churchill

New Footage of Bushehr Nuclear Facility in Iran

Police escorts with my return shuttle buses from the Convention Center, more than once I might add . I wonder if there was a threat made. I also noticed the bus driver(s )would take different routes. And if is a fairly straight forward trip .....just down the street basically. Wild.

Too frantic and I am traveling but some salient points. Cheney at AIPAC today. Amazing.
I wish the man could run in 2008. He pulled no punches. He threatened Iran with "meaningful consequences" if it failed to cooperate..

We are dealing with enemies who plot and plan in secret, then attempt to slip into a country, blend in among the innocent and kill without mercy.

With each attack, the terrorists grew more confident and believing they could strike America without paying a price, and indeed believing that if they killed enough Americans they could change American policy. So they continued to wage those attacks, making the world less safe and eventually striking the United States in our homeland on September 11th. And we've seen the work of terrorists in many attacks since 9/11 in Jerusalem, Riyadh, Casablanca, Istanbul, Karachi, Mombasa, Bali, Jakarta, Najaf, Baghdad, London and Madrid. The terrorists have declared war on the civilized world, and America will lead the civilized world to victory.

On Iran:

"For our part, the United States is keeping all options on the table in addressing the irresponsible conduct of the regime,"

"And we join other nations in sending that regime a clear message: We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

Meanwhile, the White House said it expects the Security Council to move against Iran unequivocally. Will have more later on this. I did love this line;

We have a strategy of our own in this fight.

Yesterday's program kicked with Mark Warner  lovely guy, uninspiring.

But it was Newt Gingrich, in my mind, that gave the great  Churchillian speech. He's really brilliant. The man  gave the most succinct, specific, outline of world affairs and what we must  do about it,  "without a note" as one fellow passerby mentioned. Not one index card. Nothing. No prepared remarks, no written talking points. He spoke his mind, scary smart mind. He ought to run in 2008, I'd get behind that ticket.

"it's not about psychology when someone cuts somebody's head off on television"
it's murder

Hamas "we will never have peace until we have defeated the agents of terror"

Iran: "anti-human, anti American regime.

"Do you really think if Iran  got nuclear weapons they wouldn't try to smuggle them in [to this country]"

Ever hear of "rent a truck"

Newt rocked the house. Like the bloggers on the right, he cites every jihadi act of violence waged against the West by the Radical Extremists as part of their larger deliberate campaign of war and terror.These are not isolated, random, acts of violence - these are battles, these are  acts of war. The Cartoon jihad (how did all those little stores across the world come to stock Danish flags?), Iran, Hamas, Hizbollah, Iraq.

I feel better knowing that there is a group of seriously smart people that are all over this thing as opposed to those on the left who are constantly whining about "fear mongering."

Mark Warner insisted Israel is a not a  partisan issue.  I wish it would be so. But it's troubling that the percent of those in the Democratic party that staunchly support Israel is 34% vs. the Republican  party's 67%

Speaking of Churchill

WINSTON CHURCHILL ON ISLAM - SPEECH IN 1899:

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.

The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedans law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.

No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytising faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled,the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."

Sir Winston Churchill  (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899). hat tip Robert D

Chilling news item;

'Al-Qaeda chief in Palestinian Authority to appear soon'

Army of Jihad group says in pamphlet leader of Osama Bin Laden's magnitude will soon reveal himself in Palestinian territories; urges non-Muslims to leave land or suffer consequences

Click below for the full text of Cheney's speech

The Bolton Interview

What I most admire about John Bolton is his steely demeanor and moral clarity. His spectacular fortitude in the face of scoundrels, liars, and internationally sanctioned criminals  never fails to surprise and delight me. What was completely unexpected was the other side of Bolton. He was funny, thoughtful, deliberate. I really enjoyed the chat.

Atlas: If I could I'd like to talk about you. [he is looking at me askance, laughing here] What formed you..........what is your favorite book?

JB: That's a good question actually. I'd say one of the things that made a big impression on me was Edmund Burke's book Reflections on the Revolution in France and I've read a lot of  John Locke and that had a big impact on me and Ayn Rand.

Atlas: You're just saying that to make me feel better........

JB: No it's true.

Atlas: Growing up, were you one of many?

JB: No, I had one sister, nine years younger.

Atlas: So you were the oldest. Your parents were tough? Encouraging? Non approving?.
Trying to figure out where you developed that spine of yours........I find that quality rare. There's a lot of it in that administration.

JB: My father was a firefighter in the city of Baltimore, my mother was a housewife.

Atlas: YAY, the  great American story.

