Neocons, wearing jackboots, are suddenly on the defensive over Hagel

The Chuck Hagel debate has moved into a new phase: the neoconservatives are completely on the defensive. NYT op-eds by Tom Friedman ("Give Chuck a Chance") and James Besser ("Don't Let Pro-Israel Extremists Sink Chuck Hagel") have now successfully positioned Hagel as a centrist being attacked by extremists. And the neoconservatives have got their back up, as you will see below.

Congressman Berman’s Last Gasp At Punishing Palestinians

At first glance, the only thing surprising about the Congressional letter demanding that the Palestinians be punished for taking their case to the United Nations is that AIPAC’s role in producing it is stated openly. The cover letter to House members asking for their signatures (from a staffer working for House Foreign Affairs Committee chair, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen) reads as follows:

Unaccountable Israeli Lobby dictates US foreign policy

Special report: Inside the Israeli lobby

The Israeli Lobby. It is a term that brings up images of an entity of near-mythic strength that seems to influence all branches of US policy and has an inside track to prominent US politicians, whether Republican or Democrat. It is credited with the power to make or break Presidents and dictate US foreign policy. Unaccountable and impossible to fight, it is seen in Pakistan and in large parts of the Muslim world as the driving force behind the United States’ pro-Israel stance.