Hillary's "Instrumental" Role In Northern Ireland

Recently, Hillary Clinton has been flaunting her foreign policy experience in the bid for the Democratic nomination. Among recent claims of a life and death, sniper fire situation in Bosnia, Clinton claimed to have had an "instrumental role" in the Good Friday Agreement which brokered peace between the IRA, Sinn Fein and the British government in 1998.

Paul Bew had this to say about such ideas, "Calling her instrumental is silly....I can't think of anything to be said for the case that she had a major role." I wasn't necessarily ready to take his word as fatal until I came across Bew's credentials. "[Bew] is a prominent--perhaps the most prominent--historian of Northern Ireland. A professor at Queen's University Belfast, he last year published Ireland: The Politics of Enmity 1789-2006, a much-acclaimed work, which is part of the Oxford University Press's Modern Europe series. Bew was once an adviser to David Trimble (the former First Minister of the Northern Ireland) and he was appointed to the House of Lords in 2007, in recognition of his own contributions to the Good Friday Agreement.

Hm.

So wait, is it possible to be Pro Israel AND Pro Peace?

Meet the new political group 'J Street', formed to lobby in Washington and raise funds towards a more centered US Middle East policy. The group, started by American Jews and non-Jews, was designed to be a political advocate for a two-state system in the Palestinian and Israeli conflict. Most certainly the group is a response to the influential and controversial AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), who has wielded its power to help achieve Israeli security at the obvious detriment to Palestinians. For more on the J Street mission check out this article in MotherJones.