AIPAC Loses on Iran Resolution

Wow…….what a shock. This must be a first. In a significant and highly unusual defeat for the so-called “Israel lobby”, the Democratic leadership of the US House of Representatives has shelved a resolution which called for President George W Bush to launch a naval blockade against Iran. The resolution (HJ Res 362), was the top legislative priority for the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and despite critics claiming it was tantamount to a declaration of war, it looked poised to pass virtually by acclamation last summer. But an unexpectedly strong lobbying effort by a number of grassroots Iranian-American, Jewish-American, peace and church groups derailed the initiative, though AIPAC and its supporters said they will try to revive it next year or if Congress returns to Washington for a “lame-duck” session after the November elections. “We’ll resubmit it [HJ Res 362] when Congress comes b...