Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim today urged Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz “to be careful” with his remarks after he called Thai pathologist Dr.Pornthip Rojanasunand a liar for claiming she was pressured to abandon the Teoh Beng Hock inquest.
Nazri, who is the de facto law minister, made the comments yesterday when reacting to Dr. Pornthip’s claims that she had to choose her work in the southern Thailand insurgency over the inquest due to “political pressure” from Malaysia.
“Diplomatically it’s not a good idea to call those outside our country liars,” the Selangor mentri besar said in response to Nazri’s comments.
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readmore click hereMaking Sense of the Abramoff Scandal | | AlterNet
Lobbyist Charged in Fraud Inquiry
Michael Scanlon, once an aide to Tom DeLay, is expected to cooperate with prosecutors in the investigation of former partner Jack Abramoff.
THE NATION
WASHINGTON — A federal investigation of corrupt lobbying practices on Capitol Hill intensified Friday as a former business associate of lobbyist Jack Abramoff signaled that he would plead guilty to a charge that the two conspired to defraud four Indian tribes out of millions of dollars and to improperly influence a member of Congress.
The plea deal, which is expected to be formalized early next week and includes Michael Scanlon's promise to cooperate with federal prosecutors, marks a major development in a widening probe of Abramoff that has shaken Congress.
The money we pay is worth it, it is giving good returns to us,” said Nazri.
Blame for “a generation” of bad ties with the US was then heaped on former prime ministers, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
“Lobbying is common in US. You have to lobby (to get things done). The biggest lobbyists in US are Israeli lobbyists,” said Nazri.
AIPAC has been criticized as being misrepresentative of American Jews who support Israel and that AIPAC is solely in favor of right-wing Israeli policy and viewpoints. [41] [42].
Among the best-known critical works about AIPAC is The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, by University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer and Harvard University Kennedy School of Government professor Stephen Walt. In the working paper and resulting book they accuse AIPAC of being "the most powerful and best known" component of a larger pro-Israel lobby that distorts American foreign policy. They write:[4]
"AIPAC's success is due to its ability to reward legislators and congressional candidates who support its agenda, and to punish those who challenge it. ... AIPAC makes sure that its friends get strong financial support from the myriad pro-Israel PACs. Those seen as hostile to Israel, on the other hand, can be sure that AIPAC will direct campaign contributions to their political opponents. ... The bottom line is that AIPAC, which is a de facto agent for a foreign government, has a stranglehold on the U.S. Congress. Open debate about U.S. policy towards Israel does not occur there, even though that policy has important consequences for the entire world."
AIPAC has also been the subject of criticism by prominent politicians including Representative Dave Obey of Wisconsin,[43] former SenatorMike Gravel,[44] and former Representative Cynthia McKinney.[45]
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC; pronounced /ˈeɪpæk/, ay-pak) is a lobbying group that advocates for pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States. The current President of the AIPAC is Lee Rosenberg, from Chicago, Illinois.[1] As an independent, not-for-profit entity, AIPAC is funded entirely through contributions from its members.
