From:
The Democrats' Lebanon Failure
by Stephen Zunes
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/08/15/the_democrats_lebanon_failure.php...
One reason for such broad Democratic support for the resolution may stem from the fact that the Arms Control Export Act forbids arms transfers to countries that use American weapons for non-defensive purposes, such as attacking civilians. Thus, in order to protect the profits of politically influential American arms merchants, the Democrats joined with Republicans in supporting language in the resolution claiming that Israel’s actions were “legitimate self-defense.”
Perhaps more significant in the Democrats’ decision to support the Bush administration’s backing of the Israeli attacks has been the absence of pressure from such liberal groups as MoveOn.org, which failed to mobilize their email list to contact their representatives and senators to protest. Nor did MoveOn.org call on its supporters to back proposed House resolutions calling for an immediate cease-fire weeks ago, initiatives which attracted little support among Democratic representatives.
This reticence contrasts with other foreign policy issues related to international law and human rights, from U.S. intervention in Central America during the 1980s to Iraq today. In these other cases, liberal groups made it a priority to hold their elected representatives in Washington accountable for backing administration policy. However, it appears that if the victims of such policies are Lebanese or Palestinian civilians, there are—with some notable exceptions—few organized protests heard on Capitol Hill. With so little pressure from progressive groups, elected representatives have little inclination to withdraw support for administration policy toward Israel and its neighbors.
In reality, the Democrats’ support for Israeli attacks against Lebanon is quite consistent with their support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In both cases, they rushed to the defense of right-wing governments that have run roughshod over international legal norms, that have taken military actions which have gone well beyond their legitimate right to self-defense, and that have taken an incredible toll in innocent civilian lives.
In other words, the Democratic Party’s support for Israel’s attacks on Lebanon is consistent with its disdain for international law and human rights elsewhere and its defiance of public opinion on other foreign policy issues. It is not, therefore, something that can simply be blamed on “the Zionist lobby.” Rather, it indicates that the Democrats’ worldview is essentially the same as that of the Republicans.
This ideological congruence calls into the question whether the increasingly likely prospect of the Democrats regaining a majority in Congress in November will make any real difference on the foreign policy front at all.