|
Neo-Conned: The Neo-conservative Connection, written by Freydis |
“[T]hree ways to be influential in American politics…make
donations to political parties, establish think tanks,
and control media outlets.” -
Haim Saban
What is a Neo-Conservative?
Finding out who the neo-cons really are and the actual
motivations and beliefs of the people and groups under that
label is a necessary step in understanding America’s
self-destructive foreign policy and putting the pieces
together to form a coherent picture of the future and the
greater scheme at work on world events.
Neo-conservative is a label applied to the marriage of
convenience between three basic groups of theologically and
ideologically driven lawyers, academics, politicians and
millionaires that have a shared goal to influence and direct
United States foreign policy. Now this group has found a
common vehicle in enacting their agenda through the window of
opportunity provided by a sympathetic Congress and President
of the United States.
Neo-conservatism is where the theological and
ideological goals of Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christians
in America and the militant, conservative factions inside and
outside Israel, as well as many Zionist sympathizers in both
countries, overlap.
Neo-conservatives have been around in various forms for
decades, seeing a resurgence of influence during the Reagan
administration and a lull during the elder Bush and Clinton
administrations. The overt influence they exert may wax and
wane but the neo-conservatives rarely take the blame for their
own mistakes and are quite adept at deflecting responsibility
and re-emerging in a slightly different form years later. They
always come back because they never really disappear. They use
a multitude of private organizations, lobbyist groups, and
other superficially legitimate facades with benign titles,
like the American
Enterprise Institute, to influence policy-making and
generally further their agenda; they are the very definition
of a special interest group, hijacking democratic institutions
to further a narrow agenda. The neo-Conservatives are not all
the same but they do fall into three primary categories.
American
Christian fundamentalists really believe that when the Israel
of the Bible, which they interpret to mean the modern Zionist
State of Israel, controls Babylon and the Holy Land in its entirety,
among other things, then this series of events will usher in
Armageddon and the second coming of Jesus which will whisk
every Christian believer up to heaven while everyone else
writhes in torment and warfare down on Earth. This view is
taken from a literal interpretation of the fever-dream book of
Revelation in the New Testament of the Bible. President
George W. Bush who considers himself a "born-again" Christian
falls into this category. Many of the fundamentalist
Christians under the neo-con label are actually anti-Semitic
in the colloquial meaning of the phrase. Their alliance will appear ironic without an
understanding of the apocalyptic Biblical theology they
believe in that maintains the unrestricted Jewish claim to the
Holy Land.
These people
have a visceral hatred for what they call 'secular humanism'
and 'liberal values' that incorporate the opinions and
concerns of the other side in the decision-making equation
because this inclusive view of persons and events leads to
appeasement and even nihilism, in their view. What they really
mean is that the Christian fundamentalists hold an extremely
self-righteous worldview, just as the Zionist neo-cons do,
that would be mortally undermined by inclusion of alternative
views and ideas. All neo-cons have a fundamentally black and
white, right or wrong, Manichean view of reality that
views world events as a battle between good and evil; this is
clearly evident in the language and rhetoric used by President
Bush in his speeches such as the 'axis of evil' and the war on
terrorism as a 'battle between good and evil', etc.
The goal of
the Jewish segment under the rubric of neo-conservatism is to
use the military and economic might of the United States to
preemptively attack and eliminate all challenges and threats,
real and perceived, to the State of Israel and Jews wherever
they live as well as the organizations and structures they use
to maintain their wildly disproportionate influence on
world-affairs. In this category Zionist is a much more apt
description to employ for descriptive purposes than 'Jewish'
or 'neo-con' because it accurately characterizes the mostly
ideological drive of its constituents. Zionism is more
ideological than theological but again has the same aim as the
neo-cons namely to see a middle East totally dominated by the
political, rather than religious, State of Israel that Zionism
created. The Zionists are a much more pragmatic lot than the
delusional Christian fundamentalists but they nonetheless
fully exploit religious beliefs to further their pro-Israel
agenda. Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle are just two neo-cons
that fit into this category.
The
ultra-conservative fringe element that isn't Christian or
Zionist is on board the neo-conservative wagon to see the
hegemonic influence of the United States undiluted and
uninhibited by international institutions, standards,
and oversight which is why they are such
vociferous antagonists of the United Nations, weapons
limitations, environmental protection agreements -
basically any law or agreement that restricts the unilateral
military and economic power, known by their codeword of
'sovereignty', of the United States. This faction of the
neo-cons is primarily motivated by economic self-interest.
They reject international rules and regulations because they
interfere with predatory capitalism and the accumulation of
unrestricted and irresponsible profits that they seek. They
subscribe to the fractured belief common among American
right-wing conservatives that 'if I can get richer then
America is automatically made a better place'. Millionaires
Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld likely fall into this category
as well as the former UN ambassador John Bolton.
Thus the
basic shared beliefs of the neo-cons are as follows:
-
Total
blank-check support for the government of Israel
-
Hatred for
the United Nations and all international rules that limit U.S.
influence
-
A completely
self-righteous view of reality that maintains all major events
are a conflict between good and evil (we're always right and
they're always wrong)
Who
Are the Neo-Conservatives?
Although many
neo-conservatives come from deeply leftist backgrounds (many
are even considered Trotskyites), this left-right
discrimination only muddles the picture and serves to mask the
consistency that is actually occurring. For example, during
the years of the first Bush administration and then under Bill
Clinton the foreign policy mantra was one of worldwide
inclusion and multi-lateral efforts so neatly characterized by
the large coalition of countries and agencies carefully sewn
together for the first Gulf War attack on a recalcitrant
Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Although the goal of disarming a threat to
Israel remains the same the labels and methods have changed.
Iraq has been attacked again but instead of a coalition it was
unilateral. Similarly, today the buzzword of the moment is
‘neo-conservative’ as the power-players behind the scenes have
bounced from the left and the multilateral efforts of the
previous decade, towards the right and the unilateral
might-makes-right efforts currently in vogue. The neo-cons
have found a very convenient ally in the conservative,
apocalypse-seeking fundamentalist Christian segment of the
American public and this alliance of convenience has driven
the name changes and superficial ideological shifts.
Neo-conservatives are primarily Jewish but they nonetheless
represent a minority in the Jewish community because of their
brazen, bumbling tactics but not necessarily in their slavish
devotion to the State of Israel. Much of the mindset that drives
the rampant and frantic unilateral military action
characteristic of the neo-con foreign policy and typified by the
foolish make-up-an-excuse and go-it-alone strategy of again
invading Iraq under the W. Bush administration, is driven by the
intense sense of fear and victimization associated with the
Jewish Holocaust of World War II that has been incorporated into
collective Jewish mythology as the Shoah. The fanatical
desire to prevent another Holocaust is the excuse neo-cons use
to justify their deleterious actions in their own minds.
Israel’s strategically calculated influence of U.S. foreign
policy goes much deeper than left or right wing political
platitudes. Although it is the product of decades of effort,
today AIPAC is the apex of lobbyist power used to directly
influence American policy and planning to benefit the government
of Israel. No Senator, Congressman or President can criticize
Israeli government policy or the official AIPAC (American Israel
Public Affairs Committee) views on Israel and world-events
without incurring the full political career-killing wrath of
their power through organization clout and direct influence of
the mass media. Neo-con influence of the mass media is hastened
by the assistance of numerous sympathetic opinion-editorial
writers and editors in key media outlets. For example, several
key newspapers influential to policy-makers such as the
Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and
Kristol's The Weekly Standard.
There is nothing fantastic or special about the rise to power of
the Israel lobby, it’s merely a testament to the synergy of
strategic planning and organization coupled with a strong sense
of collective identity that Jews share.
To put this into
context when considering the influence of Jews keep in mind that
the current population of the United States is 301 million and
although the estimated Jewish population in the USA varies
considerably by source 5.5 million is mid-range. So Jews make up
1.8% of the United States population. The current worldwide
Jewish population is approximately 13 million and the total
world population is currently estimated to be over 6.5 billion.
That makes Jews 0.2% of the world population. The odds of
gaining this kind of influence by accident seem to be
astronomical.
The influence of
Jews within the supposedly democratic political system of the
United States is unmistakable and with the advent of the
neo-cons acting in direct collusion with the Presidential
administration of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney this influence
has reached unprecedented levels. Congress will not do anything
that AIPAC doesn’t approve of and with the President and Vice
President as slavish supporters of the AIPAC agenda as well,
little if any force exists within the U.S. government to reverse
this trend.
