AIPAC Agent Eliot Engel Goes After Obama Cabinet Pick As Being Too Anti-Israel

Engel's the Israeli agent in the middle

Before the House Democrats elected their ranking members, we started warning about the potential disaster of putting Zionist extremist Eliot Engel, whose loyalties are demonstrably more to the Likud Party in Israel than to the U.S.A., in as ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Engel, a New Dem and "Free" Trade cypher, was up against another Zionist, Brad Sherman, who isn't as extreme as Engel. House Democratic leadership, though, was intent on filling every position they could with New Dems-- while the Progressive Caucus dozed-- and Sherman was persuaded to withdraw from the race. The Democrats are now stuck with, for all intents and purposes, an Israeli spy as their spokesperson on the committee. And his first goal is to do AIPAC's dirty work against Obama's first choice for Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel. Like Susan Rice, Hagel is a flawed character, another figure DWT has been warning against-- not because he doesn't kiss AIPAC ass but because he was the originator of the computerized stealing of elections.

Obama is Obama and he isn't going to pick and good cabinet members, short of, perhaps keeping Hilda Solis on as Labor Secretary. So it's pointless in getting too emotionally invested in these fights between the insiders. Susan Rice and John Kerry are both equally what you might call useless tools of the Establishment conservative consensus. Hagel and Flournoy are equally useless... although... despite his flaws-- documented in that last link above-- Hagel does supposedly want to cut back on the power of the Military Industrial Complex. Supposedly.

Back to the hideous Engel. The House doesn't vote on the president's nominees but he's already sticking his nose into the process on behalf of Israel and AIPAC, claiming Hagel has an "endemic hostility towards Israel."

In an interview Friday taped for C-SPAN's Newsmakers, conducted jointly by The Cable and Politico, Engel said that Hagel's record on Israel and Iran make him a poor choice to lead the military. In particular, Engel said he was irked by Hagel's reference to the "Jewish lobby" in an interview with former official Aaron David Miller. (Miller supports Hagel's nomination.)

"I think that remark is troublesome, it's problematic. It shows at the very best a lack of sensitivity, at the very worst perhaps a prejudice. And I'm concerned about it, I'm concerned about the nomination," Engel said. "If I were doing the appointing, I would not appoint Chuck Hagel."

Engel, who represents the Bronx, Rockland, and Westchester, said he has been hearing a lot of opposition to the potential Hagel nomination from his constituents. He also said that Hagel's activities related to Israel, including his statements on Hamas and Israel's influence in Washington, show a pattern of "hostility."

"It seems there is some kind of an endemic hostility towards Israel and that's troublesome to me and troublesome to a lot of people," Engel said. "In the sensitive post of secretary of defense, those are warning bells. Those are red lights."

Obama should have the privilege of picking his own team, Engel said, but he predicted that Obama will pass over Hagel to avoid the controversy.

"I think [the president] knows that the Hagel nomination potentially is a problem," he said.

Engel said that former Pentagon official Michèle Flournoy would be a good potential secretary of defense. He also praised the president's Friday nomination of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) to be the next secretary of state.

And it isn't just the AIPAC-Jews in Congress like Engel, Lieberman and Chuck Schumer threatening to derail Hagel. The Republicans smell blood in the water and sense another opportunity to screw with Obama, who never seems to learn that when you give in to bullies-- the way he so shamelessly did by acceding to GOP demands that he name John Kerry Secretary of State, it never-- never-- mollifies them or makes them cooperative; it's only emboldens them. Like predators who have tasted warm blood, partisan obstructionists such as Lindsey Graham-- who have their own careerist agendas to worry about, most of which conflict with the well-being of the nation and are antithetical to American good governance and security-- are on the warpath over Hagel.

Yesterday, the sleazy little South Carolina closet queen was on his perch at Meet the Press hissing and warning menacingly that "a lot of Republicans are going to ask him hard questions. And I don't think he's going to get many Republicans votes... I like Chuck, but his positions I didn't really quite frankly know all of them, are really out of the mainstream and well to the left of the president. I think it would be a challenging nomination, but the hearings will matter, so Chuck will have a chance to defend himself.”

Obama's weak and naive leadership brings this on himself. He only feels getting tough when it comes to his own base. He's happy to use cutthroat tactics against progressives but he's the worst champion the left has ever had when it comes to standing up to the forces of plutocracy and the partisan, reactionary forces of the far right. And if you think he's ever going to change, you haven't been paying any attention.