JEDDAH: In the wake of former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia Charles Freeman’s decision to withdraw from the vetting process for chairman of the National Intelligence Council (NIC), US news sources allege that a former Israel lobbyist awaiting trial on espionage charges was behind the effort to discredit him.

“I have concluded that the barrage of libelous distortions of my record would not cease upon my entry into office,” Freeman wrote in a letter to friends and supporters regarding his withdrawal. “The effort to smear me and to destroy my credibility would instead continue. I do not believe the NIC could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction in a foreign country.”

Freeman blasted the Israel lobby for what he considered a concerted effort to smear his name. “The libels on me and their easily traceable e-mail trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired, still less to factor in American understanding of trends and events in the Middle East,” Freeman wrote. “The tactics of the Israel lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth. The aim of this lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views, the substitution of political correctness for analysis, and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our government other than those that it favors.”

Political observers here in Saudi Arabia described the former ambassador’s announcement as utterly disappointing.

“President Barack Obama is swimming against the tide,” said Khaled Batarfi, a senior political analyst. “He will have to keep trying to get his men in the positions that he want them to. Obama would have faced similar problems if his choice of Middle East envoy George J. Mitchell had gone through US Congress. Mitchell would have lost in getting the US Congress approval. Despite being a Democratic Congress we know it is actually an Israeli Congress.”

“I am not surprised,” said Reem Al Faisal, a well-known writer and photographer. “With or without Freeman, American policies will remain the same. They have not changed for the last 60 years. Palestinians continue to suffer because of America’s lopsided foreign policy. We have just seen what happened in Gaza. To say that Israel controls American foreign policy doesn’t sound right. The United States believes in these policies. How can one accept that the world’s lone superpower is being dictated by someone else if it itself did not believe in that policy?”

“This is bad news for all justice-loving people in the world,” said Jeddah radio broadcaster and columnist Samar Fatany. “The Freeman episode indicates in plain terms that President Obama is weak. If he cannot get his man in the job that he has selected him for despite having just won the presidency with an overwhelming vote, it only indicates how powerful the Israeli lobby is. We expected and still expect Obama to stand up and not capitulate to the bullying tactics of the Israel lobby. That has obviously not happened.”

“This only confirms the worst fears of Muslims and Arabs,” said political analyst Isam Shanti. “We keep reading and hearing about how America is guided in its foreign policy by Israel. Now when Freeman, who has been a vocal critic of Israel, is forced to withdraw his nomination for the key post that Obama has chosen him for, it only shows that the Israel lobby is even more powerful and sinister than anybody thought. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, people expect the United States to play the role of an honest broker. But if somebody is not chosen for a key post because of his just criticism of Israel then people will continue to doubt the intentions of all American foreign policy initiatives.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that Sen. Charles Shumer and Rep. Steve Israel had been exerting pressure on the Obama administration to withdraw Freeman’s nomination. Shumer made repeated calls to the White House, presumably to Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Rep. Israel had started a letter-writing campaign calling for investigations into Freeman’s business dealings.

However, American news sources have identified Steve Rosen, a former lobbyist of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) who is now awaiting trial in the US on espionage charges, of being the coordinator of the campaign to discredit Freeman. Rosen, who is accused of furnishing secret US intelligence documents on Iran to reporters and foreign officials, has been working for the Middle East Forum, a think tank run by neocon Daniel Pipes, since November of last year.