It is true that the majority of Jews do not directly support the
machination of the neo-cons, just as they don’t support the
extreme right-wing religious-nationalist Zionist elements that
are increasingly vocal within Israeli government and society that the neo-cons are aligned with. Yet, very few Jews
publicly criticize or otherwise resist these fanatical segments that
claim to speak for, and protect, the entire Jewish population!
Silence is considered to mean consent and the silence from
moderate and rational Jews on this issue is deafening.
Similarly, if the State of Israel is a democracy then the
characters elected to office in Israel are indicative of the
current attitude of the Jewish electorate. Everyone should
realize that the actions of the neo-cons and Zionism are just as
detrimental to Jews in the long-term as it is to gentiles in the
near term.
A Glossary of Persons and Groups Associated with
Neo-Conservatism:
| Aboul-Enein, Youssef |
|
Navy Lt. Commander, U.S.
intelligence officer and Arabic specialist, a special
assistant and translator to Luti. |
|
Abraham,
S. Daniel |
 |
Made
billions marketing ‘Slim-Fast’ diet products, co-founded
Center for Middle East Peace & Economic Cooperation
with former Utah Congressman Wayne Owens in 1989, and
has served as the Center's Chairman since its inception;
major funder for AIPAC, paid hush money to Steve Rosen
as compensation for being fired from AIPAC in May 2005.
[67] |
|
Abrams,
Elliott
[Jewish]
|
 |
President
Bush’s chief Middle East adviser on the National
Security Council (NSC); unofficial White House liaison
to Jewish community on Mid East issues; worked as legal
counsel to senator Henry 'Scoop' Jackson (1912-83);
convicted for false testimony in Iran Contra scandal;
conservative views on Jewish identity, once stated:
"Outside the land of Israel, there
can be no doubt that Jews, faithful to the covenant
between God and Abraham, are to stand apart from the
nation in which they live. It is the very nature of
being Jewish to be apart - except in Israel - from the
rest of the population." [25] Condi Rice put
Abrams in charge of Middle East policy, now deputy
national security adviser 'in charge of the Middle East
and democracy promotion'. |
| Addington, David |
|
Long time
staffer for Cheney; close associate of John Bolton;
against international law while promoting United States'
unilateralism. [18] |
|
Adelson,
Sheldon
[Jewish] |
 |
Billionaire
casino mogul who owns Sands and Venetian casino/hotels,
describes himself as “the richest Jew
in the world”, funds Adelson Institute for
Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center in
Jerusalem, placed on the Advisory Committee for Trade
Policy and Negotiations to the U.S. Trade Representative
by President Bush in December 2007. [50], founder and financial backer of
Freedom’s Watch, major supporter of AIPAC’s Israel
tours for U.S. lawmakers, litigious, hates unions, on
Board of Directors for the Republican Jewish
Coalition, council member for US Holocaust
Memorial Museum. [49] |
|
American
Center for Democracy |
|
An office
that seeks to align the foreign policy of the United
States with that of Israel by using the establishment of
‘democracy’ as a cover story; Rachel Ehrenfeld
president. [23] |
| American
Enterprise Institute (AEI) |
|
Umbrella organization for multiple neo-conservative
persons and projects including recruitment and
propaganda; sponsors 'NGOWatch'; corporate backers
include oil giant ExxonMobil. |
|
American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) |
 |
“…consistently has ranked among
the most powerful special-interest groups in the United
States,” [2] |
|
American
Jewish Committee (AJC) |
|
Serves as the foreign office for the US-based
Israel Lobby’s efforts; opened office in Brussels in
2004 to influence Europe. [60] |
|
Arad, Uzi
[Jewish] |
 |
Former
member, CIA liaison, and Director of intelligence for
Mossad 1975-1997; Netanyahu’s foreign policy advisor;
worked at Hudson Institute 1972-1975; met with Franklin
at Pentagon cafeteria in 2004. [55] |
|
Benador,
Eleana |
 |
Founder and
CEO of Benador Associates, a public relations and media
propaganda company; markets neo-cons to the public;
works with the Middle East Forum; clients include some
of the
nation's most fervid hawks, including Michael Ledeen,
CharIes Krauthammer, Al Haig, Max Boot, Daniel Pipes,
Richard Perle, and Judith Miller.
"During the Iraq war, Benador's assignment was to embed this squadron of
pro-war zealots into the national media, on talk shows,
and op-ed pages." [48] |
|
Bipartisan
Policy Center (BPC) |
|
A small
group associated with WINEP through foreign policy
director Michael Makovsky, plans for disingenuous U.S.
diplomacy with Iran to fail in order to justify war,
participating members include Senator Tom Daschle. [53] |
| Bolton,
John R.
[Christian] |
 |
Worked to block Iran-Contra criminal investigations; was in
charge of the State Department's disarmament, proliferation,
and WMD office; vociferous critic of the United Nations;
nominated by W. Bush to be American ambassador to the UN;
senior vice-president of AEI; activist in the
Federalist Society; frequently criticized for
politicizing intelligence. [10] On Iran, June 2007:
"we have to look at: 1,
overthrowing the regime and getting in a new one that
won't pursue nuclear weapons; 2, a last-resort use of
force." |
|
Boot, Max |
 |
Boot is a
prolific writer that feeds his extreme jingoistic
neo-con view to the opinion-editorial pages of major
newspapers, signed the PNAC, Council on Foreign
Relations member. |
| Colonel
Bruner |
|
Former military aide to Newt Gingrich, brought
in by Luti, funneled in bad info from Chalabi, acted as
Chalabi’s handler. |
| Bryen,
Dr. Stephen
[Jewish] |
|
Worked as consultant to AIPAC, staff
member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but forced
to resign after getting caught transferring secrets to AIPAC and a
Mossad agent [8], worked with Perle. “Served
as head of the Jewish Institute for National Security
Affairs (JINSA), a group dedicated to promoting strategic
ties between the US and Israel and one in which Perle, Feith
and Ledeen have long been active.” [1] |
|
Campus Watch
|
|
Campus
Watch is an operation connected to the Middle
East Forum that seeks to expose criticism of Israel
and Israeli government policies in academia. |
|
Center
for Security Policy (CSP) |
|
Created by
Frank Gaffney in 1988 with the slogan
“To promote world peace through
American strength”. [24] |
| Chalabi,
Ahmad |
 |
Ran Iraqi National Congress (INC) exile group,
accused of siphoning information off to Iran and cut-out of
the loop, fled Baghdad at the age of 13, in 1958, accused of
bank fraud, embezzlement, and currency manipulation, invited
by Perle to address the Defense Policy Board. |
| Cheney,
Dick
[Christian] |
 |
Former Vice President, had ties to OSP through Luti |
|
Cheney, Elizabeth (Liz) |
|
Dick
Cheney's daughter, lawyer and former deputy assistant
secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, headed
State Department’s Middle East ‘democracy-promotion’
effort from 2002 to 2004, expressed militant
neo-con views and fervent desire of U.S. government to
launch attack on Iran as soon as possible at AIPAC
conference June 2008, 'Visiting Fellow' at AEI. |
|
Christians United for Israel (CUFI) |
 |
A Christian
Zionist lobbying group started in 2006 by Pastor John
Hagee of Texas. |
|
Clawson,
Patrick |
|
Chief Iran
analyst at the Washington Institute For Near East Policy
(WINEP). |
|
Cohen, Ariel
[Jewish] |
 |
Primarily a
self-proclaimed expert on Russia and Central Asia issues
at the conservative Heritage Foundation but he's
also vocal on Arab/Palestinian issues always with the typical
neo-con slant: pro-war, pro-empire, pro-Israel. |
|
Cohen, Eliot A. |
|
Associated
with the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq,
Project for the New American Century, and the
Defense Policy Board. |
|
Commentary |
|
Influential magazine extolling Neo-Con
viewpoint; edited by Norman Podhoretz since 1960. [60] |
Committee
for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
(CAMERA) |
|
Considered
to be a source of extremist pro-settler Israeli
propaganda. |
| Committee
on the Present Danger (CPD) |
|
Neo-conservative lobby
group |
|
Conference
of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations |
 |
Israel Lobby
umbrella group that coordinates actions for manipulating
U.S. government and social policy to favor the opinions
and goals of right-wing Israeli interests;
current 'marching orders' expressed
through the CPMAJO's
Daily Alert
publication;
revealing
list:
<member organizations>. |
|
Counter -
terrorism Evaluation Group |
|
[see entry
under Douglas Feith] |
|
Crouch II,
Dr. J.D.
