"More than 20 years after the reason for NATO's existence -- the Warsaw Pact -- has disappeared, this legislation seeks to find a new mission for that anachronistic alliance: the defense of Israel. Calling for 'an expanded role for Israel within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), including an enhanced presence at NATO headquarters and exercises,' it reads like a dream for interventionists and the military industrial complex. As I have said many times, NATO should be disbanded not expanded.
"This bill will not help the United States, it will not help Israel, and it will not help the Middle East. It will implicitly authorize much more US interventionism in the region at a time when we cannot afford the foreign commitments we already have. It more likely will lead to war against Syria, Iran, or both. I urge my colleagues to vote against this bill."
Philip Giraldi, executive Director of the Council for the National Interest (CNI), wrote an analysis for Anti War on how HR 3311 reached the floor of the U.S. Congress:
"The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) reportedly helped draft the bill, and its co-sponsors include Republicans Eric Cantor and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Democrats Howard Berman and Steny Hoyer. Hoyer is the Democratic whip in the House of Representatives, where Cantor is majority leader. Ros-Lehtinen heads the Foreign Affairs Committee.
"The House bill basically provides Israel with a blank check drawn on the U.S. taxpayer to maintain its 'qualitative military edge' over all of its neighbors combined. It requires the White House to prepare an annual report on how that superiority is being maintained.
"The resolution passed on May 9 by a vote of 411-2 on a 'suspension of the rules,' which is intended for non-controversial legislation requiring little debate and a quick vote."
Giraldi, an authority on international security and counterterrorism issues, and a former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer, described the impact of H 3311:
"It is interesting to note what exactly the bill pledges the American people to do on behalf of Israel.
"It obligates the United States to veto resolutions critical of Israel, to provide such military support 'as is necessary,' to pay for the building of an anti-missile system, to provide advanced 'defense' equipment (including refueling tankers, which are offensive), to give Israel special munitions (i.e., bunker-busters, which are also offensive), to forward deploy more U.S. military equipment to Israel, to offer the Israeli air force more training and facilities in the U.S., to increase security- and advanced-technology-program cooperation, and to extend loan guarantees and expand intelligence-sharing (including highly sensitive satellite imagery)."
The bill gives Israel carte blanche to do its will with Iran, which is, of course, the reason for the bill's introduction at this point.
Several pro-Israel web blogs, including Israpundit, shared this analysis which embraces HR 4311:
"Nine members did not vote for the bill, but simply voted "PRESENT," including Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Andrà © Carson (D-IN), Donna Edwards (D-MD), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Walter Jones (R-NC), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Pete Stark (D-CA) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)."
Israpundit added this description of the House member who did not vote to embrace the bill:
"All but one of the eleven representatives who made a point of not voting for the bill are aligned with the extremist, far-left, pro-Arab 'J-Street.' ZOA [Zionists of America] is distressed and disappointed that according to Adam Kredo of the Washington Free Beacon, J-Street itself remained 'neutral' on the bill, and declined an opportunity to comment further on this matter."
Philip Giraldi concludes his examination of the passage of HR 4311, with this ominous warning:
"If historians 100 years from now seek to explain how a great power committed seemingly intentional national suicide, they will have to look no further than the voting record of the U.S. Congress."
The same historians may also wonder, where were the churches while the United States government was financing and thereby, embracing, the Zionist ideology of a foreign power?
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