Was Pelosi's trip to Damascus the beginnings of a Middle East peace? Certainly the Council for the National Interest (CNI) believes so and is pushing for a petition directed at Congress to support the peace intentions of Pelosi’s trip to Syria, in spite of the counter efforts by AIPAC, the Israel Lobby, to push for the opposite.
As is widely known, AIPAC, which supports an extremist Zionist agenda in Israel, has consistently supported a US-Israel based confrontation with Syria and Iran, in spite of the failed invasion of Lebanon last summer. On this side of the Atlantic, AIPAC assumes that, perhaps correctly, given the continuing rhetoric and plans of Cheney-Bush and even Blair, the Neocons are still in charge of Whitehouse foreign policy. In spite of the flight and resignations of top dog Neocons from the Pentagon, advisors behind the scenes such as Richard Perle and Henry Kissinger still retain a powerful voice in the administration.
CNI’s appeal to Congress is called Help Congress See the Light on the Road to Damascus
"The United States will not be able to achieve its goals in the Middle East unless the United States deals directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict" - Iraq Study Group Report (Baker &Hamilton).
According to the CNI communication, Speaker of the House Pelosi followed the Baker-Hamilton report, which was shunned by Bush-Cheney in deference to AIPAC interests, and took a first step toward peace by visiting President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. She traveled to Syria in an effort "to open a dialogue with the Syrians to change the dynamic of the failing U.S. occupation of Iraq and to jumpstart the moribund Middle East peace process."
Proposed CNI Foundation ad, After Damascus: Will Congress See the Light, is scheduled as a full-page ad in the April 22 issue of The New York Times. Through this letter, it is appealing for funds to place that NYT ad.
Dear Friend of the CNI Foundation
We need your help. We need to raise $19,000 to place our new full-page ad in the April 22 issue of The New York Times.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's visit to Damascus may mark a turning point in our relations with the Middle East. Condemned in the pro-Israel editorial page of the Washington Post as "foolish shuttle diplomacy," she proved herself anything but foolish. She sagely included in her entourage Tom Lantos of California (chairman of the House International Relations Committee), Nick Rahall of West Virginia (one of the few Arab Americans in Congress), Keith Ellison of Minnesota (newly elected member who is also the first Muslim to serve in Congress), the Iraq war spending critic Henry A. Waxman of California (chairman of the House Oversight and Operations Committee), Louise M. Slaughter of New York (ranking member of the House Rules Committee), and David L. Hobson, Republican of Ohio (member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee).
In other words, she surrounded herself with a powerful and representative group of Congressional politicians, many serving as heads of key committees or with interest in specific issues in the Middle East, and displaying a diplomatic savvy sorely missed since the departure of Colin Powell from the State Department.
The trip was inspired by the Iraq Study Report issued last November, which powerfully suggested that a dialogue with Syria and Iran was in the interest of the United States. It also strongly suggested that the U.S. actively intervene to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, which heretofore the Israelis and the Bush administration have stonewalled.
The ad will also deal with the apartheid issue raised by President Jimmy Carter and will point out that apartheid rules aren't just in the West Bank but also to the Palestinian citizens of Israel.
CNI Foundation's upcoming ad in the New York Times encourages its 3 million readers to get behind the Pelosi initiative and press for a more deliberate engagement by the U.S. in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
One of our previous full-page ads in the Times brought CNIF under fire from the president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations who complained that it was evidence of the Times' "anti-Israel" bias. The Times spokesman explained to the New York Jewish World reporter that they "accepted this advertisement in the strong belief that all pages of the paper - news, editorial and advertising - must remain open to the free flow of idea." In a world that is fast losing ground to the "free flow of ideas," the ads in the Times directly confront the Israel Lobby and its minions in the media.
The advertisements have also brought us a new audience of activists and supporters. They are an important part of our congressional and grassroots outreach. Contributions can be made by check sent to CNIF or by credit card using our website
https://secure.groundspring.org/...
You can help us reach this audience by sending a donation now. If you have donated our ad campaign in the past, please accept our thanks and hopes that your generosity will be renewed. If you haven't donated in the past, this is an opportunity to help us reach millions of our fellow Americans.
Sincerely,
Gene Bird
President
Please do your part to help CNI further the cause of peace and the peacemakers by doing what you can. Contributions are tax-deductible.
https://secure.groundspring.org/...
http://www.cnifoundation.org/