[Christian ?] |
 |
Hawkish,
low-visibility but influential on Bush and Cheney
serving as Assistant to the President and Deputy
National Security Adviser, specializes in evading and
undermining arms-control agreements, advocated military
action against Cuba and nuclear strikes against North
Korea, promotes U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal, consistent
supporter of Frank Gaffney’s Center for Security
Policy. |
|
Daily
Alert |
|
Key
publication expressing the current 'marching orders' for
Zionism from the
Conference
of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. |
|
Ehrenfeld,
Rachel |
|
President of
the American Center for Democracy, an office that
seeks to align the foreign policy of the United States
with that of Israel by using the establishment of
‘democracy’ as a cover story. [23] |
|
Federalist Society |
|
Association
of ultra-conservative lawyers working to undermine
International law as it applies to the United States;
sponsors 'NGOWatch'. [10] |
| Feith,
Douglas
[Jewish] |
 |
Lawyer, Under Secretary, Pentagon #3,
consultant for Likud party of Israel, “Feith's
office enjoyed especially close links with Vice President
Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I Lewis Libby, to whom it "stovepiped"
its analyses without having them vetted by professional
intelligence analysts in the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA), the DIA, or the State Department Bureau for
Intelligence of Research (INR).” and “…served
as a Middle East analyst in the National Security Council in
the administration of former president Ronald Reagan
(1981-89).” [1] Publicly opposed the Biological
Weapons Convention, CW, ABM and nuclear weapons treaties and
Oslo accord. [8] Feith was once described by General Tommie
Franks as "the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the
Earth." Oversaw the Counterterrorism Evaluation
Group that produced a classified report
linking Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, a conclusion
debunked by reputable analysts. [21] |
|
Fishman,
Richard |
|
AIPAC's
managing director, under FBI investigation in the
Franklin case. [13] |
|
Forbes,
Steve
[Christian] |
 |
Operates
business magazine Forbes, ran for President in 1996 and
2000, has promoted harsh conservative social and
economic policies, worth nearly half a billion dollars,
constantly pushes his ‘flat-tax’ plan, supports expanded
U.S. military that acts unilaterally, and of course an
emphatic supporter of Israel. Forbes' neo-con viewpoint
explains why he was a
founding member of the Project for the New American
Century. |
|
Foreign
Policy Initiative |
|
Co-founded
in 2009 by William Kristol and Robert Kagan. |
|
Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) |
|
Created
September 13, 2001, as the World Trade Center towers were still
smoldering, FDD claims to be a non-partisan 'think tank'
acting to preserve American democracy. Yet, as is so
often the case with these groups despite the noble
ideals on the masthead the actual agenda is of the
Neo-conservative flavor as indicated by a slavishly
pro-Israel stance (particularly favoring Israel's Likud
party), distinctive anti-Islam discourse, and a tendency
to package everything they dislike under the loaded term
'terrorism'. Despite the hollow platitudes FDD is
simply yet another public relations office working to
boost support for Israel in the United States.
Senator
Joseph Lieberman, recently defeated in the Connecticut
primary election, is listed on the
FDD biographies webpage as a
"distinguished adviser", while other people on
the list include Kirkpatrick, Kristol, Perle, and many
more.
|
|
Foxman, Abraham
[Jewish] |
 |
National
director of the Anti-Defamation League
(ADL) “…one
of the largest Jewish organizations in North America.”
and "The one clear fact that
can be agreed upon is that there was a malicious and
targeted leak that is more damaging than the actual
allegations of Israeli spying - allegations that in all
likelihood are baseless," Abraham Foxman. [3]
|
| Franklin,
Lawrence A.
[Christian] |
 |
U.S. citizen Larry Franklin worked in the Near East and
South Asia office of the Pentagon and in the Office of
Special Plans (OSP) under the authority of Douglas Feith.
Franklin gave highly-classified information about Iran
to Israeli agents operating under cover of the lobbyist
front AIPAC. This espionage was discovered, an
investigation was launched by the FBI, Franklin admitted
guilt on trial in 2005, then was sentenced to 12 and a
half years in prison in 2006. The two Israeli agents
that Franklin gave the secrets to, Steven J. Rosen and
Keith Weismann, have been under official investigation
as well. Franklin has been described as a
“devout Christian” [4] |
|
Freedom's
Watch |
|
Propaganda
machine started in August 2007 to maintain political
support for continuing the war on Iraq, on “terrorism”,
Iran, etc.; works closely with the Republican Jewish
Coalition (RJC) and AEI. Key founder and financial
backer: billionaire Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas
Sands Corporation; key operators include Matt Brooks,
head of the RJC, and Ari Fleischer, former mouthpiece
for W. Bush administration. [47] As a nonprofit
501(c)(4) organization can legally spend unlimited
amounts of money in an election if promoting an issue
and not a candidate. [50] |
|
Freilich,
Chuck
[Jewish] |
|
Former
Israeli deputy national security adviser, senior fellow
at Harvard University's Belfer Center on Science and
Int’l Affairs, pushes for U.S. war on Iran. |
|
Frum, David
[Jewish] |
 |
Former
speechwriter for George W. Bush; notable accomplishments
include the ‘Axis of Evil’ speech lumping three
disparate nations into one singular threat to America;
member of AEI; in 2003 co-authored book An End to
Evil with Perle. Frum’s vision for a new world order
is startling to say the least, he recommends that
Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore
join NATO and that Japan should build nuclear weapons to
scare China into submission. [26] |
|
Gaffney,
Frank |
 |
Worked as an
aide to Richard Perle undermining arms control
agreements, among other things. Referred to as
“Perle's Bulldog” in the
Dep’t of Defense. Gaffney is a prolific writer who
feverishly pushes the need to expand the United States’
military and to use that force against countries that
won't support American interests throughout the world,
particularly in the Middle East. Founded the Center for
Security Policy (CSP) in 1988 with the slogan
“To promote world peace through
American strength”. [24] |
| Ghorbanifar, Manichur |
|
Iranian Arms dealer,
“In
December 2001, Rhode and Franklin met in Europe with a
shadowy Iranian arms dealer, Manichur Ghorbanifar, who,
along with Ledeen, played a central role in the
arms-for-hostages deal involving the Reagan administration,
Israel and Iran in the mid-1980s that became known as the
"Iran-Contra Affair." [1] |
|
Gilon, Naor
[Jewish] |
|
Accused of receiving classified
information from Franklin; number two diplomat at the
Israeli embassy in Washington. |
| Gingrich,
Newt |
 |
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives,
often had meetings with Luti, Senior Fellow at the
American Enterprise Institute, member of the
Committee on the Present Danger, former member of
Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, Foundation
for the Defense of Democracies member. |
|
Hagee,
Pastor John
[Christian] |
 |
A tireless Israel-boosting apocalypse-seeking preacher, Hagee leads the
18,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio Texas,
founded lobbyist group Christians United for Israel
(CUFI), has stated that "The end
of the world as we know it is rapidly approaching,"
and "The United States must join
Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to
fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West... a
biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran,
which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation [...] and
[the] Second Coming of Christ." [41] |
|
Hannah, John
P. |
|
Main White
House contact with Ahmad Chalabi's INC, worked
closely with Harold Rhode, senior fellow and deputy
director at the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy a group founded by AIPAC to influence
policy-makers. [18] |
|
The
Heritage Foundation |
|
Founded by
Paul Weyrich and Edwin Feulner with the financial
backing of beer baron Joseph Coors, major supporter of
Reagan and Bush W administrations and associated panoply
of social and military crusades, pioneered a new role
for think-tanks by dropping objective research in favor
of partisan rhetoric and active manipulation of
government policy, called a ‘propaganda mill’ that
spends half its $40 million budget on marketing,
corporate donors are reported to include Scaife, GM,
Ford, Proctor & Gamble, Chase Manhattan Bank, Dow
Chemical, Mobil Oil, and Smith Kline. |
|
Horowitz,
David
[Jewish] |
 |
Horowitz is
the classic neo-con; supported radical leftists during
the social turmoil of the 60s then did a whiplash inducing shift
in ideology to the far right beginning in the 70s.
