ross, indyk, pay-to-play

Will Obama End Pay-to-Play in Mideast Policy?
Grant F. Smith, AntiWar.com, Dec 16 2008 (extracts)

Is pay-to-play going to be the modus operandi for Obama’s ME policy appointments? Two former Clinton administration officials, Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk, may provide the answer. They have recently been energized by Hillary Clinton’s nomination as secretary of state, and both are attempting to stage a comeback. Absent any record of accomplishment, policy or electoral, Ross and Indyk have always counted on a presidential nod for influence. Bill Clinton and the DNC squeezed more cash out of the Israel lobby for highly sensitive appointments than Blagojevich would have ever dreamed possible. Clinton received the highest bid from Israeli-American media entrepreneur and AIPAC super-donor Haim Saban. Saban played a decisive role in shaping Clinton policy, through his largesse to AIPAC and the Democratic Party and his subsidization of a stable of appointees-in-waiting. Saban hosted a $3.5m fundraiser for Democrats during Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign against George H.W. Bush. Saban was so anxious to maintain his lead donor influence with the Democratic Party that when he learned another donor had topped his contributions by $250,000, he immediately sent the DNC a $1 bill clipped to a $250,000 check.

Saban served on President Clinton’s Expert Council advising the White House. But Saban really made his mark pulling strings for former AIPAC lobbyist Martin Indyk’s installation as US ambassador to Israel in 1995. This was no easy feat. As a foreign national, Indyk first had to receive rush preferential naturalization to become a citizen eligible to serve as a US ambassador. Indyk’s overshadowing accomplishment while in Israel was having his security clearances revoked for mishandling classified information. Indyk’s lack of achievements for the American people were exceeded only by Clinton appointee Dennis Ross’ failures as ME envoy during critical peace negotiations. After leaving the Clinton administration, Ross retired to a think-tank founded by AIPAC board members. Indyk found a newer and even more influential niche to call home. In 2002 Haim Saban pledged $13m to carve the new Saban Center for Middle East Policy out of the staid old Brookings Institution. Martin Indyk became its director. In 2003 Brookings was the single most cited think-tank in the American news media. The Saban Center played a vital public relations role by creating the illusion of full spectrum political support for the US invasion of Iraq. Brookings’ exhortations for war, immortalized by Martin Indyk’s essay “Lock and Load,” assured Americans that Saddam Hussein probably possessed weapons of mass destruction but that in any case Iraq could only be neutralized by US military force – if the US moved quickly enough.

Anxiety again overcame Haim Saban when he offered two superdelegates at the Young Democrats of America a $1m contribution to their nonprofit in return for throwing their support to Hillary Clinton. Four independent witnesses claimed this crude pay-to-play gambit occurred right before the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, though Saban denied it and no criminal charges were ever filed, demonstrating the Israel lobby’s prosecutorial immunity, which was institutionalized in secret by the US Justice Department during the 1960s. From this perspective, Saban’s move can be seen along a much larger continuum of efforts to secure sensitive ME policy posts in order to steer US policy toward Israeli objectives. Though many appear to violate the law, few are ever even investigated. Obama doesn’t appear to owe Saban or AIPAC’s team any political debts for past services rendered. Like Rahm Emanuel and to some extent Hillary Clinton, they are but opportunistic latecomers to Obama’s movement. A Ross and Indyk comeback could begin to weigh on Obama’s most valued personal commodities, credibility and integrity, and not just the already long-tarnished ME political appointee process. The stakes could not be higher. Ross has already issued an error-laden, blustering manifesto that is little more than a roadmap for US military strikes on Iran. Will we see Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk join other AIPAC veterans streaming into sensitive posts?