Whose War?

[pjw8 <pjw8@DELETETHISdana.ucc.nau.edu>]

I've been looking for the official Israeli policy on 
sanctions, does anyone have it? Philippa Winkler

>===== Original Message From gisacsson <GIS2000@altavista.com> =====
>From www.whtt.org

Whose War
By Marge O'Brien

One of the most important articles to make the rounds last week was
entitled "Who Wants This War and Why."  It was written by a
Washington area journalist who sometimes uses the pen name "Gilbert
Blythe."  Here's what he wrote: (1)

"In the October 29 issue of The Weekly Standard, a leading
neoconservative magazine, William Kristol and Robert Kagan write
that 'when all is said and done, the conflict in Afghanistan will be
to the war on terrorism what the North Africa campaign was
to World War II--an essential beginning on the path to victory. ... a
war that will 'spread and engulf a number of countries' and
that 'could well require the use of American military power in
multiple places simultaneously.'

"In the turmoil that would follow, Kristol and Kagan think it likely
that Israel could reoccupy the West Bank and depose Yasser Arafat;
that several moderate Arab governments could be overthrown; and that
America's war against terrorism could "resemble the clash of
civilizations that everyone has hoped to avoid." They add that in a
conflict of such scale, some countries might use biological or
chemical weapons. Though they do not say so explicitly, they are
telling us to prepare for World War III."

According to Mr. Blythe, Kristol and Kagan are not alone in urging us
toward what they call "The Right War" (2), but are joined by "Charles
Krauthammer, Norman Podhoretz, William Safire, Morton Kondracke, Don
Feder, Ben Wattenberg, and Mona Charen." He adds that "In the Bush
administration, Paul Wolfowitz is the most prominent advocate
of a multi-front war."

And he points out that all of these people are Jewish.

Just as Kristol and Kagan are not alone in pushing for a war of
catastrophic dimensions, Gilbert Blythe is not alone in noting that
the leaders of this effort are predominantly "Israeli-firsters."
Georgie Anne Geyer writes that a "smaller war of interests,
beliefs and realities is going on beneath the surface," consisting of
a "Get Iraq" campaign that originated with Deputy Defense Secretary
Paul Wolfowitz and adviser Richard Perle, and includes those
neoconservatives, journalists and congressmen who are known
to "always put Israeli policy, or even their perception of it, above
anything else." She states that an important goal of this campaign is
to "diminish, or ruin, the United States' relations with any Arab
states," and that without proof of Iraqi involvement, "...it would be
the worst kind of madness to isolate America in this difficult,
poisonous struggle." (3)

In other words, the people who are pressuring our government into
entering a large-scale war against Iraq and other Arab countries--a
war that will certainly result in a high number of American
casualties--are not looking out for the interests of America
or the American people, but for the interests of Israel and the Jews.

In a September 18 memo to Henry Kissinger entitled The Prince of
Darkness, Jude Wanniski, a former Washington journalist and present
president of Polyconomics, wrote this:
 "There is no single American more responsible for inciting outrage
among Muslims globally than Richard [Perle], whose maniacal
prescriptions led inexorably to last week's cataclysm. It was no
surprise to me to see Richard on CNN... on Sunday, calling
for all-out war against the Arab world with a coalition entirely
composed of western Europeans. If he were just an ordinary maniac, we
could live with him, Henry, but he is chairman of the Defense Policy
Board, which advises the Pentagon, and which gives him total access
to all military secrets. Do you have any doubt that he is
now in constant communication with Ariel Sharon and Binjamin
Netanyahu, the leaders of the coo-coo wing of the Likud Party in
Israel? Now I see you practically in lockstep with Perle, whom we
have always known as the Prince of Darkness, ! a master of
disinformation ... who now wants to bring the Muslim world to its
knees...
In case you did not know it, Secretary of State Colin Powell refers
to Perle and his network as "the bombers." They include the WSJournal
editorial page, which Perle has in his back pocket, The Weekly
Standard, which he has in his front pocket, and
Bill Safire, his mouthpiece at the NYTimes." (4)

In a memo to Donald Rumsfeld, Wanniski writes, "Do you realize that
Wolfowitz, and his pal Richard Perle who chairs your Defense Policy
Board, have been calling all their friends in the press corps, urging
them to beat the drums for war with Iraq?" in order to "finish the
war against Saddam Hussein."  He reminds Rumsfeld that "Iraq
was the least radical of all the Islamic states, the most civilized
and modern and hospitable to Jews and multiculturalism....which is
why the Iran/Iraq war was fought, with Saddam doing our killing for
us, at times with the chemical weapons the CIA supplied him with....
Bin Laden DOES speak for the entire Islamic world in noting
that at least a million Iraqi civilians have died as a result of
[U.S.] policy. There would have been no attack on the WTC if we had
dealt honestly and responsibly with Iraq. " (5)