Regardless of the rhetoric the continuing theme
throughout Horowitz’s career is an unquestioning support
for Israel using whatever means most popular at the
moment to push a Zionist agenda. His hot-buttons include
supposed censorship of conservative (meaning pro-Zionist
and anti-Palestinian) speech at U.S. universities; uses DiscoverTheNetworks.com to attack hated leftists
(unions, anti-war activists, etc.); co-founder of
Horowitz Freedom Center; editor or NewsMax and FrontPage
mag, collected 2005 salary of $352,647 from his Horowitz
Center sponsored by Sarah Scaife, Bradley, and Olin
foundations. More at:
David Horowitz Profile.
|
|
The
Hudson Institute |
|
Founded by
Herman Kahn, an infamous and enthusiastic advocate for
nuclear warfare,
The Hudson
Institute
has now been eclipsed in influence by AEI but was once
the equivalent neo-con factor in U.S. politics,
currently focuses on security issues, leadership has
ties to right-wing pro-Israel groups such as Hudson’s
chairman of the board Walter P. Stern who is vice
president of the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy and a director of the America-Israel
Friendship League. |
|
Indyk,
Martin
Jewish
|
|
Influential
Middle East adviser to President Bill Clinton, founded
Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP),
research director for AIPAC, director of Saban Center
for Middle East Policy at the Brooking’s Institute
[50]. |
|
Institute
for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies (IASPS) |
|
IASPS is a
think-tank based in Jerusalem, most famous for producing
the
notorious 1996 document ‘A Clean Break: A New Strategy
for Securing the Realm’ that pressured the Israeli
government to dump the peace process and adopt an
aggressive posture in favor of attacking neighboring
states like Syria and Iraq, Douglas Feith and Richard
Perle helped write the 'Clean Break' paper. |
| Iraqi
National Congress |
|
Founded in 1992 with the help of
a CIA-connected public-relations firm called the Rendon Group.
[5] |
|
Jewish
Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) |
 |
JINSA is an advocacy group for military cooperation and
sponsorship of Israel by the United States, started by
Stephen and Shoshana Bryen, Michael Ledeen was the first
executive director, Richard Perle is a member of JINSA’s
Board of Advisers and a spokesman. |
|
J Street
|
|
Advocacy group for Israeli interests that
intentionally takes moderate posture in comparison to
the majority of Israel Lobby groups. J Street aims to
preserve the disproportionate Jewish influence in the US
through reform and moderation of overt lobbying efforts. |
|
Kagan,
Frederick W.
[Jewish] |
|
Associated
with PNAC's production, promotes American
sponsored wars and a vastly expanded military for the
United States as well as the federal spending to go
along with it, brother of Robert Kagan, ‘Kagan’ is the
Russian equivalent for ‘Cohen’ in English. |
|
Kagan,
Robert
[Jewish] |
 |
Analyst at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace;
started Project for the New American Century with
William Kristol in 1997 [22], appointed by Elliott
Abrams to lead Office of Public Diplomacy in mid
80s to promote support for the Contras in Nicaragua,
brother of Frederick Kagan, ‘Kagan’ is the Russian
equivalent for ‘Cohen’ in English. |
|
Keep America
Safe |
|
Co-founded
in 2009 by William Kristol and Elizabeth (Liz) Cheney. |
|
King, Aryeh
[Jewish]
|
|
Founder of
Israel Land Fund that uses deception to buy land
from Arabs and Palestinians for use by Jewish settlers,
stating: "Most of the time, the
people have no idea that it is going to Jews until the
day they move in, and then it is too late”; close
confidant of Florida billionaire Irving Moskowitz;
believes in Jerusalem that excludes all non-Jews:
"I've heard people say Jerusalem
is for everyone, but it is not. Jerusalem is for the
Jews, and we need to stop apologizing about this."
[64] |
| Kirkpatrick, Jeane
[Christian] |
|
Works for the American
Enterprise Institute (AEI) |
|
Kohr, Howard
|
|
AIPAC's
executive director, under FBI investigation in the
Franklin case. [13] |
|
Kovner,
Bruce
[Jewish] |
 |
Chairman of
the American Enterprise Institute, chairman of
the hedge fund Caxton Associates, Forbes
ranked as 85th richest American [42], uses wealth to
support the New York Sun newspaper, AEI,
influence politicians, and bankroll special interest
groups. |
|
Krauthammer,
Charles [Jewish] |
|
Neo-con
op-ed columnist |
| Kristol,
William (Bill)
[Jewish] |
|
Weekly Standard editor;
started Project for the New American Century with
Robert Kagan in 1997 [22]; board of trustees member at
Manhattan Institute. |
| Ledeen,
Michael
[Jewish] |
 |
Member of American Enterprise Institute (AEI),
has consulting firm 'Benador Associates', on JINSA Board of
Advisors with Bryen, consultant for OSP [8]
“Since the Iraq war, Feith's office
has also lobbied hard within the US government for a
confrontational posture vis-a-vis Iran and Syria, including
actions aimed at destabilizing both governments - policies
which, in addition to the ousting of Saddam, have been
strongly and publicly urged by prominent, hardline
neo-conservatives, such as Perle, Feith and Perle's
associate at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI),
Michael Ledeen, among others.” [1] |
| Libby
(Liebowitz),
Lewis 'Scooter'
[Jewish] |
 |
Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, worked as a
liaison between Feith's Pentagon policy office that
extracted one-sided, unverified intelligence, and
VP Dick Cheney via the White House. Libby was convicted
of perjury and obstruction of justice but had his prison
sentence commuted by President George W. Bush. Libby is
suspected of being an intelligence agent working for
Israel's Mossad. |
|
Lieberman,
Senator Joe
[Jewish] |
 |
Vocal
advocate for military action against Iraq and Iran,
labeled the neo-conservative Democrat but aligns with
Republicans on foreign policy, member of the
Committee on the Present Danger, the Committee
for the Liberation of Iraq, adviser to the
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. |
|
Lipsky, Seth
[Jewish] |
 |
Neo-con,
runs the New York Sun “a
paper that functions as a journalistic SWAT team against
individuals and institutions seen as hostile to Israel
and Jews,” supposedly a popular read in the
‘think-tank’ crowd. The Sun loses $1 million a month but
continuous funding is provided by rich backers. Lipsky’s
heroes include Ronald Reagan,
“Ze'ev Jabotinsky (the militant Zionist who admired
Mussolini), Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon”,
founding editor of the Forward newspaper called
“the bible for the
Yiddish-speaking masses of Manhattan's Lower East Side.”
[42] |
|
Lowell, Abbe
|
|
DC lawyer
hired to defend AIPAC, defends Rosen in Franklin case. |
| Luti,
William |
|
Protégé of Newt and aide in 1996, Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Near East affairs, ran cell Office of
Special Plans, or OSP inside Pentagon with Wolfowitz and
Feith, Luti came to the Pentagon from the office of Vice
President Cheney, retired Navy captain. |
|
Luttwak,
Edward
[Jewish] |
 |
Currently a
Senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS), served as a consultant to
Office of the Secretary of Defense, National Security
Council, Department of State, and the U.S. military.