Describing itself as "America's Pro-Israel Lobby,"[2] AIPAC is a mass-membership organization whose members includeDemocrats, Republicans, and independents. The New York Times calls it "the most important organization affecting America's relationship with Israel."[3] It has been described as one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington, DC, and its critics have stated it acts as an agent of the Israeli government with a "stranglehold" on the US Congress.[4]
In 2005, a Pentagon analyst pled guilty to charges of passing US government secrets to two AIPAC staffers in what is known as the AIPAC espionage scandal. Both staffers were later fired.[5]
In 1984 the FBI investigated after Israeli Minister of Economics Dan Halpern passed stolen classified US government documents to AIPAC outlining trade secrets of major US industries lobbying against the US-Israel Free Trade Area.[6]
Espionage allegations
In April 2005, AIPAC policy director Steven Rosen and AIPAC senior Iran analyst Keith Weissman were fired by AIPAC amid an FBI investigation into whether they passed classified U.S. information received from Franklin on to the government of Israel. They were later indicted for illegally conspiring to gather and disclose classified national security information to Israel,[31][32]. AIPAC agreed to pay the legal fees for Weissman's defense through appeal if necessary,[33] but charges were subsequently dropped.[34]
In May 2005, the Justice Department announced that Lawrence Anthony Franklin, a U.S. Air Force Reserves colonel working as a Department of Defense analyst at the Pentagon in the office of Douglas Feith, had been arrested and charged by the FBI with providing classified national defense information to Israel. The six-count criminal complaint identified AIPAC by name and described a luncheon meeting in which, allegedly, Franklin disclosed top-secret information to two AIPAC officials.[35][36]
Franklin pleaded guilty to passing government secrets to Rosen and Weissman and revealed for the first time that he also gave classified information directly to an Israeli government official in Washington. On January 20, 2006, he was sentenced to 151 months (almost 13 years) in prison and fined $10,000. As part of the plea agreement, Franklin agreed to cooperate in the larger federal investigation.[37][38]
When asked about Chua’s query on why a local and possibly cheaper consultancy firm was not hired, Nazri scoffed and stressed that APCO had been hired to repair Malaysia’s ties with the United States.
Najib’s meeting with Obama was proof of APCO’s success, says Nazri. — Reuters pic
The minister then delivered a stinging rebuff to Pakatan Rakyat’s frequent cries of Israeli agents being involved in APCO’s organisation.
“Lobbying is common in US. You have to lobby (to get things done). The biggest lobbyists in US are Israeli lobbyists,” said Nazri.
He also asserted that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s moves in fostering closer ties with the US and liberalising the economy were good.
“Najib is not thinking of himself, he is thinking of the country. What is wrong with being close to Americans? It only benefits our economy.”
- AIPAC has a wide base of supporters both in and outside of Congress. Support among congressional members includes a majority of members of both the Democratic and RepublicanParties. According to American Prospect magazine, "AIPAC's 2002 annual conference included 50 senators, 190 representatives, and more than a dozen senior administration officials."[35]
- Many political leaders have addressed AIPAC conferences, including Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, Vice Presidents Dick Cheney and Joe Biden, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Other speakers have included prominent Senators such as John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, as well as and current and former members of the leadership of both parties in Congress, and current and former Prime Ministers of Israel.
- Historian and current Israeli ambassador to America, Michael Oren argued in his 2007 bestseller, "Power, Faith, and Fantasy", that strong American support for Israel derives from Puritan-Republican roots of the United States itself.
- Sen. John McCain said in his speech to the 2008 AIPAC Policy Conference "[T]here are ties between America and Israel that critics of our alliance have never understood, /../ that's because they do not fully understand the love of liberty and the pursuit of justice."[5]
- Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) has argued that America supports Israel because they share fundamental values as "freedom-loving people" who "deserve to have a free and secure state.'"[39] Nancy Pelosi similarly stated that "America and Israel share an unbreakable bond: in peace and war; and in prosperity and in hardship."[40]
APCO also drew praise from Nazri for its performance, who credited the consultancy for Najib’s meeting with US President Barack Obama as proof of its success.
“APCO did a good job. Obama only set aside time to see Najib and (Chinese President) Hu Jintao. China is China, but Obama agreed to meet Najib.”
“The money we pay is worth it, it is giving good returns to us,” said Nazri.
Blame for “a generation” of bad ties with the US was then heaped on former prime ministers, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
“US will not care about us if we are not nice to them. We have to repair 22 years of Mahathir and 6 years of Pak Lah. You think we can undo this without spending money?” the minister quizzed.
Nazri then trained his sights on opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s allegations that APCO was also used by dictators throughout the world, saying that, were the claims true, they would simply be another feather in the public relations firm’s cap.
“I am not sure of that information... but dictators who have got the money will use the best. So what if they use APCO? It means that APCO is bloody good,” Nazri said.
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