AIPAC urges U.S. to shut Iranian Web site

[spindrifter]

Haaretz.com
Tue., August 29, 2006 Elul 5, 5766

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is urging the United States government to disconnect an Iranian news site from American Internet servers, charging that the site has ties to terrorist organizations. The allegation is based on a report published by Haaretz last month.

According to the Haaretz report, the site, Baztab, published details about a month ago of what it termed "an interrogation" of the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah on July 12. Baztab's report claimed that the soldiers had admitted that Israel planned a military attack on Hezbollah in September or October, and the kidnapping had foiled this plan.

Based on this report and other information published on the site, AIPAC concluded that Baztab, which is supported by an American server, has ties with a terrorist organization. It therefore asked the U.S. Treasury Department to order the site shut down.


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/755379.html

[maalak]

1. wait... so AIPAC is powerful enough to manipulate us into a war...

... but they have to ask for help shutting down a website?

[IntiRaymi]

4. What a way to mislead the issue!

No one has ever stated that the US government takes its marching orders from the AIPAC. The only statements have been to the effect that there is undue influence over our leaders.

[maalak]

8. undue... how so?

what do they do that is illegal or illegitimate?

[IntiRaymi]

16. When a group of people of dubious loyalty to the USA...

Starts having an undue influence over the internal & foreign policy of the USA, then that is a cause for concern for all citizens of this country.
My concern is that we are going to get marched into another absurd war for the sake of Israel's foreign policy objectives, which are increasingly less about its own survival, and more about its territorial ambitions.
Once again, as I often say, things are murky, and simplistic legalistic reasonings completely ignore the issues at stake.

[Tom Joad]

20. Pass U.S. secrets to a foreign power. Just for starters.

[Tom Joad]

24. Did you read that comeback on LGF too?

[bemildred]

2. Munging up DNS is not a good solution to political issues.

:puke:

[BuyingThyme]

3. Iran has never attacked my country, but AIPAC sure as hell has.

Let's shut down AIPAC, shall we?

[ShawnGreen]

19. The Iranians Attacked The American Embassy In Teheran In 1979

That's sovereign territory.


When did AIPAC attack America?

[panader0]

5. Hell, I just added Ahmadinejad's blog to my favorite column

After all, 67% of Americans think he's smarter than bush.

[TomInTib]

6. 'asked the U.S. Treasury Department to order the site shut down'

'ordered' is more likely.

[razors edge]

7. why isn't Israel's aipac listed

as a foreign lobby and required to operate as such?

[IndianaGreen]

10. AIPAC should register as foreign agents

for that's what this cabal has been doing all along. They helped sell the war on Iraq, and now they are doing the same dastardly deed with Iran. I don't see the children of AIPAC officials enlisting in the US military and risking their lives for the wars their elders lobbied for.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Why don't we move AIPAC into the West Wing and stop pretending

that the Israel Lobby is not the tail that wag the dog.

[maalak]

11. has anybody stopped to think that maybe...

just maybe... the site ACTUALLY DOES have ties to terrorist organizations?

funny how so many pounce on an opportunity to attack AIPAC and seem oblivious to the issue of whether or not they're actually right...

[breakaleg]

12. that whole expression "ties to terrorist organizations" has become

an excuse for all kinds of outrageous behavior. It's meant to illicit the reaction the speaker - ie. AIPAC or Bush - wants when they use it.

It's losing it's punch from over use.

[maalak]

13. perhaps, but doesn't mean it's not true and warranted...

especially if they truly were in touch with those who kidnapped the soldiers, and publishing details about it on their web site.

believe it or not, there actually are terrorists out there

[razors edge]

14. israel claims to be america's only friend

in the me, who were our enemies there before israel existed?

[maalak]

15. where have they claimed to be our "only" friend in the ME?

[IntiRaymi]

18. It's a statement that gets floated out there.

Like a slogan. You see it on bumper stickers, it is a catchphrase used here and there to cement a mindset in the public.

[maalak]

25. example?

I've never seen it on a bumpersticker or heard it as a slogan.

the only place i've heard claims like that are anti-Israel sites like this.

[razors edge]

23. something I read a while back

I could have quoted a bad source and may be wrong, in fact as i think about my previous statement it would be almost impossible to prove that israel made any statement as nations don't actually say anything verbally, only people do. My apologies if any offense was given in my assertion as to israel making a claim to anything, I was obviously generalizing and had no right to do so. I am new to posting here, or any place for that mater. I will try to avoid such obvious laziness in the future.

Having said that, could you perhaps address the second part of my response, who were americas enemies in the middle east before the Balfour Declaration of 1917. I have my own opinions on that subject but I am always open to others.



edit for spelling, i know, more lazyness.

[maalak]

26. not much of consequence...

the world was wrapped up other priorities, and the region was dealing with the dissolution of the Ottoman empire more than anything, i'm not which entities you'd use to identify an "enemy" or a "friend" at that point.

is this leading up to an argument that the extistence and our support of Israel is the reason there is so much anti-American sentiment in the United States?

[razors edge]

27. No argument to be made that I can see.

The US policy in the ME for the fifty+ years has been enough to piss off the indigenous people.

The Military/Industrial complex has focused on controlling oil flow since they figured out planes and tanks won't work well on coal.

Support of israel has just been icing on the cake.

[Tom Joad]

21. There are terrorists. The kind that killed hundreds of Lebanese children

should not be allowed to get military aid from the US govt.

[breakaleg]

22. Yes there are terrorists out there. The biggest offenders at the moment

are the Israeli government.

[IntiRaymi]

17. That is still censhorship.

The autocratic tendencies of the pro-Israel lobby are in gross display here.
I am getting more and more alarmed by this.