Good points. A few things the article did not cover that I said:

- I descried the lobby as the 'hawkish Israeali lobby' and explained that I wanted to make it clear that this lobby did not represent the views of all Israelis or Americans of Jewish Faith. Jews are not of one mind and many do not support the Sharon-policies of militarism.

- I also made it clear that there are other influences supporting war in Iraq -- the military industrial complex, oil industry, evangelicals to name a few. Another speaker made the point, that I agreed with, that we would probably be discussing war in Iran even without the hawkish Israeli lobby pushing us.

No doubt Israel was part of the geopolitical gamesmanship of the Cold War era and has been used by the US as a proxy for some of our dirty wars over the years. It is definitely a partnership. But it is a partnership that must be re-evaluated as it is doing more harm than good -- for the security of Israel, for the Palestinian people and or the security of Americans.

KZ