JB: When the President announced my appointment he talked about my father, he talked about how my mother took me to the library when  I was a little boy and said go in there and read, stuff like that. Regular American family and I was the first person in my family to go to college and what that says is they did push me, they did encourage me.

Atlas: And did you always want to do this? Did you always want public service?

JB: I thought about it a lot, I thought when I was in high school I might go into foreign service, but I didn't do that. I ended up in law school and when I was in law school I never thought I would join the government until the Reagan administration.

I was practicing law in Washington at a firm there, although I was politically active. I represented Jim Buckley in a suit against the post Watergate campaign finance reform bill to get it declared unconstitutional because it put restrictions on what candidates could raise and spend on political campaigns. I was active in politics but mostly I was practicing law until the Reagan campaign and then I went into government.

Atlas: And it was satisfying? You were getting things done?

JB: Yeah yeah, first at the AID  and then in the Justice Department and then when Bush 41 was elected I worked with Jim Baker at the State Department.

Atlas: Do you find it is less difficult, more difficult getting things done in this political climate?

JB: When I was in earlier administrations I was in assistant secretary level positions working hard on my issues and I didn't pay as much attention to the broader.......

Atlas: the big picture? [Atlas interrupting? WTF?]

JB: So when I see it now, it's probably more discouraging how much there is to do.

Atlas: Discouraging how? Discouraging how much there is to do? Or discouraging as in --is it do-able?

JB: Oh its do-able, under the right circumstances. I'm not so naive that I would be doing it if I didn't think there was a chance which makes it in some senses more frustrating. You can see sometimes how close you can get and yet you can't finish a particular thing. Like Iran, I've been working on this for three and a half years

Atlas: And you'll be working on it for three and half more.

JOB: I hope not,  I hope not because now that it's in the Security Council, now is the time to say this is their chance that either they give up their pursuit of nuclear weapons or we go to what the President said, we do something else.

Atlas: We do something else? That's a little vague, don't you think? Deliberately vague?

JB: Yeah, sure absolutely. The President said I never take options off the table. And you've got to be that way. Look this has happened to me enough times before .... if I said, well --  I'll give you an example......after the invasion of Iraq, after Saddam was overthrown I said something in a BBC interview like I hope the governments of Syria and Iran take notice of what's just happened and I got into enormous trouble for that because it sounded like I was threatening the invasion of Iran and Syria.

Atlas: yeah but you get in enormous trouble for waking up in the morning

JB:  Well that's true too.

to be continued

More to come guys, but right now I am going to take a break, head downstairs, meet up with  some AIPAC folks, and have me a glass of pinot noir............I've had it. Long day. But great.

Part II tomorrow.

Update 1:43 am: Will try to finish this tomorrow/today and get to the Panel discussion as well, video egg will not accept a video upload larger than 5 minutes (if I had only known). The transcribing takes an enormous amount of time, laborious -- particularly for the two fingered typist.

UPDATE: MARCH 6TH            PART II

Atlas: As a tangential aside, does that stuff get to you?

JB: The criticism, you mean?

Atlas: Yeah, the intense unfair vilification ......... You don't want to know what they call me  on the left side of the sphere I am your whatever because I am such a staunch supporter. After awhile, does it sting less?  Were you born with a thick skin? The derision is incredible.

JB: Well  nobody likes to go through it.I think there's no question about that. But I think there is an [intelligible] effect over time so I don't think I pay much attention to it.

Atlas: Don't [how funny am i?]

JB: It doesn't affect my behavior, it's just a question of..........

Atlas: [interrupting again] there is that silent majority that supports you

Back to Iran.............

Atlas: I think we've moved too slowly and they've gotten too far. It is frightening to me  because Israel is such a small country, it would just take one,  to get one off

JB: yeah

Atlas: One

JB: Well, the President has used this phrase enough times, I don't know if he ever used it in a speech, but he talks about his concern about  a Nuclear Holocaust -- that's his phrase.

Atlas: He's right

JB: He's got Iran specifically in mind. That's why I am confident over time that whatever happens at the State Department, the President knows what he needs to do.

Atlas: You're clear on that.

JB: Yeah, he's got that, he's got North Korea which he calls a prison camp. He said to Kofi Annan last September - it's a disgrace that during our administrations this regime still keeps its entire population in a prison camp -- which Kofi didn't know what to say. There are things he's got  in his mind that are very clearly fixed.

Atlas: Do you think the UN is more of a detriment, than it is helpful?  Look I do but it doesn't matter what I think, -- the UN, a benefit or a disadvantage to the world? It's sort of  an enabling arm.