Edward Luttwak is a notorious freestyle historian and
another ‘expert’ on war and international relations, a
real piece of work even for the genre with plenty of
‘solutions’ that are great for everyone else but would
never apply to anyone he cared about. Luttwak displays
the startlingly misapplied intelligence so
characteristic of many neo-cons and think-tank spawned
advisors that morph from obscure bookish analysts into
outspoken advocates that write op-ed pieces and haunt the Sunday morning
TV talk-shows to sell the public and the politicians on
self-defeating policies. Luttwak is currently promoting
the incitement of ethnic strife and internal divisions
inside Iran as a 'solution' to regional problems for the
U.S. government. [39] |
|
Lynde and
Harry Bradley Foundation |
|
Funds the
Project for the New American Century, the
American Enterprise Institute, and the American
Foreign Policy Council (AFPC). [14] |
| Maloof,
F. Michael |
|
Former aide to Perle in 1980s Pentagon,
twice stripped of security clearance. |
|
Manhattan Institute |
 |
‘Think tank’
for influencing political decision-making to favor
conservative policies; heavy influence of lawyers and
wealthy investors; writes policy script for presidential
candidate Rudolph Giuliani; see also William Kristol,
Paul Singer. |
Middle East Media Research Institute
(MEMRI) |
|
Poses as research institute while translating
Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and other Middle Eastern
languages in order to spin a pro-Israel view of events;
frequently criticized for taking words out of context
and distorting statements. |
|
Middle East Forum
|
|
The
Middle East Forum is a self-described think-tank
that crafts information to direct the Middle East
foreign policy of the United States towards serving the
interests of Israel; “a
fanatically pro-Zionist white paper mill”. [48]
See also: Eleana Benador. |
|
Moskowitz,
Irving
[Jewish]
|
 |
Irving
Moskowitz is a millionaire and ardent Zionist who gained
riches buying and selling hospitals and running bingo
gambling halls; converted gambling business into
tax-free charitable organ that uses cash to fund neo-con
organizations in the US like the Hudson Institute, AEI,
JINSA, and CSP, and illegal settlement groups in Israel;
wife Cherna has promoted assassination of ‘pro-peace’
Israeli leaders. |
|
NGO
Monitor |
|
Israel-based group that launched attack in 2009
on New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) in
wake of Israeli assault on Gaza and subsequent reporting
of Israeli war crimes and atrocities against
Palestinians, with the aim of discrediting HRW and
similar independent organizations critical of Israel;
works with AIPAC; supported by Elie Wiesel who is on NGO
Monitor’s advisory board. [61] |
| Office of
Special Plans (OSP) |
|
Rigged planning cell; not officially part of the
intelligence community and is thus immune to
congressional oversight. |
| Perle,
Richard
[Jewish] |
 |
Worked as chairman of Defense Policy Board (DPB);
Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security
Policy during Reagan era; worked at AEI; once aide to
Senator Henry Jackson; in 2003 co-authored book An End to
Evil with Frum. |
|
Pipes,
Daniel
[Jewish] |
 |
Rabid and prolific pro-Israel, anti-Islam
writer and speaker; connected to the Middle East
Forum; advises Republican presidential
candidate Rudy Giuliani on Middle East affairs. |
|
Pletka,
Danielle |
 |
Prominent
and outspoken member of AEI, continually
promoting war on Iraq, aggression against Iran, torture
as state policy, and similar neo-con views. Australian
born, member of Committee on the Present Danger,
gained experience manipulating U.S. Middle East foreign
policy working with Senator Jesse Helms on Senate
Intelligence Committee, signatory member of Project
for the New American Century. |
| Podhoretz,
Norman
[Jewish] |
|
Described as the godfather of neo-conservativism;
published book in 2007 titled World War IV: The Long
Struggle Against Islamofascism. |
Project for the New American
Century
(PNAC) |
|
Center for
the neo-conservative vision. Sets out plans for
expanding and exploiting United States military power to
further the neo-con agenda around the world. [15] |
| Rhode,
Harold |
|
Colleague of Feith,
”…once described himself as Deputy Secretary of State Paul Wolfowitz's chief adviser on Islam.” [1] speaks
Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, and Farsi. |
|
Rice,
Condoleezza
[Christian] |
 |
Secretary of
State, has close ties to AIPAC and speaks at their
meetings. |
|
Rosen, Steven
[Jewish]
|
 |
Former director
of foreign policy issues at AIPAC. Public scrutiny forced
AIPAC to cut Rosen from staff. |
|
Rosenberg,
Joel C.
[Christian,
Jewish background] |
 |
Has worked
with Steve Forbes, Rush Limbaugh, Israeli Prime Minister
Netanyahu, Natan Sharansky, the Heritage Foundation,
and many other neo-cons, Formed the consulting company
November Communications, written several novels about
events in the Middle East based on Biblical prophecies,
popular with Christians and Jews, see
Epicenter book review below. |
|
Ross, Dennis
[Jewish] |
|
WINEP
fellow, supports push for a U.S. war on Iran, adviser to
Obama, Middle East envoy for President George HW Bush
and Bill Clinton. |
| Rumsfeld,
Donald
[Christian] |
 |
Former
Secretary of Defense responsible for the actions
of the Defense Department. |
|
Saban, Haim
[Jewish] |
 |
"I'm a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel";
billionaire Hollywood media boss, made fortune importing cartoons
like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers; founder and money
behind the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at
the Brookings Institute where he’s on the Board
of Trustees, and the Saban Institute for the Study of
the American Political System at the University of
Tel Aviv; involved in spy scandal with
Congresswoman Jane Harman, once said:
“three ways to be influential in American politics…make
donations to political parties, establish think tanks,
and control media outlets.”
Major funding
source for AIPAC. [66] |
| Schmitt‚
Gary |
|
Executive director of the Project for the New
American Century, wrote book called Silent Warfare
with Shulsky. |
|
Sharansky,
Natan
[Jewish] |
 |
Dedicated
Zionist, idolized by neo-cons, Carter and Reagan got
Sharansky out of the USSR in spy deal, immediately goes
to Israel and becomes active with extreme views and
multiple roles in Israeli government, advocates sole
Jewish control over Jerusalem and no peace deals with
neighbors, wrote book: The Case for Democracy: The
Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny & Terror, calls
U.S. policy a continuum with his friends Abrams, Perle,
Feith, Libby, and Wolfowitz all connected through either
Senator ‘Scoop’ Jackson or the Reagan administration,
Bush’s terrorism speech rhetoric drawn from Sharansky’s
own words, board member at Peace Watch, chairman
of Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism
(CFCA), more
< here >. |
Shulsky,
Abram N.
[Jewish] |
|
Director of OSP, Senate intelligence
committee staffer for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, wrote
book called Silent Warfare with Schmitt. |
|
Singer, Paul E.
[Jewish] |
|
Former corporate
lawyer, now the secretive billionaire owner of Elliott
Associates hedge fund, started ‘vulture’ style investment
funds buying up debt from poor countries and then through
lawsuits and interest payments collecting more than the
original amount of the loan; funds Rudolph Giuliani’s
presidential campaign; Giuliani’s senior policy adviser on
the Middle East; advocates bombing Iran, active use of U.S.
military force and supporting Israel; JINSA board member
[46]; Manhattan Institute trustee. |
StandWithUs
AKA
Israel Emergency Alliance |
|
Israeli government propaganda outlet, also called
Israel Emergency Alliance for tax purposes, biggest donor
since 2005 is Susan Wexner at $850,000. [59] |
|
Stern, Walter P.
[Jewish] |
 |
Chairman of the
Hudson Institute, Vice President of The
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and a
director of the America-Israel Friendship League.
Major funding source for AIPAC. [66] |
|
The Israel
Project (TIP) |
 |
Founded by
Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, The Israel Project (TIP) is yet
another front organization manipulating U.S. policy-makers
with its donor-based cash machine while promoting Israel as
a paragon of peace, equality, and … you know the routine;
headquarters in Jerusalem and Washington DC; TIP slogan:
“We fight the war of words and images
to make our global Jewish family safer.” What’s
notable about TIP is the board of advisors that includes
Senators Chambliss (R-GA), Coleman, (R-MN), Nelson (D-FL),
Santorum (R-PA), Spector (R-PA), Wyden (D-OR), and
Representatives Andrews (D-NJ), Berkley (D-NV), Davis
(R-VA), Engel (D-NY), Pallone (D-NJ), Porter (R-NV), Saxton
(R-NJ), Sherman (D-CA), Wilson (R-SC). Robert and Yadelle
Sklare are listed as funding TIP Jerusalem. |
|
Transatlantic
Institute (TAI) |
|
Founded by the AJC in 2004; intended as a vehicle
for pushing US neo-con influence onto European audiences,
aims to shift Europe towards total support of Zionist
Israel. [60] |
Washington
Institute for Near East
Policy |
 |
A 'think tank'
founded by Martin Indyke and AIPAC in the mid 1980s to influence federal
policy-makers. See also: John P. Hannah [18] and the
Hudson Institute. |
|
Weissman, Keith |
|
Senior Middle East analyst at
AIPAC and Iran specialist. Public scrutiny forced AIPAC to
cut Weissman from staff. |
|
Wexner, Susan
[Jewish] |
|
Wexner family founded ‘The Limited’ operates store
brands like Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, Henri
Bendel, C. O. Bigelow, The White Barn Candle Company and La
Senza. Funds StandWithUs, MEMRI, CAMERA, and FDD. Susan
Wexner helps fund the Middle East Media Research
Institute (MEMRI), the Committee for Accuracy in
Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) and the
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD). [59] |
|
Wolfowitz,
Paul
[Jewish] |
 |
Former
Deputy Secretary of the Department of Defense in Bush
administration, created Pentagon unit to manage all
military counter-intelligence operations called
Counter
Intelligence Field Activity (CIFA) later accused of
domestic spying [20],
moved into position as President of World Bank.
