McPeak Responds To His Critics

Gen. Merrill A. "Tony" McPeak (ret.), a foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama, has responded to his critics.

In 1976, then Col. McPeak published an essay in Foreign Affairs entitled "Israel: Borders and Security," where he argued that it was "territorial return which constitutes Israel's chief bargaining" power, and that Israel ought to cede much of the territory it won in the 1967 war in exchange for Arab world concessions.

The American Spectator's Robert Goldberg wrote that the article was in keeping with McPeak's general " anti-Israel and anti-Jewish" outlook, which included a history of comments blaming the pro-Israel vote in "New York" and "Miami" for tilting US policy away from common sense in the region.

In an brief response just posted on Foreign Affairs's website, McPeak flatly denies that either he or Obama is "anti-Israel."

I am a long-time admirer (and think myself a friend) of Israel. In the early 1970s, I played a key role in getting advanced weaponry released to the Israeli Air Force-- capabilities it later put to active use. During that period, I made many official visits to Israel and established close relationships there. These contacts turned out to be useful during Operation Desert Storm, when, as chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, I worked with my Israeli counterparts to help defend Israel from Iraqi Scud missile attacks.

I was a vocal opponent of the George W. Bush Administration's decision to invade Iraq, a strategic blunder made worse by slapdash execution. As we have seen, this star-crossed action took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan, breathed new life into a moribund al Qaeda, and enhanced Iranian influence in this critical region-- all outcomes which damaged both the United States and our ally Israel.

It is my view and hope that Israel will have our continued support. I wish it every success. Of course, what Israel regards as success is up to it to decide. But for friends like me, "success" means a secure Israel at peace with neighbors who recognize and respect its existence. Even so, we should maintain our special relationship and help Israel keep its qualitative military edge.

Comments

Those who call either Obama or McPeak "anti-Israel" ignore facts, so why would this help? Likje denying Obama's a Muslim: Just ignore that garbage. Not even close to being a swiftboat situation.

http://www.political-buzz.com/

Posted by matt | March 31, 2008 3:54 PM

3 polls from blue states (MI, NJ and WA) were released today and McCain leads 5 out of 6 match-ups in them -- a clear indication of how formidable he might be in the fall.

Posted by Dan | March 31, 2008 4:27 PM

Joe Conason wrote an interesting article about McPeak, The American Spectator and the Clinton-campaign: http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/03/28/clinton_scaife/index.html

Posted by Dave | March 31, 2008 4:51 PM

It's amazing how nitwits like McPeak get to occupy the positions they do.

The basic thrust of McPeak's essay is that it is against Israel's own self-interest to defend post-1967 borders (i.e. the West Bank) because it over-extends Israel's military and places financial burdens on Israeli society.

What nincompoopery: Israel's defense needs stress Israeli society because the Arab-Muslim world keeps attacking it, a fact that McPeak apparently really doesn't find very interesting.

Posted by ProfNickD | March 31, 2008 5:11 PM

Israel's defense needs stress Israeli society because the Arab-Muslim world keeps attacking it, a fact that McPeak apparently really doesn't find very interesting.

I hope you're not actually a professor.

Posted by goethean | March 31, 2008 5:33 PM

So does Goldberg think Begin, Rabin and Sharon were anti-Israeli? Begin engaged in "territorial return" just a few years after McPeak wrote this, and a number of Israeli generals/politicians have pushed similar policies in the succeeding decades.

Posted by Scott | March 31, 2008 5:35 PM

Is there anyone that supports places that have plenty of oil to sell to the US cheap?

Posted by D | March 31, 2008 5:35 PM

Obama FLOATS ALONG GATHERING SCUM, a rogue turd out of the Sewer of South Side Chicago, bobbing in the Great Loopy Left Swamp. Slowly turning from brown to a sickly grey.

Posted by robert ethan | March 31, 2008 6:16 PM

This has always amazed me growing up. Very rarely did I ever hear a dissenting opinion on Israel. It seems that people actually believe that blindly supporting Israel is the most American thing they can do. What?! Funny, I thought we were only supposed to blindly support America.

Posted by socctty | March 31, 2008 9:45 PM

And never mind that most Israelis support territorial concessions, per every poll there is. A certain subset of American Jews found solace in the image of Israel as a powerhouse, while most Israelis want to live in (relative) peace and are more mature about the limitations of power.
The amazing fact is that said subset has leveraged itself into being the majority voice, and -- through an unholy alliance with (the worst) part of the evangelical movement -- extended said leverage into the "conservative movement" or whatever it's called, which has basically been in power since 1980 save for some moments during Clinton's presidency.
As somebody with a well-worn IDF dogtag, I don't think "Pro-Israel" in D.C. parlance equals pro-Israel.

Posted by el ojete ojetivo | March 31, 2008 10:57 PM

There is no satisfying the insane Jewish right, so don't even try. They view Arabs as untermenschen to be gotten out of the way for the glory of Greater Eretz Yisrael. Any dissent, however timid, gets you branded an anti-Semite.

Unfortunately, these fanatics have become a dominant voice in "official" U.S Jewry. I blame the liberal majority of American Jews (I include myself) for letting this happen. Many U.S. Jews, who in fact voted 87 percent Democratic in 2006, are so alienated that they're voting with their feet, leaving the field to the Likudniks.

Posted by Eric | April 1, 2008 12:32 AM

If only the worst thing anyone had to say about McPeak related to an essay from 32 years ago. If he's the best that Obama can do in his desperate search for credibility, then military-civilian relations in an Obama presidency would make those of the Clinton years look like an uninterrupted eight-year love idyll.

Posted by CK MacLeod | April 1, 2008 1:58 AM

Land for Peace was the basis of the Oslo Accords. Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 because he espoused the position that McPeak took 19 years earlier. Presumably Goldberg thinks it's a good thing that the evil anti-Semite and anti-Zionist Rabin took that bullet.

Posted by Bloix | April 1, 2008 11:04 AM

McPeak has supported Dole, Bush, Dean, Kerry, and now Obama.

And his endorsement announcements for each of them are remarkably similar.

Think he's looking for a job??

Posted by AHoban | April 1, 2008 2:06 PM