they really think-all these secretly detest the lobby. If this anger explodes, it may hurt us, too.
This lobby has become a golem. And like the golem in legend, in the end it will bring disaster on its maker.
If I may be permitted to voice some criticism of my own.
When the original article by the two professors appeared, I argued that "the tail is wagging the dog and the dog is wagging the tail." The tail, of course, is Israel.
The two professors confirm the first part of the equation, but emphatically deny the second. The central thesis of the book is that the pressure of the lobby causes the United States to act against its own interests (and, in the long run, also against the true interests of Israel). They do not accept my contention, quoted in the book, that Israel acted in Lebanon as "America's Rottweiler" (to Hizbullah as "Iran's Doberman").
I agree that the United States is acting against its true interest (and the true interests of Israel), but the American leadership does not see it that way. Bush and his people believe-even without the input of the lobby-that it would be advantageous for the United States to establish a permanent American military presence in the middle of this region of huge oil reserves. In my view, this counterproductive act was one of the main objectives of the war, side by side with the desire to eliminate one of Israel's most dangerous enemies.
Unfortunately, the book deals only very briefly with this issue.
That does not diminish in any way my profound admiration for the intellectual qualities, integrity, and courage of Mearsheimer and Walt, two knights who, like St. George, have sallied forth to face the fearful dragon.
December 9, 2006
No one likes to admit a mistake. Me neither. But honesty leaves me no choice.
A few days after the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, I happened to go on a lecture tour in the United States.
My message was optimistic. I expected some good to come out of the tragedy. I reasoned that the atrocity had exposed the intensity of the hatred for the United States that is spreading throughout the world, and especially the Muslim world. It would be logical not only to fight against the mosquitoes, but to drain the swamp. Since the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict was one of the breeding grounds of the