{UAH} Reagan’s Lessons for Obama on Israel, Iran and Working With Congress - WSJ

The president is at loggerheads with the leader of Israel over a big foreign-policy initiative. Israeli officials and their supporters begin working hard to block the president in Congress. Lawmakers from the opposition party seem prepared to heed the call and block the White House's initiative.

Actually, it's a description of the situation that prevailed back in 1981, when a Republican president, Ronald Reagan, found himself in a similar situation, facing vociferous opposition from Israel and its American friends over a foreign-policy initiative, and at risk of being undercut in Congress. 

Back then, the issue was Mr. Reagan's proposal to sell advanced AWACS radar planes to Saudi Arabia to help it defend against what were seen as the principal threats to its oil fields: Iraq, Iran and the Soviet Union. 

Israel was strongly opposed. Prime Minister Menachem Begin argued that the sale would jeopardize Israel's security because it opened up the possibility that Saudi Arabia could use the radar planes to help its own and other Arab air forces counter Israel's air defenses.

Then, as now, the issue became polarized, with Mr. Reagan's fellow Republicans more inclined to support him, and opposition Democrats, who controlled the House but not the Senate, seeking to block the deal.

The House voted first, and the Reagan administration essentially conceded defeat in the chamber under firm Democratic control. The House voted 301-111 to block the deal.

The Reagan administration launched an all-out lobbying blitz of its own, aimed principally at turning around members of Mr. Reagan's own party in the Senate. The key came when Sen. William Cohen of Maine—later a secretary of defense—reversed course, announcing he would support the deal even though he had signed the letter of opposition.

One, Democratic Sen. Ed Zorinsky of Nebraska, reportedly said that Mr. Reagan pleaded, "How can I meet with a foreign leader and have him believe I'm in charge of the government if I can't sell five airplanes?"

Second, if Congress seeks to block a deal with Iran, Mr. Obama had better be prepared for some heavy-duty, one-on-one lobbying of senators to prevent that from happening.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-WB-53456

Brian M. Kwesiga

President and CEO,

Ugandan North American Association - UNAA

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