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Agree with Dr. Pipes

Reader comment on item: CAIR and the Council on Foreign Relations Endorse Mearsheimer/Walt

Submitted by David Sternlight (United States), Aug 31, 2006 at 23:03

As a former member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the first Chief Economist of ARCO, I must regrettably echo Daniel Pipes' comments on the bias, incompetence, and avoidance of reality of the Council's Middle East Program.

I attribute almost all of this to Henry Siegman, whom I had the pleasure of confronting at a Los Angeles COFR lecture some years ago. Siegman's anti-Israeli bias at the time was transparent, and was shared by other members of his panel, including a prominent local left-wing reform Rabbi. The panel was entirely unbalanced and only critical questioning from some members of the audience served to return their fantasaical views to reality. Yet the unreality and even bias persisted in the written reports of the Council's Middle East program.

Contrast this with the moral courage of the Aspen Institute (also funded by ARCO) which, when offered a large sum of money from the Fluor Corporation (which did considerable business in the Arab world) for a Middle East Studies program on condition that no Israeli scholars participate, refused the money in such a definitive way that it made the New York Times the next day. Instrumental in persuading the Aspen Board to reject the Fluor attempt was ARCO's then President, the late Thornton Bradshaw, a moral oil industry leader who later became head of RCA. Even with the best of intentions, a poor insight into the terrorist mentality can lead to disaster.

The Middle East peace process was invented at Aspen by a working group which included several Heads of State and Foreign Ministers. Their core idea was to deal with the easy stuff first, and leave the hard stuff (Jerusalem) for last. Although this strategy did work for a time with rational Middle East leaders in Egypt and Jordan, it proved a total failure with those with other agendas than the welfare of their own people, including most notably the Palestinians. With such people, history has shown that the only strategy that speaks to their mentality (not only when used by Israel but also when used by Lebanon, Kuwait, and Jordan) is the somewhat reviled approach, 'Step on my toes and I'll drop a house on you.'.

David Sternlight, Ph.D.
Los Angeles

Submitting....

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Daniel Pipes replies:

I agree that Henry Siegman sabotaged what had been an acceptable program at the CFR.

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Reader comments (14) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
2Council on Foreign Relations and Tack's Tackle Shop [3630 words]John WallaceNov 28, 2008 08:09144010
I agree [2 words]ScottOct 17, 2006 21:2560773
CFR as the Council of Fawning Relations - Welcoming conspiracy theorists and terrorist despots [148 words]Ben van de PolderSep 21, 2006 22:5756916
The CFR has a long history of conspiring agianst our nation. [120 words]markOct 15, 2009 09:5056916
Realism vs. Reality [410 words]AlexSep 21, 2006 17:5356878
Danger of Islam from within [250 words]Kelvan KamSep 1, 2006 00:0054542
The western world is going to pay a huge price for allowing Muslims to roam freely in their nations [204 words]Stephen PhillipsSep 9, 2006 00:3054542
Agree with Dr. Pipes [369 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
David SternlightAug 31, 2006 23:0354537
CAIR AND THE COMING POLICY SHIFT [216 words]roert fusfeldAug 31, 2006 20:5754526
Mearsheimer / Walt [77 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
GBAug 31, 2006 11:3854472
what twenty mllion can buy [59 words]leo solomonSep 1, 2006 09:0554472
re: Foreign Policy [125 words]a readerAug 31, 2006 10:1854463
Mr. Brown, you need to read " [445 words]S SilversteinAug 27, 2006 20:3754103
Misleading statement by Dr. Pipes... [118 words]Amjad M. KhanAug 25, 2006 18:5254006

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