JB: I think from a cost benefit point of view the point of the reform effort that we are engaged in is to see if we can get it to a point where it's actually effective.  You know I went through -- in the Bush 41 administration -- getting the resolutions condemning Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, getting the sanctions in place, getting the authorization to use force to throw the Iraqis out, and we used to say that vote to the Security Council was November of 1990 [after the invasion], Congress didn't vote in favor of the authorization to use force until December so we used to say we got Finland to vote in favor of the authorization to use force before we got Congress.

Atlas: Chuckling here

JB: I've seen it in cases where it's helped us.

Atlas: OK

JB: So I don't take the view that there is no good that can come of it. But it's now so encrusted in this management and corruption. It is so out of our control. That's what this reform effort is all about, you can see it  now, if you follow-- and I think you have -- this debate over the human rights commission, the so called reform is so bad even The New York Times and The Washington Post support our position to vote against it.

Atlas: Which is shocking.

JB" Which is amazing

Atlas: [More laughter]

Alright guys, I have got to get back to the convention center. I  will try to post Part III later.

Do you not love that Bolton reads the blog.  I mean, how cool is that?

                         PART III

JB:  But the point is, that's an example where you can make a clear argument that an institution is broken and we've convinced everybody in the existing human rights commission that it is clearly broken. It has zero credibility. Now what it's replaced with is going to make a difference and we're not happy with the result.

Atlas: Yeah, yeah, I know you're not. Listen I don't understand how oil-for food didn't shake up the world.

JB: Look, we just had Security Council meetings this month on fraud, waste, abuse, peacekeeping, procurement. We did a separate meeting on sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers. It did get some attention.

Atlas:  Yeah, scant, what got the level of attention was when they said it was not an admissible level, so the turn around was -- what level is admissible when it comes to that [UN peackeepers' sex crimes]?

JB: Yeah, so  you can have one day of meetings on these things and then the pressure disappears. And that's what we just fundamentally have to change.  Over the next four months, the real battle on getting rid of the unnecessary, outdated, ineffective, counter productive programs, the three Palestinian offices that have been set up by the secretary and all the rest of the waste and abuse that goes on. This is, I mean a lot of it frankly is gonna be my eyes-glaze-over kind of stuff - this is the management program and really not very interesting. But this is where the critical battle is. If we can reshape the organization - at least starting in the next four months, then that's one thing,  but if run into the kind of opposition on all that,  that we faced on the human rights commission then we are not going to get anywhere.

Atlas: What makes you think you're not going to face it?

JB: Oh I'm sure we will. I mean that's why, you have to do this, you have to view what we're trying to do as a test. And you know, we'll succeed or we'll fail. And the big advantage I have is that I'm not afraid to say that we didn't succeed. If we don't get the reform that we need I am going to say that,  and I'm not going to  --  like this human rights commission -- say what we want is a butterfly, and then put lipstick on a caterpillar and call it a success. I'm not going to do  it.

Atlas: But it might be pretty...........um. Let me ask you something else about Hamas. I see the election of Hamas for what it is. I think they knew exactly what they were doing -- I understand about the social services but they knew what they were doing. They know the Hamas mission statement and to me it's a declaration of war. I know [the world] wants us to try to hold their hand but I don't understand how you can make a silk purse out of Hamas. How is the US going to give humanitarian aid now? Explain.

JB: This a big question on how you avoid supporting a terrorist led organization while still giving the humanitarian assistance. And I think it's going to be hard. We just had Alvaro de Soto who is the Secretary General's coordinator for Middle East peace, talking to the security council  and his position was you have to keep funding the Palestinian Authority no matter what. And he said -- "so what are we going to do about health care for the Palestinians, because it's all through the Palestinian authority ?" What are you going to do about education for Palestinian children because it's all through Palestinian Authority."
So we build schools and give [money] to the Palestinian Authority for Hamas to put its teachers in the schools? And this is something  that --you know -- the  Europeans have already given 130 million to tide them over. This is going to be a real test to see what we're, how we're going to come out [on it].

Atlas: Did you grow up in a Jewish neighborhood?

JB: No

Atlas: Did you know many Jews growing up?

JB: Nope

Atlas: It  seems to me you like Jews.

JB: Hysterical laughter

Atlas: Seriously folks. I'm just asking you  because I find it's refreshing, and it's unique, and it's not the everyday, so  I mean,  did you -- was your first love a Jewish girl? I'm just curious........ where'd it come from? C'mon John.

JB: Actually she was, but she wasn't religious.

Both laughing  now. I am clapping .............

Atlas: Thank you for that, so much appreciate it. A couple of other things just because I want to know. I know you have no free time  but when you do,  what do you like to do? Do you like to go to the movies? Do you like to cook?

