WASHINGTON — Former pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) director Dennis Ross, named by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as her special envoy for Iran, has been sidelined at the State Department by Clinton’s special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, according to informed sources at the State Department.

Dennis Ross

In fact, Ross was purposely kept out of the loop on the recent landmark meeting between Holbrooke and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Akhundzadeh in The Hague at a conference on Afghanistan. Holbrooke effectively snatched the Iran portfolio from Ross and while Ross has an office on the seventh floor of the State Department, he has little responsibility over America’s new opening to Iran.
Ross’ problems within the Obama administration began when it was discovered that he failed to register as a foreign agent for the government of Israel in his capacity as the chairman of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute (JPPPI) in Jerusalem. Unlike the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and WINEP, the JPPPI is run by the Jewish Agency, which is an organ of the Israeli government.

In January of this year, the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) issued a press release on Ross and the JPPPI and its predecessor Israeli government-funded operations in the United States. IRmep stated: “In the 1960s the Senate Foreign Relations Committee uncovered a network of stealth Jewish Agency ‘conduits’ financing grassroots Israel lobby start up groups through the American Zionist Council (AZC). During 1963 hearings the Senate revealed the equivalent of $35 million went toward U.S. lobbying, including $38,000 to American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) founder Isaiah Kenen between 1960-1961.”

In November 1962, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy required the AZC to register as a foreign agent pursuant to the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The AZC shut down and transferred its lobbying activities to AIPAC.

Ross never registered as a foreign agent under FARA after becoming chairman of the Jewish Agency-funded JPPPI in 2002. Ross’ failure to declare himself as an agent of the Israeli government contributed, in part, to Clinton’s decision to remove his Iran portfolio.

-WMR

U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Jr., D-Mich.

Judiciary Chairman Conyers publishes report documenting Bush abuses
WASHINGTON — House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr., D-Mich., announced the publication of the final version of the Democratic Committee staff report on systematic abuses of presidential power during the Bush administration. The report, titled “Reining in the Imperial Presidency: Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the Presidency of George W. Bush,” contains 50 separate recommendations designed to correct the unbalanced separation of power that characterized the George W. Bush presidency.

Chief among Conyers’ recommendations include continued Congressional investigations like those the Judiciary Committee has pursued concerning Karl Rove’s interactions with the Justice Department, a blue ribbon commission similar to the panel proposed in Chairman Conyers’ H.R. 104, and independent criminal probes to be conducted by federal prosecutors.

Download PDF file of document at //freedetainees.org/4946

Two more U.S. congressmen visit Gaza

WASHINGTON — U.S. Congressmen Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) and Bob Inglis (R-SC) were the latest American representatives to enter Gaza Wednesday; there have been five visits by U.S. officials since newly elected President Barack Obama took office.

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass.

Head of the Foreign Relations Committee and U.S. Senator John Kerry travelled to Gaza with two Democratic congressmen, Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Brian Baird of Washington. The three were, like Lynch and Inglis, given tours of the devastation caused by Israel’s war on the coastal area in December and January.
The visits are sparking rumors of tension between the liberal Obama administration and the new right-wing Israeli government.

U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis, R-SC

Inglis and Lynch visited as guests of the Catholic Relief group and said they had no intention of visiting any Hamas affiliates.
According to AP, Lynch commented during his visit that the world must find a way to address a “legitimate humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.

“We need to act with some urgency here. There is a humanitarian crisis going on and we can’t dawdle,” he added.