“[I]t is hard to conceive that it
would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam
Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and to
secure the surrender of Saddam’s security forces and his
army - hard to imagine." - Paul Wolfowitz to a Congressional committee in 2003. |
|
Woolsey, James
[Christian] |
 |
Former CIA director, co-chairs the Committee on the
Present Danger (CPD), member of (and advisor to) Jewish
Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA),
Chairman of Freedom House, advisor to the
Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), advocates
war on Iraq, Iran and Syria, pro-nuclear weapons and
U.S. missile dominance, multiple business interests like
Benador Associates, is the VP for defense industry
consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. |
|
Wurmser, David
[Jewish] |
 |
Director of Middle East studies for AEI, recruited by Feith
and Rhode to be Pentagon consultant, wanted U.S. support for
the Iraqi National Congress (INC),
“spent
years calling for a pre-emptive invasion of Baghdad”
senior adviser to Undersecretary of State John Bolton [5],
wrote 1999 book: ‘Tyranny's Ally: America's Failure to
Defeat Saddam Hussein’, married to Meyrav Wurmser. |
|
Wurmser, Meyrav
[Jewish] |
 |
Director of
the Center for Middle East Policy at the Hudson
Institute,
stated that
neo-cons used their influence in the Bush administration
to block UN pressure to halt Israel's attacks on
Hezbollah and Lebanon during the short 2006 war that
ultimately ended in retreat after Israel failed to
achieve the publicly stated military and political
objectives:
"The neo-cons are responsible for the fact that Israel
got a lot of time and space ... They believed that
Israel should be allowed to win."
[35],
married to David Wurmser. |
|
Zakheim, Dr. Dov
[Jewish] |
 |
The
Pentagon's chief financial officer from 2001 to 2004,
signed Project for the New American Century,
currently (2006) a vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton
Inc.
''In 2003, I don't think anybody
predicted it [the war on Iraq] would go as long as World
War II and the wear and tear on equipment would be as
intense.'' [32] |
|
Zelikow, Philip
David |
 |
Neo-con
architect for the takeover of US government by a supreme
executive authority based on a catastrophic terrorist
event (i.e. 9-11) and the subsequent use of US military
power to serve Israel’s agenda; member of Condi Rice’s
National Security Council transition team from
2000-2001; member of Bush’s Foreign Intelligence
Advisory Board from 2001-2003; principal author of the
2002 US National Security Strategy emphasizing war on
Israel’s neighbors. [54] |
|
Zell, L. Marc |
|
Former law partner with Feith, served as a spokesman in Israel for the Jewish
settler movement on the occupied West Bank. |
|
Zionist
Organization of America |
 |
Self
description: “fighting for the Jewish
people and the Land of Israel”; works to expunge
criticism of Israel and Zionism from public discourse while
expanding ties between Israel and the United States,
billionaire Sheldon Adelson a major funder. |
|
Zoellick, Robert
[Jewish] |
 |
W. Bush
administration’s deputy secretary of state, former U.S.
trade representative, vice chairman of international
operations at investment bank Goldman Sachs, former
consultant for the Enron corporation, current president of
World Bank; pushes hard for ‘free trade’ agreements with
particular focus on poor and developing countries. |
Another interesting characteristic the neo-cons share is that
they are almost universally male; this may not be a defining
feature but it is a common element. This fact may explain the
adversarial, uncooperative, zero-sum attitude of the neo-con
view, one that is often fostered by a sense of powerlessness and
victimization in life - a typically masculine, emotionally
stunted and self-destructive interpretation of history as a
series of events where the 'strong' mercilessly exploit the
'weak' for their own personal gain.
The
neo-conservatives are a grave danger to the well-being of
the United States, its citizens and the world population in
general because this cabal does not seek the greater public
good in their actions, their goals do not allow for the
needs, views and interests of others but is rather a
unilateralist view of reality that is as self-serving as it
is exclusive. The neo-cons, regardless of the current label
they use to describe their ideology, are fundamentally
authoritarian, dictatorial, and non-democratic and this can
be detected in their actions even if not in their rhetoric
for every regime they sponsor must ultimately fit that form
in order to gain the influence and outcome they desire.
These
self-defined elite do not accept the views and ideas of
opponents or outsiders, that militants and terrorists may
have legitimate grievances rooted in injustice and poverty,
for instance, or the fact that the neo-cons themselves may
be wrong! The greatest
threat the neo-cons face while implementing their
nefarious agenda is simple public exposure and a basic,
coherent public understanding of who they are and what they
plan to do.
The right's think tanks know how to ventilate their views.
The Heritage Foundation publishes hundreds of books,
monographs and studies annually, with complimentary copies
mailed to journalists across the country Heritage's 95-96
Guide to Public Policy Experts lists some 1,800 policy
wonks and 250 policy groups that "share our commitment to
public policies based on free enterprise, limited
government, individual freedom, traditional American values,
and a strong national defense." The cross-referenced guide
provides deadline-weary journalists with cooperative
specialists in dozens of areas, ranging from "intelligence
and counter-terrorism" to "wildlife management" and
"bilingual education.”
Think-tank scholars make money on the side by renting
themselves out to public relations firms and lobbyists
looking for "independent" supporters of their clients'
viewpoints. One PR industry rep. describes his technique in
the following way:
"I call up an "expert," feign interest
in his or her work, confirm that it's consistent with the
industry viewpoint and then seek to strike a deal," normally
for either a study or an appearance at a press event. "We
don't say that we want an industry mouthpiece, but that's
what it amounts to—and they know it. There are many people
in this town who are willing to prostitute themselves and
their work." This person recalls asking the conservative
economist Murray Weidenbaum, former head of Reagan's Council
of Economic Advisers, to appear at a media briefing on
behalf of an industry group. Weidenbaum said he was very
busy, but would try to squeeze in half a day if the PR firm
would pony up $15,000—about three times the normal rate paid
to industry flacks. From: End Times: The Death of
the Fourth Estate, by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St.
Clair, p. 27-28, 2007.
The NEO-CONnections Map
Practical truth is the composite picture that
emerges from elements within the broadest possible awareness
of facts and events.
 This
leads to a conundrum because understanding requires that the
requisite information be as refined and concise as possible,
thus effective communication is really not so much what is
known but rather the form of presentation. So in order to
better understand the dynamics of this event I created a map
(click on the graphic for a larger view) of connections
between persons and groups built entirely from publicly
accessible news sources. It turned out slightly more
complicated than I'd planned but it does reveal some startling
implications nonetheless. The direct connections between
Franklin and his VIP superiors remains unclear at this time
and it’s completely possible that Franklin is simply a rogue
acting entirely on his own, but since no motive is evident it
begs the question. The Israelis certainly deemed Franklin
important enough to dedicate their second in command diplomat
to handle the information transfer, whatever exactly that
information was.
The Israel Lobby Explained
An eye-opening and carefully researched report was
recently published detailing the involvement of AIPAC and
other Israel lobby groups to manipulate and influence United
States foreign policy. Prepared by two tenured academics, John
J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S.
Foreign Policy explains the connections between the
neo-conservatives and the war on Iraq, among other things.
This is something to seriously consider given the current talk
of war against another one of Israel's enemies, Iran. A few
excerpts from the report are listed below. You can read the
entire document from the original source
<here> or if that's
unavailable, a local copy
<here>.
22.04.06
The Israel Lobby and U.S.
Foreign Policy
It
is AIPAC itself, however, that forms the core of the Lobby’s
influence in Congress. AIPAC’s success is due to its ability to
reward legislators and congressional candidates who support its
agenda, and to punish those who challenge it. Money is critical
to U.S. elections (as the recent scandal over lobbyist Jack
Abramoff’s various shady dealings reminds us), and AIPAC makes
sure that its friends get strong financial support from the
myriad pro-Israel political action committees. Those seen as
hostile to Israel, on the other hand, can be sure that AIPAC
will direct campaign contributions to their political opponents.
AIPAC also organizes letter-writing campaigns and encourages
newspaper editors to endorse pro-Israel candidates.
[page 17]
The
bottom line is that AIPAC, which is a de facto agent for a
foreign government, has a stranglehold on the U.S. Congress.
Open debate about U.S. policy towards Israel does not occur
there, even though that policy has important consequences for
the entire world.
[page 18]
The neoconservatives were already
determined to topple Saddam before Bush became President. They
caused a stir in early 1998 by publishing two open letters to
President Clinton calling for Saddam’s removal from power. The
signatories, many of whom had close ties to pro-Israel groups
like JINSA or WINEP, and whose ranks included Elliot Abrams,
John Bolton, Douglas Feith, William Kristol, Bernard Lewis,
Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz, had little
trouble convincing the Clinton Administration to adopt the
general goal of ousting Saddam. [page 32]
Moreover, the Lobby’s campaign to squelch debate about Israel is
unhealthy for democracy. Silencing skeptics by organizing
blacklists and boycotts—or by suggesting that critics are
anti-Semites—violates the principle of open debate upon which
democracy depends. The inability of the U.S. Congress to conduct
a genuine debate on these vital issues paralyzes the entire
process of democratic deliberation. Israel’s backers should be
free to make their case and to challenge those who disagree with
them. But efforts to stifle debate by intimidation must be
roundly condemned by those who believe in free speech and open
discussion of important public issues.
