Jim Moran and AIPAC

It kind of pains me to write this as Yom Kippur is just about to commence, but....

I kind of agree with Jim Moran when he talks about AIPAC and other Jewish organizations in the build-up to the Iraq War.

I'm linking now to Lowell of Raising Kaine, whose take is pretty similar to mine. He's Jewish, Pro-Israel, and he lives in Moran's district (I used to), and he's got some issues with Moran, and he thinks Moran could stand to be a little more careful when he speaks... but he doesn't think Jim Moran is an anti-semite.

Pretty much the same for me. Jim Moran's got some problems, no doubt. This is what he said, which led to the latest controversy....

Moran said that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) "has pushed this war from the beginning . . . They are so well organized, and their members are extraordinarily powerful -- most of them are quite wealthy -- they have been able to exert power."

When you put it like that, this quote bothers me a bit. But here's a little more context.

You’ve touched on a quandary, and it particularly applies to the Jewish American community. Jewish Americans, as a voting bloc and as an influence on American foreign policy, are overwhelmingly opposed to the war. There is no ethnic group as opposed to the war as much as Jewish Americans. But, AIPAC is the most powerful lobby and has pushed this war from the beginning. I don’t think they represent the mainstream of American Jewish thinking at all, but because they are so well organized, and their members are extraordinarily powerful—most of them are quite wealthy—they have been able to exert power.

Sure, Moran should have known that "quite wealthy" would set some people off, and he may be overstating AIPAC's power a bit, but generally speaking...... he's right. And he makes it pretty damn clear he's talking about AIPAC, not Jews as a whole.

After 9/11, I felt abandoned by groups like AIPAC that pushed the Iraq War, which I opposed from the beginning. Is AIPAC solely responsible for the war? Of course not. They were a very small part of the equation. But make no mistake about it, the leadership of AIPAC fully supported the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Rice-Wolfowitz led invasion of Iraq, and they should be held accountable for it.

AIPAC was not the only organization that did this... It disturbs me to this day that 9/11 caused such a shift among Jewish organizations that had previously been more-or-less civil liberties organizations... Many of these organizations could have stood to shift some of the resources they used to support the Iraq war toward fighting the PATRIOT Act and other assaults on our freedom at home.

Some people probably think I'm an anti-semite for even writing all this. Let me be very clear... It's possible to support the Jewish community without fully supporting AIPAC. In fact, I'd argue, and I have before, that linking people like me with neo-conservatives INCREASES anti-semitism. Likewise, it's possible to be Pro-Israel while sometimes criticizing its government, just as it's possible to support America and criticize its government.

During these days of atonement, sure, Jim Moran, could stand to do a little atoning. But AIPAC has a few reasons to ask for forgiveness on Yom Kippur as well.