Top Experts Reassess the U.S.- Israel "Special Relationship" at the National Press Club on March 7

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The March 7 National Summit to Reassess the U.S.-Israel "Special Relationship" at the National Press Club will present the following experts: 

Former Congressman Paul Findley is the author of the groundbreaking book They Dare to Speak out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby. Findley will discuss how the lobby shapes important U.S. foreign policies and influences elections.

Stephen Walt, co-author of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, will deliver an update on what his groundbreaking 2007 book left out. 

Historian Geoffrey Wawro will describe surprising findings from his 2010 book Quicksand: America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East, and how its publication impacted his career.

Lieutenant Colonel Karen U. Kwiatkowski will deliver an insider account about the pre-Iraq invasion environment inside the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans. Kwiatkowski will compare similarities and differences with the current neoconservative and Israel lobby drives to attack Syria and Iran. 

Brigadier General James J. David will review how "super-sized" U.S. military aid to Israel affects American allies. 

Former intelligence officers Philip Giraldi, Raymond McGovern, Paul Pillar and Michael Scheuer will provide their insights about how Israel and its lobby influence America's national security and global standing.

Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard once claimed that "...it was the established policy of the Department of Justice not to prosecute U.S. citizens for espionage activities on behalf of Israel."  M.E. "Spike" Bowman, former Deputy National Counterintelligence Executive and Senior Executive Service official at the FBI, will answer hard questions about whether Pollard has become the sole exception proving that stunning rule.

Other speakers include Jeffrey Blankfort, Allan Brownfeld, Ernest Gallo, Delinda Hanley, Janet McMahon, Ambassador David George Newton, Mark Perry, Gareth Porter, John Quigley, Stephen Sniegoski, Grant F. Smith and Alison Weir.

Officials and members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) are also attending. The Summit guarantees bona fide debates as experts discuss the most important US foreign policy issues.

Tickets: Early-bird tickets are available online at EventsNow.  Journalists may request credentials to attend. Students may apply for free entry.

National Summit organizers are the Council for the National Interest Foundation, If Americans Knew, Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, and the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

See http://www.Natsummit.org and @NATSummit on Twitter for future updates.

SOURCE Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy