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Foreign Agents: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee from the 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal

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Grant Smith's book traces the secret history of the American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC is an organization little known or understood outside of the Washington Beltway and those who follow American Middle East policy. However, its relative obscurity in the Heartland should not fool the public. AIPAC has evolved into one of the most powerful lobbying organizations in the United States. Politicians, regardless of political stripe, play homage to AIPAC. Indeed, critical pieces of legislation regarding US policies towards Israel and the Middle East are drafted in AIPAC's downtown Washington offices. While most lobby organizations represent genuine American commercial or social interests, Smith makes a compelling case that AIPAC is a functional extension of the Israeli government. The recent espionage case involving two AIPAC officials is a striking example of AIPAC's highly conflicted agenda (fully documented in Smith's book). It would be more accurate for AIPAC to rename itself the "Israeli Political Action Committee" to better disclose the efforts it makes to sway elections in virtually every US congressional district. This book shows how AIPAC, a nonprofit corporation prohibited from supporting political candidates, does just that in clandestine and illegal ways. It also shows the strategic revolution led by founder Si Kenen and why neutral sounding organization names, especially for political action committees, has been so important to AIPAC's stealth operations.

Smith details AIPAC's involvement as one of the main cheerleaders for the invasion of Iraq through quantitative analysis. Anecdotally Smith notes that Democratic Speaker of the House Pelosi was roundly booed when she spoke before a recent AIPAC conference and called for the Congress to be consulted before any Bush administration strike on Iran. AIPAC's operatives in the White House such as Elliot Abrams would view that as an infringement on their prerogative. The Pelosi incident should be no surprise to the informed. Shortly before, the Prime Minister of Israel publicly condemned calls in the United States for military withdrawal from Iraq as "not in Israel's interest." Pelosi bent to the demands of the Lobby and at AIPCA's urging dropped her pledge to pass legislation for the common good of the American people.

Portions of Smith's book read like a criminal indictment. It is filled with compelling and fully sourced facts and figures. He makes a strong case that AIPAC is indeed an organization that deserves far greater legal oversight and accountability than it has received thus far. Moreover the mainstream media now ignores AIPAC's alleged criminal activities and destructive political influence on our democratic process. This is appalling, but was not always the case. The mainstream corporate media's evolution from dogged investigators to AIPAC lap dogs is documented in the book, along with a stunning confession from the Washington Post's former Middle East Bureau Chief.

No doubt Smith will receive the usual bludgeoning from the lobby. This is now par for the course. Whenever an American criticizes Israeli policy or that country's illicit influence over US political affairs, the predictable "Israel First" hacks make their way to the front of the line to smear and instill fear. We have seen this happen to Professors Walt and Mearsheimer, Norman Finkelstein, James Petras, President Jimmy Carter and of course Congressman Paul Findley who first dared to speak out. Mr. Smith has joined a group of dedicated, patriotic Americans whose sole interests continue to be the advancement of more rational US strategic objectives that are truly in the interest of all Americans. Kudos to Mr. Smith!

I just finished this ground breaking work--not ground breaking because of new, long hidden material but because the material has not been examined because of fear. Smith has probed subjects that have rarely, if ever, been brought to light. These subjects have remained in the shadows because the Israeli government and its lobby do not want its relationship with its cash cow, America, to be spotlighted for fear that the spiggot will be turned off and the estimated 1.8 trillion in support for Israel will be lessened. This figure is quoted by Smith in chapter five and sourced from Harvard economist Thomas Stauffer and although Smith's thesis is more tightly formulated, the bigger picture inarguably materializes; that picture is of huge import for America and by extension people like myself living far away from this centre of such great international interest.

Smith's book painted a conclusive, at least for me, picture of the terrible puppet lines that make it all but impossible for American government to function as it is constitutionally suppossed to operate. As he writes in chapter three, American democracy cannot act when lobbyists can exercise overwhelming influence on sigle-issue legislation under consideration. As Smith points out in chater one, J William Fulbright was the last major American politician to challenge the Israeli Lobby and that was nearly forty years ago.

I found Smith's book hard going for a intellectual lightweight like myself because he peppers his work with many excerpts from legal writings of one kind or another. This comment is not to dissuade any potential reader, it is meant only as a caution regarding the nature of the writing to be faced. The legal material is there to provide hard evidence for virtually all of Smith's statements. He has sown the seeds of his ideas carefully and provided ample fertilizer in the form of documented evidence to insure a good crop; it is certainly evidence strong enough for this reader.

Grant Smith's book traces the history of the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC is a little known and understood organization outside of the Washington Beltway and those that follow American Middle East policy. However, its relative obscurity in the Heartland should not fool the public. AIPAC has evolved into one of the most powerful lobby organizations in the United States. Politicians, regardless of political stripe, play homage to AIPAC. Indeed, entire pieces of legislation regarding US policies towards Israel and the Middle East have been drafted in AIPAC's downtown Washington offices. While most lobby organization represent genuine American commercial and social interests, Smith makes a compelling case that AIPAC is in fact a functional extension of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The recent espionage case involving AIPAC officials is a striking example of AIPAC's conflicted agenda (fully documented in Smith's book). I would rather AIPAC rename itself the "Israeli Political Action Committee"- a more honest nomenclature.

