The Council for the National Interest Opens its Doors

By Paul Findley

A new organization, the Council for the National Interest, has joined the Washington scene. Before you gasp and exclaim, "No, not another organization," note its unique mission: "To inspire and organize at the community level nationwide support for Middle East policies that serve the American national interest."

A visitor from Mars, Jupiter or even East Overshoe might be puzzled to learn that a private organization is needed to generate support for policies that help our nation in the Middle East.

But to many people, including the former US diplomats and congressmen heading the new organization, the need is self-evident and compelling. Because of political pressure effectively applied by a special interest group, the US government has been subordinating the interests of the American people to the demands of another nation, Israel.

As a result, the United States has suffered a series of blows that damage our international prestige and influence and-still worse-impose heavy costs on millions of American citizens.

US Pays High Price for Support of Israel

For example, the violent deaths of hostages and nearly 300 Marines and other US military and civilian personnel in Lebanon in the mid-1980s, and the continuing captivity there of other Americans, are directly related to the US policy of acquiescing in the Middle East to Israel's disposition to seek military solutions to its political problems. US acceptance encourages Israel down this bleak and destructive road and costs the American people billions of dollars in taxes, and hundreds of thousands of jobs each year.

Our economy pays a staggering price for Israel's success in forcing Congress to block arms sales to Arab states, sales recommended over the years by both Republican and Democratic presidents. The aggregate cost to the US economy during the next 10 years may exceed $260 billion. At that level, the loss in jobs will be more than 600,000 a year, every year.

The job loss reaches far beyond those involved in the direct manufacture of arms. Industrial jobs which produce a vast array of non-military goods, including food, are lost because Arab states, offended by US insensitivity to their problems and needs, are turning more and more to other nations like Britain and France.

The losses to our national security and to our political position worldwide are felt less directly by individual citizens but are no less costly.

The unwillingness of our government to give the highest operational priority to our own national interests is the primary reason why the Soviet Union has been able to gain influence in the Middle East.

It complicates the basing and deployment of US military forces in the region and handicaps the entire range of defense agreements and undertakings between the US and its strategic partners among the area's 21 Arab countries-handicaps that are intensified by Israel's demonstrated success in stealing our government's most closely guarded secrets.

Because of its generally unqualified support for Israel. the US is viewed worldwide as the co-sponsor of Israeli policies that hold by force of arms territories belonging to Arabs, and abuse the basic human rights of 1.7 million Palestinians living in those territories.

This negative perception is reinforced by US willingness to continue a high level of government aid to the state that carries out these offensive policies.. This direct US governmental aid includes an outright gift of $3 billion a year to the Israel government with no strings attached, in addition to attractive tax favors, and other financial subsidies and concessions. Direct grants amount to approximately $1,000 for every Israeli man, woman and child.

This one-sided policy harms US interests in these vital ways:

1) It offends millions of people of all religious faiths, particularly the 800 million Muslims, more than four million of whom live in the United States.

2) It is deeply disturbing to all Arab countries, most of whom wish to have cordial relations with the United States.

3) It arrays the US uncomfortably against almost all other nations of the world, including our European allies, on important UN votes relating to the rule of law and human rights.

4) It destroys the ability of the US to serve as an impartial "honest broker" in the Middle East's longest-standing struggle-the Israeli-Palestinian controversy.

5) It inflicts these substantial losses without generating counter-balancing political gains.

This alarming situation is the product of two unfortunate conditions: lack of information and intimidation. The vast majority of citizens are simply uninformed, while those aware of the problem are, for the most part, afraid to speak out.

Most lawmakers and other government officials in Washington know exactly what is happening, but they conclude that Israel's voice is the only one strong enough politically to require attention. Congressmen are convinced they will pay a price next election day if they challenge Israel's demands. They are also convinced that their constituents will not complain if they go along. Privately, they may resent the constraints imposed by pro-Israel activists. Publicly, however, lacking constituent pressure to assert America's interests, they either praise Israel or keep silent.

Although the numerically small lobby representing Israel's interests could have been neutralized long ago, the problem has persisted. One reason: those citizens who favor a more balanced policy in the Middle East note that those few who speak out in this vein are usually buffeted by unsettling false charges of prejudice against the Jews of Israel or their Jewish-American neighbors, or both.

As a result, most Americans, including many who watch the political scene closely, are unaware of the terms of US policy in the Middle East and how they came into force. The ones who know the facts, like members of Congress, choose to remain silent.

The logical response to this alarming situation is a new public affairs activity through which like-minded citizens can join together for the exclusive purpose of advancing America's national interest in Middle East policy. The times require an organization strong enough to influence the behavior of officials in both Congress and the executive branch.

Fortunately, public opinion polls show that citizens who wish our government to continue to favor Israel's interests are far outnumbered by those who favor an independent US policy in the Middle East. These Americans, representing all religious faiths and including many Jews, are convinced that favoritism is harmful to the basic interests of the United States, as well as to Israel.

To meet this urgent challenge, the Council for the National Interest is being formed. It will consist of a nationwide network of like-minded citizens who wish to help create public understanding and support for policies in the Middle East helpful to our country.

It is inspired by the conviction that a few well-informed, committed citizens in each congressional district can do wonders in influencing governmental behavior. Through diligent, coordinated and persistent effort, such citizens can convince policymakers that they must, at long last, give top priority in the Middle East to America's interests.

These citizens, acting with the help and guidance of the organization's national staff, will carry out educational activity, and other forms of advocacy, in the home constituencies of US senators and representatives. Although its national staff will be based in Washington, DC, the organization will focus its activities mainly in the countryside, not in the nation's capital.

A few well-informed committed citizens in each congressional district can do wonders.

The organization will be pro-America-not, in any sense, pro-Arab, pro-PLO or anti-Israel. It will devote its energies entirely to advancing, in positive terms, the US national interest.

In the Council's view, while it is in the US national interest to promote Israel's economic and political viability, the interest does not encompass support for Israeli policies which weaken the US position in the Middle East.

The Council's national staff will organize the grassroots network from offices at 1900 18th St. NW, Post Office Box 53048, Washington, DC 20009. Telephone: (202) 265-4530.

The board of directors will include former US ambassadors Marshall W. Wiley, Talcott W. Seelye and Andrew I. Killgore; former US Representatives David Bowen of Mississippi and Paul N. "Pete" McCloskey of California; Richard H. Curtiss, retired career foreign service officer; and myself.

The organization needs the assistance of committed citizens in every community of the nation. In short, we need your help! Welcome aboard!

Paul Findley served as US Representative from Illinois from 1961 to 1982 and is the author of the best-selling book, They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby, now available from the AET Book Club in an updated, enlarged edition. He lives in Jacksonville, IL.