Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site nsc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!eagle!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!menlo70!nsc!yoavh From: yoavh@nsc.UUCP (yoavh) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Jesse Jackson - the Petrodollar Stops Here Message-ID: <607@nsc.UUCP> Date: Tue, 7-Feb-84 04:17:12 EST Article-I.D.: nsc.607 Posted: Tue Feb 7 04:17:12 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 10-Feb-84 01:08:45 EST Organization: National Semiconductor, Sunnyvale Lines: 35 Mike Kelly brings up two points in his reply to my article: 1) "As Jackson himself pointed out, there are 22 nations in the Middle East. To consider 21 our enemies and 1 our friend is silly." Both Jackson and Kelly imply here that the US sacrifices good relations with Arab nations by maintaining the same with Israel. This is not true. In fact, the US has good relations with many Arab countries. Egypt recieves nearly as much aid from the US as Israel, and relations between the two countries are very close. We are strongly allied with the Lebanese, whose army we are training. We constantly hear from the Administration about our "good friends, the Saudis" (they're not, but that's another story entirely), and we directly and indirectly support countries such as Sudan. 2) "...why doesn't the New York Times report on page 1 the contributions from Zionist organizations to candidates?" Here he equates donations from Americans to presidential candidates with foreign contributions designed to influence American organizations. As I understand it, Americans of all religions, ethnic backgrounds, and creeds have the right (and responsibility) to lobby their government and be involved in the political process. Surely no one would suggest that black Americans shouldn't try to affect US policy concerning Africa, or that they should not attempt to elect candidates who represent their interests. However, influence peddling by foreign powers is another story altogether. Last I heard, none of the members of the Arab League were citizens of the US - in fact, many of the member countries are known for their extreme hostility to America, which has resulted, on occasion, in them doing nasty things like trying to shoot down American planes.