"A front for AIPAC"

Was the Invasion of Iraq A Jewish Conspiracy?
Published by Greg Palast June 26th, 2006 in Articles
Tikkun Magazine JULY/AUGUST 2006
http://www.gregpalast.com/was-the-invasion-of-iraq-a-jewish-conspiracy#more-1433

from Jeffrey Blankfort in SF,

"This is an interesting article by investigative journalist Greg Palast
who has, in the past, has avoided any mention of Israel or the Israel
lobby even in his book, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," when, if
he really wanted to know who the biggest buyers were, he could have
readily found them in the internet among the Mother Jones 400, and the big
donors from the Communications and Finance industries on the Center for
Public Integrity site, and they are not oil men.

Of the 400 top donors to the 2000 election cycle, 7 of the top 10, 12 of the top 20 and at
least 125 of the top 250 were Jewish. Haim Saban, an Israeli-American,
and a big backer of AIPAC, gave to the Democrats in 2002, $12.3
million, which is two million more than Ken Lay and Exxon gave to the
Republicans over a 10 year period but strangely, it didn't get the same
media attention.

On the other hand, this article of his bears out what I have been
saying for the three years, that the neo-con notion to take over and privatize
Iraqi oil was nonsense and flied in the face of how the oil industry
operates, that the neo-cons were no longer running the show, but what
Palast doesn't deal with is the initial opposition to the war on the
part of Bush Sr., as well as James Baker, and oil company executives
including Phillip Carroll of Shell, nor does he, once again, mention
that not only were the neo-cons the main tub thumpers for the war, it
was also supported by the major organizations of the Israel lobby, led
by AIPAC and the parade of pro-Israel Jewish columnists who are
nationally syndicated and led by Tom Freedman, William Safire (since
replaced by David Brooks), Charles Krauthammer, Jeff Jacoby, and all
the publications of Rupert Murdoch and Mortimer Zuckerman.

The war was also called for by the major principals of both Likud and Labor in Israel,
Sharon, Netanyahu and Peres, as well as Chef of Staff Shall Mofaz who
said that after taking care of Iraq, the US should do the same with
Syria and Iran.

If Palast was not so intent on shielding Israel and its American
supporters from scrutiny, he would have acknowledged that the reason
that the Democrats joined the Bush administration in supporting the war
was that the majority of their funding comes from pro-Israel lobbyists
which makes the Party, as Prof. Francis Boyle recently said, "a front
for AIPAC." Now that the war has taken out Saddam and literally
destroyed the country, the Democrats are allowed to criticize the
conduct of the war, but not so directly the war itself, and will be
ready to serve the lobby's call when it comes to taking on Iran. They
have already overwhelmingly approved the Iran Freedom Act, the latest
AIPAC war-mongering effort.

It is a shame that Palast has not employed his excellent investigative
skills to examine this aspect of American society and instead has
allowed them to play second fiddle to his attachment to Israel.
Otherwise, he would not also be trying to convince us that both Bolton
and Wolfowitz have important roles still to play for the Bush regime.

I have sent a copy of this to Greg Palast, with whom I have had two
superb interviews on my radio program, but not on this subject. I am
hoping that he will reply and, if so I will forward it to my list."