The Jewish clamor for an invasion of Iraq is not new, and journalists
who draw attention to it pay a price.  At the time of the 1991 Gulf
War, which was carried out against Iraq in spite of the fact that the
U.S. had given tacit approval to Iraq's entering Kuwait, Pat Buchanan
was branded "anti-semite" for comments he had made which were
taken somewhat out of context by Norman Podhoretz in the Wall Street
Journal.  George Szamuely wrote in the New York Press that Buchanan
had actually written in one column, "'The civilized world must win
this fight,' the editors [of The Economist] thunder.
 But, if it comes to war, it will not be the 'civilized world'
humping up that bloody road to Baghdad; it will be American kids with
names like McAllister, Murphy, Gonzales and Leroy Brown," while in
another column, Buchanan had "upbraided A.M. Rosenthal,
Charles Krauthammer, Richard Perle and Henry Kissinger...for their
enthusiasm for war on Iraq," without suggesting that their enthusiasm
was due to their being Jewish.  Although both of the Buchanan remarks
were statements of fact, Podhoretz condemned them as anti-semitic.
(6)

In statements made last week, Congressman Ron Paul urged that
Americans Keep Your Eye on the Target. (7)

"The drumbeat for attacking Baghdad grows louder every day, with Paul
Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol, Richard Perle, and Bill Bennett leading the
charge. In a recent interview, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul
Wolfowitz, made it clear:  "We are going to continue pursuing the
entire al Qaeda network which is in 60 countries, not just
Afghanistan." Fortunately, President Bush and Colin Powell so far
have resisted the pressure to expand the war into other countries.
Let us hope and pray that they do not yield to the clamor of the
special interests that want us to take on Iraq.  The argument
that we need to do so because Hussein is producing weapons of mass
destruction is the reddest of all herrings."

He urged that we not interfere with other nations' governments:

"The President, in the 2000 presidential campaign, argued against
nation building, and he was right to do so. He also said, "If we're
an arrogant nation, they'll resent us." He wisely argued for humility
and a policy that promotes peace. Attacking Baghdad or declaring war
against Saddam Hussein, or even continuing the illegal bombing of
Iraq, is hardly a policy of humility designed to promote peace.

"As we continue our bombing of Afghanistan, plans are made to install
a new government sympathetic to the West and under UN control. The
persuasive argument as always is money..."

And he raises the question of oil as a motivating factor in the drive
to get Iraq:

"Rumsfeld's plan, as reported in Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper, lays
out the plan for the next Iraqi government. Turkey's support is
crucial, so the plan is to give Turkey oil from the northern Iraq
Karkuk field. The United States has also promised a pipeline
running from Iraq through Turkey. How can the Turks resist such a
generous offer? Since we subsidize Turkey and they bomb the Kurds,
while we punish the Iraqis for the same, this plan to divvy up wealth
in the land of the Kurds is hardly a surprise."


Gilbert Blythe wrote that "The struggle of good against evil that
many American Jews are promoting just happens to be a war against
Israel's enemies.  Kristol and Kagan want us to destroy the military
capacity of Iraq, Syria, and perhaps Iran, and forcibly
install pliant governments in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan. They
want us to fight a major, multi-front war that would root out
conservative Islam and smash every nation that has ever threatened
Israel. Maybe that would be good for Israel, but what about
us?

President Bush calls this a war against terrorism--Presidents always
cite lofty causes to justify wars.  But "terrorism" is a hazy, moving
target, and it's usually only after many years that the public learns
the real reasons behind the wars in which so many loved ones lost
their lives.  Now is the time to pay close attention to what
special interest lobbies are pressuring our government to do, and to
figure out who stands to gain land or power or wealth from a major
war.  One thing is certain-it
won't be the taxpayers or the men and women who fight it.

MOB

(1)  http//www.thornwalker.com/ditch
(2)
ttp//www.weeklystandard.com/content/public/articles/000/000/000/078hsb
pj.asp
(3)  http//www.uexpress.com/georgieannegeyer/viewgg.cfm?
uc_full_date=20011025&uc_comic=gg&uc_daction=X
(4)  http://polyconomics.com/showarticle.asp?articleid=1634
(5)  http//supplysideinvestor.com/showarticle.asp?articleid=1668
(6)  http//www.antiwar.com/rep/szamuely9.html
(7) http//www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2001/cr112901.htm

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