AIPAC Democrats

Juan Cole writes about how certain members of Congress (D's-Israel) were boycotting the speech by Iraqi PM Maliki (Dawa-Hell), because he refused to condemn Hezbollah for Israel's massive terror bombing of Lebanon. Cole explains that Maliki was, and is, practically a member of Hezbollah himself:

My understanding is that Nuri al-Maliki was the bureau chief of the Dawa cell in Damascus in the 1980s. He must have been closely involved with the Iraqi Dawa in Beirut, which in turn was intimately involved in Hizbullah. I am not saying he himself did anything wrong. I don't know what he was doing in specific, other than trying to overthrow Saddam, which was heroic. But, did they (the AIPAC Dems) really think he was going to condemn Hizbullah and take Israel's side?

And if he did, do they think that the Shiite religious parties that backed him would let him stay in office (they are the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Islamic Dawa, and the Sadr Movement of Muqtada al-Sadr)?

Via Jean in Slovenia, who adds some excellent comments of her own.