Congressmen to recommend cutting back military support to Israel

Feb. 25, 2009

Last week saw a parade of American congressmen to Gaza on separate fact-finding missions to the Holy Land. In keeping with the undertone of anti-Israel sentiment seeping out from the new administration, Rep. Brian Baird, a Democrat from Washington state, planned to report back to DC that the U.S. should reassess its military support for the Jewish state.

Baird said he was troubled by the American origin of much IDF weaponry used in Gaza and suggested that America reconsider military aid and weapons sold to Israel.

"We need to use every pressure available to make these needed changes happen," he said. "If our colleagues had seen what we have seen, I think their understanding of the situation would be significantly impacted. They would care about what happened to the Palestinians."

The congressman alleged that Israel had "apparently willfully destroyed any capacity of the Palestinians to rebuild their own infrastructure" and said he was struck, he said, by "the level of destruction, the scope of it, specifically the civilian targets - schools, hospitals, industry."

Baird managed to balance his message with some photos he took of damage from rocket fire on Sderot, which he did condemn. He he said he plans to bring in aid and medical workers from Gaza to share their stories.

Displaying his lack of knowledge of the situation, such as security and humanitarian aid being held hostage by Hamas, the congressman called for more humanitarian aid and goods to Gaza, accompanied by open border crossings that would allow Palestinians to travel for trade and medical care-- and presumably terror attacks.

He visited Gaza with Rep. Keith Ellison (D Minnesota)

Pro-Israel organizations, while upset at Baird’s conclusions, weren't concerned that many minds would be changed.

"By and large, we continue to see support for Israel and understand why it was necessary for Israel's leaders to do what they did," one official said about Congress, speaking anonymously. "I'm not afraid of these members coming back and giving a briefing."

Stimuli for Everyone

Even Hamas, er, Gaza gets some
Feb. 25, 2009

While the U.S. continues to create more stimuli, the administration is considering a $900 million package to stimulate the Gaza economy and its former skyline. The package, which needs congressional approval, purports to strengthen the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which is nowhere near Gaza.

In fact, anyone representing the political party of the PA, Fatah, has already been shot in the knee caps or thrown off a building by Hamas. So how it will strengthen PA President Mahmoud Abbas remains a mystery.

“This money is for Gaza and to help strengthen the Palestinian Authority. It is not going to go to Hamas,” said the official, who asked not to be named as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton planned to announce the funding at a donors’ conference in Egypt next week.

Even better! The UN, whose facilities were used as Hamas firing positions and whose supplies were hijacked by Hamas, will get to distribute the money.

Reuters: The United States wants Abbas’s PA to play a central role in the reconstruction effort in Gaza, hoping this will increase its influence in the Hamas stronghold. Washington is also putting pressure on other donors to bolster Abbas.

“We call on donor countries to focus their pledges to meet the Palestinian Authority’s priorities, including budget support, and on projects that can be funded through the Palestinian Authority and other existing, trusted mechanisms,” said a State Department official.

From blogger Jules Crittenden: Well, if that’s what they wanted, Obama should have got on the phone with Olmert last month and said, “Don’t stop.”

Not just anti-Israel but pro-bin Laden

Feb. 25, 2009

A few days ago I reported on former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman, who is Obama's choice to head the National Intelligence Council. He’s expressed his anti-Israel sentiment before. But now we come to find out he also had business with the Bin Laden family--even after 9/11.

Ashley Rindsberg in the Daily Beast reports:

Charles “Chas” Freeman, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, had business connections with the bin Laden family and their Saudi Binladin Group, a multi-billion dollar construction conglomerate founded by the father of Osama bin Laden. As chairman of Projects International, Inc., a company that develops international business deals, Mr. Freeman asserted in an interview with The Associated Press less than a month after September 11 that he was still “discussing proposals with the Bin Laden Group—and that won't change.”

In the same interview, Freeman also contested the notion that international companies who had business with the bin Laden family should be “running for public relations cover”, noting that bin Laden was still “a very honored name in the kingdom [of Saudi Arabia]”, despite its family tie to the Al-Qaeda leader. (Freeman wasn’t immediately available for comment.)

Mr. Freeman frequently maintained that the larger bin Laden family was closely aligned with American interests. Contrary to the notion that the family was still supporting and even funding Osama bin Laden, the bin Laden family and its business conglomerate were part of the “establishment that Osama's trying to overthrow,” as Mr. Freeman told The Wall Street Journal in a separate interview less than two weeks after September 11.

However, The Journal also noted that Freeman's connections with the bin Laden family went beyond business: Freeman's Middle East Policy Council, a think tank dedicated to Mideast issues, was receiving “tens of thousand of dollars a year from the bin Laden family” at that time. Since the rumors of his appointment broke, Freeman has been criticized because the pro-Saudi MEPC also accepted donations in the millions of dollars from the Saudi royal family.

Subsequent investigation by U.S. intelligence agencies and journalists of bin Laden family ties to Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden raised questions about the authenticity of the family's claim of financial and emotional distance from the world's most wanted terror leader.