[page 41]
Neo-Con Plan to Exploit Iraq's Shiites Backfired
The
U.S. policy decisions that led to the sectarian war can be
traced back to the conviction of a group of right-wing zealots
with close ties to Israel's Likud Party that overthrowing the
Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq would not destabilise the region,
because Iraqi Shiites would be allies of the United States and
Israel against Iran.
The
idea that Iraqi Shiites could be used to advance U.S. power
interests in the Middle East was part of a broader right-wing
strategy for joint U.S.-Israeli "rollback" of Israel's enemies.
In 1996, a task force at the right-wing Israeli think tank, the
Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, under
Richard Perle advised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
that such a strategy should begin by taking control of Iraq and
putting a pro-Israeli regime in power there.
Three years later, the former director of that think tank, David
Wurmser, who had migrated to the neoconservative American
Enterprise Institute, spelled out how the United States could
use Iraqi Shiites to support that strategy in "Tyranny's Ally".
Wurmser sought to refute the realist argument that overthrowing
Saddam Hussein would destroy the balance of power between
Sunni-controlled Iraq and Shiite Iran on which regional
stability depended.
Whereas the "realists" had assumed the Iraqi Shiites would be
"Iran's fifth column", Wurmser argued that the Iraqi Shiite
clerics would "present a challenge to Iran's influence and
revolution." He cited their rejection of the central concept of
the Iranian revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini -- the "rule of the
jurisprudent" -- justifying clerical rule.
From
that fact, Wurmser leaped to the conclusion that Iraqi Shiites
would be an ally of the United States in promoting a "regional
rollback of Shiite fundamentalism". Wurmser even suggested that
Iraqi Shiites could help pry Lebanese Shiites, with whom they
had enjoyed close ties historically, away from the influence of
Hezbollah and Iran.
The
neo-conservative plan for invading Iraq reflected Wurmser's
assumption that the United States would not need to plan a long
military occupation of Iraq, because toppling Hussein's regime
would unleash the power of the Iraqi Shiites.
Throughout 2004 and the first half of 2005, the Shiite militias
took advantage of the supportive policy of the United States to
consolidate their power in Baghdad and began terrorising Sunni
communities. After the government formed under the Dawa Party's
Ibrahim Jaffari, the Shiite Badr Brigade moved into the Ministry
of Interior, which became a vehicle for state terror. Despite
media coverage of Shiite death squads operating freely in the
capital, the Bush administration refused to admit that there was
any problem with Shiite militias.
[36]
Saddam / al-Qaeda
Fiction by Feith
A
declassified report done by the Inspector General of the
Department of Defense has found that, as everyone should already
know by now, neo-con Douglas Feith exaggerated and manipulated
information to concoct a convincing link between Saddam Hussein
and al-Qaeda in order to create the justification needed to
launch a war on Iraq. The full report is available to read here:
Review of the Pre-Iraqi War Activities of the Office of the
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. 07.04.07
Open
Season for Treason, and other Congressional Misdemeanors
The Larry Franklin spy case just keeps getting
more and more explosive. The latest revelations are truly
incredible, here’s what we know so far:
A US citizen named Larry Franklin, who worked in
the Office of Special Plans (OSP) under the authority of Douglas
Feith, gave highly-classified information about Iran to Israeli
agents operating under cover of AIPAC. This espionage was
discovered and an investigation was launched, then
Franklin
admitted guilt in 2005 and was sentenced to 12 and a half years
in prison in 2006. The two Israeli agents that Franklin gave the
secrets to, Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weismann, are now under
investigation as well. Keep in mind that Israel emphatically
denies that they conduct espionage inside or against the United
States.
In the process of collecting information for a
case against the AIPAC foreign agents the National
Security Agency (NSA), using a legally acquired warrant,
intercepted Jewish Congresswoman Jane Harman (Democrat) of
California making a deal with suspected Israeli spies working for AIPAC. Harman was heard
promising to use her influence on Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales, who was in charge of the Justice Department, to
downgrade or block the legal prosecution case against Rosen and Weismann.
 In
return the AIPAC agents promised that billionaire Zionist media
mogul Haim Saban would withhold his campaign donations to
Representative Nancy Pelosi (Democrat) of California unless she
selected Harman as head of the House Intelligence Committee in
charge of oversight for all the intelligence and espionage
activity of the entire United States. She then hangs up the
phone after telling the AIPAC side
“This
conversation doesn’t exist.”
As a consequence of this blatant act of, what can only be
described as treason, an investigation into Harman was launched
as well.
And if that wasn’t enough, it gets even better!
The influence that Harman had over the Attorney
General was her support to get the New York Times to drop an
explosive article revealing the NSA program for wiretapping
without warrants on the eve of the 2004 elections.
Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times,
said in a statement Monday that Ms. Harman called Philip
Taubman, then the Washington bureau chief of The Times, in
October or November of 2004. Mr. Keller said she spoke to Mr.
Taubman — apparently at the request of Gen. Michael V. Hayden,
then the N.S.A. director — and urged that The Times not
publish the article.
[56]
If the New York Times had published the article
on illegal NSA spying it could have tipped the Presidential
election towards the Democrats. In any case, the pressure was
successful and the NYT sat on the story for a year, eventually
printing it and creating a storm of anger. Ironically, even
though she was a Democrat Harman publicly defended the
warrantless wiretap program, and was later caught by the NSA! In
return for her support the Bush administration intervened and
stopped the investigation of her apparently treasonous actions.
Then director of national intelligence John D. Negroponte,
former NSA director at the time Michael Hayden, and then CIA
director Porter Goss, all opposed the investigation into Harman,
and so it ended. [57]
This sordid episode, bound to grow even more
outrageous if further details emerge, is a perfect emblem of the
sad state of contemporary America. Here we have a billionaire
Jewish media boss using his riches to manipulate the political
process in conjunction with a powerful lobbyist and influence
group (AIPAC) being run by, and for, the interests of a foreign
government (Israel)! And even more outrageous, we have a
Congressional representative in office making deals with all of
them forming a text-book case of treason that, so far, shows no
signs of being punished! And this is just the rare instance
where these events have been publicized. One can only imagine
what else is occurring on a daily basis behind the scenes.
24.04.09
Update, May 2009
The
AIPAC spy case against Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman has been
dropped. The official excuse is that pre-trial court rulings
have made the case unwinnable for the prosecution, and based on
past precedent it is much easier to prosecute those passing
secrets than those receiving secrets. Nonetheless, if
this case had gone to court it would have made many powerful
people very nervous - Representative Harman being just one, and
it’s not difficult to discern that massive political pressure is
the real reason it won’t go to trial. 03.05.09
Axis of Evil
|
August 2009 |
Zionist Neo-Con Wrecks
Healthcare and Endangers American Lives
08.01.10 It’s no surprise that more and more
working Americans (never mind the barely-employed and the
jobless) struggle to attain affordable healthcare when it’s
treated as a commodity to be bought and sold to the highest
bidder, and when prices for medical treatment are driven higher
and higher through the insatiable demands of corporate profits.
And within the wayward values of this corporate-friendly
environment a major reason why America lacks affordable
healthcare is because of businessmen and profiteers like
Irving Moskowitz. Moskowitz, an
orthodox Jew, is a notorious Zionist who made
his fortune buying and selling hospitals, firing workers, and
turning health-care providers into money-making machines –
making what used to be an affordable public service into a
profit-driven enterprise. Moskowitz then took his riches from
flipping hospitals and combined it with the profits from his
‘non-profit’ bingo parlors in California to fund the
construction of vast illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian
land!
"What Moskowitz pioneered was trying to
break up the continuity of the Arab population centres in
Jerusalem," said Beliak. "The consequences are radically
different from just mom and pop buying a little piece of land.
These are political statements and facts on the ground, and
every [US] administration has allowed him to do this."