JB: Just about

Atlas: Do you like to go bowling?  Oh c''mon ............

JB: (Laughing) I take care of my daughter

Atlas: Awwwwww..................that's lovely.

Bolton is a fine man. Great. We're lucky to have him. While taking enormous risks...... he is, in a word, unafraid.
 

UPDATE March 7th : U.S. Envoy Bolton Expects Security Council To Meet on Iran

U.S. Department of State
The 15-nation U.N. Security Council will take up the issue of Iran's nuclear program after the International Atomic Energy Agency board meets March 6, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton says.  Describing the matter as a test for the Security Council, he says that if the permanent members of the council agree “an Iran with nuclear weapons is unacceptable and that it is appropriate to have Iran in the Security Council -- which all five permanent members have said  -- then you have to ask what is the council going to do about it,"

"Looking at the lack of Iranian cooperation, looking at the affirmative efforts Iran made to conceal its nuclear activities and difficulties the IAEA has had pulling information out of them. … There is simply no escaping the conclusion based on the evidence that the Iranians are pursuing a nuclear weapons capability," the ambassador said.

IRAN’S AMBITION “A TEST FOR THE SECURITY COUNCIL,” BOLTON SAYS

"With all due respect to the IAEA, with all due respect, the Charter of the United Nations says that the Security Council is responsible for threats to international peace and security.  The Security Council doesn't need a report from the IAEA," he said.

 

"A Nuclear Powered Rogue State" NEW VIDEO

UPDATE March 6th: FRESH VIDEO!.....updated through the day

Click below

While there were divergent views on the continuing global war on radical extremism, there was a strong consensus on the gravity on the impending threat of a nuclear holocaust should Iran get its hand on nuclear weaponry.
 

LIVEBLOGGING AIPAC 2006

Hey guys, got into DC late yesterday for the AIPAC conference. Huge turnout. Should be interesting. Postings will be lighter than usual but action packed ...........stay tuned.

Meanwhile Hamas Sets Up Standing Army in Gaza to Spread Jihad

LIVEBLOGGING David Kay

Dr David Kay (Weapons Inspector) is speaking.."Iran has spent he last 20 years understanding the inspection process. They know how to get around the the inspection process." "The Iranians themselves have been inspectors." Essentially we can learn nothing from inspections.

"They [the Iranians}do not do their clandestine work at the sites that are inspected. They have become the world's best deceivers." "They have been lying for 20 years, this not from the US. this is from the IAEA."

"Iranians lie. Everything is a struggle to understand."

"The culture of such institutions within the UN is the trouble they have making moral distinctions.

" "Until you can make those distinctions, weapons [ineffectual or not] are useless." Inspections inevitably produce ambiguous results. You can't throw someone against the wall and say ......"

"The fact is we won't know where Iran is in their nuclear weapons process until they test their nuclear bomb."

"In closing, international inspections can not stop a nation state from producing nuclear weapons if that his intent."

Keynote speaker: John Bolton

"Simply put, there will no destruction of the state of Israel."

"We must use all the tools of our disposal to stop Iran's clear and unrelenting drive to develop nuclear weapons."

"Let me clear, the longer we wait [to take action on Iran's development of  nuclear weaponry]  the harder it will be to solve. We must not ignore Tehran's refusal to engage the international community."

"Iran in talks [with Russia] doublespeak."

"There are a number of options available, failure to act is not one of them. The security council should note if they fail to act......it will do serious damage to the credibility of the council. Rest assured we are not relying solely on the security council ........"

"may be too soon to begin sanctions but many countries are using such language. They [Iran] must be isolated."

"Iran has long been a rogue state. The largest state sponsor of terror."

"It is surreal to hear the kind of rhetoric [from a nation's leader] that we thought was relegated to the  historical dust bin."

"Iran has a far more dangerous foe -- democracy."

The US wishes to reach out t the Iranian people. The US  fully supports their aspirations for a free and better future.

Next Keynote up: Ehud Olmert

Breaking for lunch.......I have an interview with John Bolton coming up at 1 pm. Yowser.

Exclusive Bolton interview ....... Wanna know what Mr. Bolton's favorite book is? Yeah the Atlas interview (the only interview Mr. Bolton gave at AIPAC) will be posted later as soon as I can transcribe.

Meanwhile, Zawahri calls for strikes against West and this just in from Zawahri's minister of Propaganda in the West, Iran and Qaeda benefit from US in Iraq: Congressman John Murtha

and the cartoon jihad continues apace Tens of Thousands Rally Against Cartoons

Update: AP's take on Bolton's speech here