M I D - E A S T R E A L I T
I E S - WASHINGTON SCENE
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. "News,
Analysis & Commentary They Don't Want You to Know" ***************************************************************
Findley, CNI and the Lies of "Friends"
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PALESTINIANS SUFFER FROM LIES OF "FRIENDS":
CNI IS A TRAGIC JOKE
PAUL FINDLEY, SAUDI P.R. MAN
MER - Washington - 6/29/97:
One of the reasons the Palestinians are in the terrible
situation they are is that to this day they are terribly represented in
Washington -- most "officials" and "friends" involved
with Arafat and the what once was the PLO are second-rate, duplicitous,
and/or corrupt.
Arafat's Palestinians -- for now one must truly distinguish
among the different factions -- have been miserably represented for decades
now in Washington by Hassan Rahman, essentially a petty and corrupt man
who's only claim to fame has been his doing whatever Arafat has told him
to. In the process, as has been the case with other Arafat cronies in other
places, Rahman has been allowed to quite literally steal large amounts
of Palestinian funds, do little work of any kind, and embarrass the Palestinian
people whenever he goes. Harsh words - true enough. But the realities of
the situation are sometimes harsh; however unusual it may be to simply
reveal the truth.
HASSAN RAHMAN - ARAFAT'S STOOGE IN WASHINGTON
Because of this incompetent and corrupt representation
in Washington -- and of course Rahman is not the only one who falls into
this category -- Palestinians in other places usually have no idea who
they are dealing with from the U.S. They are as outgunned when it comes
to information as they are when it comes to guns. The Israelis would never
tolerate the levels of incompetence, nepotism, and thievery are so tragically
commonplace among the Palestinians; they instead spend considerable time
and resources collecting information, knowing who is whom, and figuring
out how to cajole and manipulate, pressure and bribe, all they encounter.
The latest in a long line of tragic and ridiculous situations
for the Palestinians comes in the form of a small group of retired do-
gooders calling themselves the Council For The National Interest (CNI)
and now visiting occupied and "autonomous" Palestinian areas.
CNI HISTORY - SAUDI MONEY, INEFFECTUAL "WORK"
In short, CNI is both a lie and a tragedy. The organization
has always purported to be a "lobby" working for "peace
and justice" in the Middle East in opposition to the infamous Israeli/Jewish
lobby. While such a lobby is indeed desperately needed, for CNI to even
call itself such is outrageously deceitful. Indeed, CNI has done more to
prevent a true lobby of this kind from emerging than to become one!
The simple reality is that CNI is a small and ineffectual
bunch of simple-minded folk who have next to zero influence in Washington,
no political following of any kind on Capitol Hill, and in fact no lobbying
abilities at all -- except when one reads the Arab press that is! CNI was
started more than a decade ago by former Illinois Congressman Paul Findley
with some millions provided by the Saudis. Findley has ever since fronted
for the Saudis, essentially becoming a p.r. man masquerading as an independent
crusader and columnist -- always saying and doing of course what he knows
his Saudi promoters will applaud.
When CNI began to fizzle around the time of the Gulf
War and "peace process", and when Findley didn't want to be bothered
anymore with much other than sitting in Illinois and taking a few phone
calls, no one except for a retired Foreign Service Officer on pension from
the State Department was interested. So Findley turned CNI over to Eugene
Bird and CNI "annual conferences" in recent years -- never much
at any time -- have only managed to round up 25 to 50 people willing to
attend.
FINDLEY ASKS FOR MILLIONS, DOES NEARLY NOTHING
WORTHWHILE
But worst of all Findley continues to trade on his former
Congressman status sending out fund-raising appeals asking unsuspecting
folk to give millions to the "important lobbying" and "educational"
work CNI does in Washington! Just last year Findley appealed for $7 million
dollars for efforts that could more fairly be valued at about 1% of that!
The CNI offices in downtown Washington rarely have anything going on at
them, or even anyone in them -- one can hear the echoes!
Meanwhile Bird and a small bunch of CNI-folk are now
off visiting the Middle East on their annual "pilgrimage", deceiving
everyone they meet, most especially the Palestinians they claim to support,
with their misrepresentations of both themselves and what is really happening
in Washington. This is in fact how they spend alot of the money Findley
raises for them.
CNI and company recently met with a "Palestinian
Authority Minister" bragging about how they have introduced legislation
in Congress that the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem be made the U.S.
Embassy of a Palestinian State! They forgot to mention, however, that nearly
anyone can arrange to have nearly any kind of legislation "introduced".
And they forgot to mention that no one in Washington takes either CNI,
Gene Bird, or this "legislation" seriously for a minute.
It should come then as no surprise that CNI and its cronies
work closely with Hassan Rahman -- wineing, dining, and giving awards and
rewards to each other from one banquet to the next, from one meaningless
and disingenuous conference to the next, from one duplicitous Findley fund-raising
letter and column to the next. Indeed, with "friends" like Findley
and Bird, and with "representatives" like Rahman, its easier
to understand why the Palestinian people are in much worse straights today
then they were 10 years ago, before the "Intifada" began, and
before CNI started "helping".
P.S. Remember all this when you read the upcoming Palestinian
poem, "Watch Me Bleed", coming soon from MER.
[MER may be freely resent via email as long as it is sent complete
without any editing or changes of any kind. Indeed further email distribution
is encouraged and appreciated. For any Web or print publication written
permission is required -- please contact MER@MiddleEast.Org, phone 202
362-5266 (Ext 638) or fax 202 362-6965.]
-----------------------------------6/29/97-------------------------------
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