I wrote a letter to my Congressman Frank R. Wolf today after reading his Washington Post op-ed defending the defenestration of Charles Freeman.  If any other TAC readers are in the 10th congressional district of Virginia they might want  to also write to the congressman if they feel strongly about the issue.  Here is what I wrote:

“Congressman Wolf, I am a lifelong Republican who has voted for you six times, but will not do so again as long as the Democrats come up with a candidate who is more acceptable than Judy Feder.  Your op-ed in today’s Washington Post was a disgraceful bit of pandering.  You describe Charles Freeman’s claim that he was torpedoed by the Israel lobby as “disingenuous,” but it is you who are disingenuous when you twist the argument to make it appear that Freeman somehow supports Chinese civil rights violations, atrocities in Sudan, and Islamic fundamentalists.  You know perfectly well that he supports none of those things, and besides which, how is it a disqualifier to serve on the board of a Chinese company or a council partly funded by Saudi Arabia when it appears perfectly acceptable to serve in the Israeli Army and still become chief of staff to the president of the United States?  Did you speak out against Rahm Emanuel?

“I respected your sponsorship of the Iraq Studies Group which was basically discredited by the same people who have gone after Freeman using the same tactics, namely wholesale distortion and ad hominem attacks.  Are you claiming that the Israel Lobby did not mount a sustained effort to smear Freeman?  Did you not read about how that effort was headed by Steve Rosen, former AIPAC official who is currently in court facing charges of espionage on behalf of Israel?  Doesn’t it disturb you that a powerful well funded domestic lobby supported by an enabling media is able to skew US foreign policy in an important part of the world and even stifle dissenting views such as those expressed by Freeman?  Your pretense that the Israel lobby and its defense of Israel right or wrong was not the major element in the smearing of Freeman will just not wash.  Your colleagues in congress Senator Schumer and Congressman Steven Israel were a lot more candid than you, admitting that it was about Israel, so why this red herring from you?  Just once I would like to see Congress do something that is in the US national interest and not just a payoff to some powerful interest group.”