[63]
Moskowitz’s latest project,
reported in January 2010, is particularly inflammatory to
relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel, building apartments
in the divided city of Jerusalem, right in the middle of a
predominantly Arab area of the city near Christian, Muslim and
Jewish shrines. [62]
The
Zionist neo-con Irving Moskowitz has managed to simultaneously
wreck attainable healthcare for average Americans while at the
same time endangering their safety through the blatant injustice
of supporting inflammatory and belligerent actions of a foreign
country in the Middle East. And even though his fund-raising
machinery is illegal by almost any definition, it remains
uninvestigated by US authorities! The political climate within
the U.S. government has facilitated the double standard in
Israel’s favor by investigating fund-raising for Palestinians
but not those that support Israel’s housing construction on land
taken from their neighbors.
"After 2001
there was a whole discourse about how supposedly Muslims [in
America] used these charitable donations to support violence.
There was never ever in the US anything substantially that
made that case. But here they did have a case where somebody
was using money to support settlers, money that fosters
extremism and violence, and they completely ignored it." [63]
StopMoskowitz: The Coalition for
Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem
Zionist Hijacking
of American Foreign Policy via the Treasury: the Case of
Stuart Levey
In
2004, AIPAC successfully pressured the Bush Administration to
create the office of Undersecretary for Terrorism and
Financial Intelligence (UTFI) and to name its protégé
Princeton graduate Stuart Levey to that position.
Within the confines of his Zionist ideological blinders, Levey
applied his intelligence to the singular task of turning his
office into the major foreign policy venue for setting US
policy toward Iran. Levey more than any other appointed
official in government or elected legislator, formulates and
implements policies which profoundly influence US, European
Union and UN economic relations with Iran. Levey elaborated
the sanctions policies, which Washington imposed on the EU and
the Security Council.
Levey coordinates his campaign with
Zionist leaders in Congress. He secures sanctions legislation
in line with his campaigns. His policies clearly violate
international law and national sovereignty, pressing the
limits of extra territorial enforcement of his administrative
fiats against a civilian economy. His violation of economic
sovereignty parallels Obama’s announcement that US Special
Forces would operate in violation of political sovereignty on
four continents. For all intents and purposes, Levey makes US
policy toward Iran. At each point he designs the escalation of
sanctions, and then passes it on to the White House, which
shoves it down the throats of the Security Council. Once new
sanctions approved by Levey and staff are in place they are
there to enforce them: identifying violators and implementing
penalties. Treasury has become an outpost of Tel Aviv. Not a
single leftist, liberal or social democratic publication
highlights the role of Levey or even the terrible economic
pain this Old Testament fanatic is inflicting on 75 million
Iranian civilian workers and consumers. [65]
Rosen's Court Case Embarrasses AIPAC
23.11.10 After the Larry
Franklin spy scandal hit the news headlines, AIPAC fired Steve
Rosen claiming he was a rogue agent and the cause of all the
trouble. Now Rosen is taking AIPAC to court, countering that his
actions were completely routine for AIPAC, among other things.
Steve Rosen, who was in charge of
foreign policy issues at AIPAC until 2005, is suing his former
employer for $20 million, alleging that AIPAC defamed him when
they fired him. Rosen and colleague Keith Weissman were
charged in 2004 with espionage for allegedly pressuring a
Washington Post reporter into running classified US government
information they had obtained about Iran. [68]
This ongoing court
case is revealing things that AIPAC definitely doesn’t want the
public to know about. For instance, classified government
information was routinely being handled by AIPAC, and AIPAC's
staff is infatuated with pornography, Rosen included:
Lawyers for AIPAC got Rosen to admit he
viewed pornography on work computers, but Rosen has countered
that the head of AIPAC and his closest colleagues openly
watched porn at work. [68]
References
Anyone with sufficient time and inclination can
recreate the NEO-CONnections chart, and other
information about the neo-cons shown above, using these public
sources and others:
1.
Spy probe scans neo-cons' Israel ties,
By Jim
Lobe, IPS,
September 2, 2004.
2.
FBI copies Israel lobbyist's computer
drive, By Jerry Seper,
Washington Times,
September 3, 2004.
3.
ADL calls for probe of Pentagon `mole'
leak, By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz September 2,
2004.
4.
A molehill without a mole,
By Jonathon Ariel, Maariv International,
August 31, 2004
5.
The Lie Factory, by
Robert Dreyfuss and Jason Vest, MotherJones.com,
Jan./Feb. 2004.
8.
Serving Two Flags - The Bush Neo-Cons
and Israel, By Stephen Green, September 3,
2004.
10.
Bush makes a foxy pick,
by Jim Lobe, Asia Times Online, March 9, 2005.
13.
A subterranean power struggle in Washington,
By Patrick Martin, World Socialist Web Site, May 10, 2005.
14.
Exit Strategy: Civil War,
by Pepe Escobar, Asia Times Online, June 10, 2005.
15.
Uncovered: The War on Iraq, a film by Robert Greenwald,
2004 DVD.
18.
Cheney Circles the Wagons, by Jim Lobe, Asia Times
Online, November 3, 2005.
21.
Faculty's Chilly Welcome for
Ex-Pentagon Official, by Jason DeParle, New
York Times, May 25, 2006.
22.
The New American Century: Rest in
peace, by Jim Lobe, IPS via ATOL, June 14,
2006.
23.
US: Danger, danger everywhere,
by Tom Barry, ATOL, June 23, 2006.
24.
Profile: Frank Gaffney,
Right Web, 2006.
25.
Hunting monsters in Jerusalem,
by Tom Barry, ATOL, August 26, 2006.
26.
U.S. Neo-Cons Call For Japanese Nukes,
Regime Change, by Jim Lobe, IPS October 11,
2006.
32.
War cost has hidden tolls,
by Kevin G. Hall and Dave Montgomery, Miami Herald, December
6, 2006.
35.
How Syria dodged a neo-con bullet,
by Jim Lobe, Asia Times, December 20, 2006.
36.
How Neocon Shiite Strategy Led to
Sectarian War, by Gareth Porter, IPS,
February 6, 2007.
39.
US ally Musharraf in a tangle over
Iran, by M K Bhadrakumar, ATOL, March 7,
2007.
41.
[Iran]
The Religious Right's New Bugbear,
by Bill Berkowitz, IPS, March 14, 2007.
42.
Sun-rise in New York,
by Scott Sherman, The Nation, April 18, 2007.
46.
Rudy's Bird of Prey, by
Ari Berman, The Nation, October 11, 2007.
47.
Freedom's Watch targeting Iran,
by Bill Berkowitz, Media Transparency, October 17, 2007.
48. End Times: The Death of the Fourth Estate, by
Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, p. 190, 2007.
49.
Betting on Red, by
Peter Stone, Mother Jones magazine, January/February 2008
issue.
50.
Billions: The Politics of Influence in
the United States, China and Israel, by Peter
Dale Scott and Connie Bruck, Japan Focus, July 25, 2008.
53.
Neo-cons still preparing for Iran
attack, by Robert Dreyfuss, Asia Times,
December 4, 2008.
54. Zionism,
Militarism, and the Decline of US Power, by James Petras,
Clarity Press, 2008, pg. 102-103.
55.
Former Israeli spy linked to Pentagon leak, by Eli
Lake, Washington Times, March 17, 2009.
56.
Lawmaker Is Said to Have Agreed to Aid Lobbyist, by
Neil A. Lewis and Mark Mazzetti New York Times, April 20,
2009.
57.
Sources: Wiretap Recorded Rep. Harman Promising to Intervene
for AIPAC, by Jeff Stein, Congressional Quarterly, April
19, 2009.
59.
StandWithUs Money Trail
Reveals Neocon Funders, by Eli Clifton, IPS via
Information Clearing House, October 22, 2009.
60.
Israel’s European Lobby,
by Maidhc Ó Cathail, Information Clearing House, October
28th, 2009.
61.
Israel 'personally attacking
human rights group' after Gaza war criticism, by
Chris McGreal, The Guardian, November 13, 2009.
62.
Israel
approves east Jerusalem building project, Amy Teibel,
AP, January 5, 2010.
63.
Gambling
with peace: how US bingo dollars are funding Israeli
settlements, by Chris McGreal, The Guardian, July 19,
2009.
64.
Israeli activist buys Arabs' land for Jewish settlements,
by Sheera Frenkel, McClatchy, May 14, 2010.
66.
AIPAC Bares All to Quash Lawsuit, by Grant Smith,
AntiWar.com, November 15, 2010.
67.
Ex-AIPAC official got at least $670,000 from donors, by
Jeff Stein, Washington Post, November 19, 2010.
68.
Ex-AIPAC official threatens to uncover mass spying at Israel
lobby, by Daniel Tencer, The Raw Story, November 21,
2010.
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