Arab Lobby Uneasy As Protests Continue To Spread In Middle East

What--you didn't know the Arabs have a lobby?

From an email I received from DG

The New York Times sheds some light on the Arab lobby.

Arab Unrest Puts Their Lobbyists in Uneasy Spot

(Though I'm skipping a bit, the first example is excellent.)

Now the Washington lobbyists for Arab nations find themselves in a precarious spot, as they try to stay a step ahead of the fast-changing events without being seen as aiding despots and dictators. In Libya, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt and other countries in the region, leaders have relied increasingly on Washington’s top lobbyists and lawyers, paying them tens of millions of dollars. Some consultants are tacking toward a more progressive stance in light of pro-democracy protests, while others are dropping their clients altogether because of the tumult.

and

As a rule, leaders in the Middle East have paid consultants generously, even by Washington lobbying standards, with monthly retainers commonly reaching $50,000 or more, according to federal filings.

(Price breaks are available, however: the law firm of White & Case promised Libya “a special 15 percent discount off of our standard rates” in light of the “significant relationship” it hoped to forge with Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s country in 2008, according to the contract.)

The United Arab Emirates spent $5.3 million in 2009 for lobbying American officials — second only to the Cayman Islands, which has lobbied to retain its status as a tax haven, according to an analysis by Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit research group. Working through DLA Piper and other Washington-based firms, the Emirates have sought greater access to American nuclear technology.

Morocco spent more than $3 million on Washington lobbyists, much of it aimed at gaining an edge in its border dispute with Algeria, while Algeria countered by spending $600,000 itself.
Turkey, which shares some interests with the Middle East countries, spent nearly $1.7 million in 2009 to lobby American officials on Turkish and Middle Eastern policy through the firms of Richard A. Gephardt, a former House leader; Mr. Livingston and other prominent lobbyists.

And Saudi Arabia, one of the most powerful foreign interests here, spent about $1.5 million in 2009 on Washington firms, and it has a $600,000 annual contract with Hogan Lovells aimed partly at fighting legislation and litigation that would challenge OPEC’s influence over oil prices.

“These kinds of regimes have a lot of money at their disposal, and that’s a great attraction,” said Howard Marlowe, president of the American League of Lobbyists. Still, he said, “a number of lobbyists will stay away from international clients — period.” To work with dictators in Middle Eastern nations with policies that many Americans find unsavory, he said, “you have to have a strong stomach.”

Would this article have ever been published if these regimes were not under scrutiny? And remember charges that Israel has undue influence in American government aren't exactly unheard of.

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