Smith details AIPAC's involvement as one of the main cheerleaders for the invasion of Iraq. As Smith notes, Speaker Pelosi was roundly booed when she spoke before a recent AIPAC conference when she called for an end to US military occupation of Iraq. This should be no surprise to the informed. Shortly before, the Prime Minister of Israel publicly condemned calls in the United States for withdrawal as "not in Israel's interest." Pelosi understanding her subservient role to the Lobby and at AIPCA's urging soon dropped her pledge to pass legislation requiring President Bush to first obtain Congressional approval before attacking Iran.

Smith's book reads like a criminal indictment. It is filled with compelling, sourced facts and figures. He makes a strong case that AIPAC is indeed an organization that deserves far greater legal scrutiny and accountable that it has received thus far. Moreover, that the mainstream media ignore AIPAC's alleged criminal activities and destructive political influence on our democratic process is appalling.

No doubt that Smith will get the usual claims of anti-Semitism. This appears par for the course. When ever an American criticizes Israeli policy or that country's influence over US political affairs, the predictable Israel First hacks make their way to the front of the line. We have seen this happen to Professors Walt, Miershiemer, Finkelstein, Petras, President Jimmy Carter and Congressman Findley, among others. Mr. Smith can be comforted that he has joined a group of dedicated, patriotic Americans whose sole interests continue to be the advancement of US strategic objectives and who have resisted prostituting themselves for foreign powers. Kudos to Mr. Smith!

Grant Smith's authoritative and well documented research should be required reading for all those politicians and journalists who have long been fooled and manipulated by AIPAC. Hopefully, it will compel them to rectify their past misdeeds and to seek factual information on Israel-Palestine.

All Americans should rise up and demand honest journalism and a change in U.S. policy in the Middle East from the one dictated by AIPAC's foreign agents to one protecting the national interests of our own country. I highly recommend this book.

A lot has been said in some books about the many Jewish organizations who lobby day and night in the high spheres of our society in order to push, blackmail, intimidate our government officials who in the end have prostituted themselves in favor of the zionists.
This book is a wonderfull piece of reading material and has an abundant amount of documented cases in which the author Grant F. Smith unmask the lies that the so called journalist tell the American People every day. The news media, television, radio, newspapers, magazines are controlled by this group of people (The Jews). They have the money, they have the resources, the power, they hold key high ranking positions in our government and they are aided by the neoconservatives and the Christian Evangelical who dance to the tune of the Israel Violin.
With great and admirable courage President Jimmy Carter started to tell the American People the truth about Israel's crimes and their abusive behavior against the Palestinian People despite the fact that many times The United Nations Security Council Resolution has told Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories up to the 1967 borders. But Israel has never complied with any United Nations Resolution thanks to AIPAC and all the jewish organisations who lobby in Congress, the Senate, the Administration. In other words Israel is telling the U.S. what to do.
It is a shame that most of the People of the United States do not even know about the existance of these parasites who from one side are stealing the land of the Palestinian Natives and on the other side they are literally stealling billions of U.S. dollars, goods, military equipment even nuclear warheads etc, etc. from the American People who do not even know about this nonsense.
We send our children to Iraq to spill their guts. More than 4,000 of our soldiers have died in this unnecessary, unprovoked, illegal war and the case for going to war was build with a bunch of lies. And all this was done in order to make Israel safer.
It is time that Americans wake up and see the truth, it has been too much

This is a well researched and very insightful book that traces the roots of the Israel lobby and details how the lobby manipulates the US foreign policy for the benefit of Israel with little regard for how those policies may impact the United States themselves. The book is very straight forward in describing the mechanics of the Israel lobby and how it uses it influence to suppress negative media and other critics who may not agree with its hawkish views. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in why our foreign policy is failing and how AIPAC and other pro Israel lobby groups keep the United States from safegaurding the intersts of its own citizens.

This book is an important read for anyone interested in America's best interest. I will continue to purchase extra copies of Grant Smith's book, Foreign Agents: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee from the 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal, to give away in my community and only wish I had the resources to bring him here to speak.

Grant F. Smith is one of those wacky outliers that comes with volatile political issues. This propaganda effort reflects this. I did some research on Smith online and concluded he was one of those shrill voices that nobody listens to and is out there...way out there.

Smith holds himself out as the 'research director' of something he calls the Institute for Research: Middle East Policy. IRMEP is not a serious organization and is described as a non-profit which, by the lack of attention his writing is receiving, approximates that effort as well. In reality, he is the IRMEP--he runs it out of his apartment. The 'institute' is simply a website. He founded it in 2002 on the heels of 9/11. He is a noted apologist for Islamic terrorism/terrorists. The IRMEP is a two issue organization--pro-Islamic terrorism, anti-Israel.

Smith's books and articles are known for sensationalistic, anti-Israel information, much of which can't be verified. Paying attention to him is not worth the effort. He's a sad case, really.

When traitors from New York Times, who for now reason called themselves "journalists", published several articles disclosing highly sensitive information on how CIA and FBI traced global Islamic terrorists, including Al-Qaida, and drastically damaged security of American people and the country; they were under "freedom of speech" protection. When New York Times disclosed information on CIA agent, Valerie Plame Wilson, and literally put in jeopardy her life, life of her family, lives of her colleagues and success of her operation, this organization, which is an obvious traitor, was under protection of the "freedom of speech" principle. From this point of view, the book is complete lie and hypocrisy, as entire American judicial system.