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=> Columbia U book on Iraq war ...

Columbia U book on Iraq war ...
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Columbia U book on Iraq war suggests Wolfie, Feith, Wurmser and Perle had ‘Israeli interests, not just U.S. interests at heart’
by Philip Weiss on December 21, 2011


Paul Pillar on Charlie RoseAn important new book on the Iraq war published by Columbia University Press, written by a former longtime CIA official, contains a dual loyalty charge against the neoconservatives, saying that some of them had Israeli interests and not just American interests "at heart" in pushing the war. The charge concludes a section that names Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, David Wurmser and Paul Wolfowitz as former Bush officials who cared about Israel.

Author Paul Pillar has a stellar Establishment reputation. He held several senior positions at the CIA and National Intelligence Council, serving during the Iraq war. Now a professor at the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, he has published a sharp critique of the war effort, titled Intelligence and US Foreign Policy: Iraq, 9/11, and Misguided Reform.

I got the book yesterday and find that it repeatedly attacks the neoconservatives for hatching the plans for this disastrous war, which was then executed by "assertive nationalists," Rumsfeld and Cheney. Pillar calls them a "cabal."

The Iraq adventure was initiated by a small number of neoconservative intellectuals and assertive nationalists, ultimately backed by George W. Bush's gut. The numbers were small enough for Powell's longtime assistant Lawrence Wilkerson to refer plausibly to a "cabal" as being responsible for the war.

Pillar is hardest on the neoconservative ideology of using force to spread democracy in the Arab world. He devotes many pages to exploring, and exploding, these ideas.

He singles out former Bush aides David Wurmser, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz for their roles in fomenting the war and though he says that talking about Israeli security as a motive is the "third rail of American politics," he concludes that "sympathy for Israel and its interests" played an important role in the war plans.

Specifically, in a four-page section titled "Israel," conveniently overlooked by the NYT Book Review of the book, Pillar cites Feith, Perle and Wurmser for assisting Netanyahu in the late 90s with the "Clean Break" policy paper that urged the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the outsourcing of the Palestinian problem to Jordan. Though he does not say that all three men are Jewish, Pillar quotes these religious words by those neocons in that plan, rejecting the idea of land for peace:

"Our claim to the land to which we have clung for hope for 2000 years--is legitimate and noble."

Pillar then states that Feith's "dedication to Israeli interests had an intensely personal foundation," describing the annihilation of his father Dalck's whole family in Poland during the Holocaust.

Pillar describes Wolfowitz as "another architect of the Iraq war with connections to Israel" and offers that his sister moved to Israel and he was celebrated by the Jerusalem Post as a strong supporter of Israel.

Pillar's section on the Israel interests concludes thusly:

Sympathy for Israeli interests probably was not the principal motivator of the decision to launch the Iraq War, but it did play an important supporting role....[S]ome policymakers probably gave less attention or weight than U.S. interests warranted to, say, the American human and material resources required for the post invasion occupation of Iraq because they had Israeli interests (or their particular conception of those interests) and not just U.S. interests at heart.

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.

View all posts by Philip Weiss → Posted in Iraq, Israel Lobby, Neocons, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics


Dan Crowther says:

December 21, 2011 at 10:08 am

Funny, I was reading Justin Elliots latest on the block/davis spat
link to salon.com

For some reason, i think both davis and block are going to see eye to eye on Pillars book…great post phil….



Annie Robbins says:

December 21, 2011 at 10:12 am

Though he does not say that all three men are Jewish, Pillar quotes these religious words by those neocons in that plan, rejecting the idea of land for peace:

“Our claim to the land to which we have clung for hope for 2000 years–is legitimate and noble.”

hmm. excellent review phil.


seafoid says:

December 21, 2011 at 10:15 am

Endless war is not “good for the Jews”. It has coarsened Israel and means the society is more violent. More extremist. Unable to plan efficiently. I imagine there’s a lot of wife beating in Israel compared to Norway.

Perle and co live in gated communities and will never feel the insecurity of Jews who are forced to leave their Sparta.


Krauss says:

December 21, 2011 at 10:19 am

I think it is legitimate to talk about these issues.
But what I do not want is a situation where it is the only thing we talk about.

The Israel Lobby is powerful, yes, but it isn’t the only lobby influencing foreign policy. Not just among (semi) ethnic lobbies, but we have to take into account the military-industrial complex too. As well as simple greed for oil. Iraq has the capacity to produce 10 mb/d of oil. It was producing 3.5 or so for several decades under Saddam due to underinvestment and other issues. Of course that plays a huge role too.

I would hazard that his book is more nuanced than the view we get here, which is, basically, only Israel and the neocons.
Walt and Mearsheimer stated this on the issue a few years back:

“The Iraq war was not solely influenced by the Israel lobby. There were other factors at play. But it was a major force, and without it, the war would likely not have happened”.

That’s speculation on their part, of course, but it’s a valid speculation nontheless.
Another issue: it’s very naive of him to talk about the neocons and then use the word ‘cabal’ in the context.

I think he basically argues that a bunch of Jewish Israel-Firsters together with Rumsfeld/Cheney and the Oil Lobby/Military-Industrial complex convened upon Iraq and sold it to the public by a willing/coerced media.

But if we only focus on one part, the Israel Firsters, then that brutalizes the discussion and simplifies it. I take the hyperventilation of the neocons lightly, but the specter of a slow-moving anti-Semitism in certain circles shouldn’t be underestimated if the discussion is allowed to be dumbed down and solely focused on the Jewish fringe concentrated among the neocons(sure there were non-Jewish neocons too, but these were generally not as influential and/or as numerous, with a few exceptions).

I haven’t read the book, but I would venture that it was more nuanced than this view that we’ve gotten here. I don’t mean to be harsh, but it risks the author being singled out for a single-minded focus he didn’t have – by only focusing on one issue – and narrowing the discussion to only the Israel lobby which I find disheartening and frankly a little bit dangerous.

Don’t take this comment as a call for censorship; rather as a call to broaden the discussion and give it depth.



Sin Nombre says:

December 21, 2011 at 11:10 am
Krauss wrote:


“I take the hyperventilation of the neocons lightly, but the specter of a slow-moving anti-Semitism in certain circles shouldn’t be underestimated if the discussion is allowed to be dumbed down and solely focused…”

Oh, right, bar the door Katie! Forget the distinctly non-spectral reality of even Tom Friedman essentially saying that if you hadn’t had some 25 jewish folks in certain positions in Washington we’d have never gone into Iraq and gotten near 5000 of our own people killed, some multiple of that maimed, and some hundreds of thousands of Iraqis immolated!

And forget the distinctly non-spectral reality of AIPAC and other Israeli-centric jewish individuals and organizations pushing us to war against Iran, and pushing this “War on Terror” crap including domestic legislation allowing indeterminate imprisonment of us without trial.

And forget the non-spectral fact that those same folks are using every ounce of brain and dollars they can to get us to hand over billions upon billions to Israel every year to subsidize the stealing of Palestinian land, and the treatment of the Palestinians as helots.

And forget the non-spectral reality that since the PA has said it won’t talk anymore until at least the settlement expansions stop that the organized jewish community in the U.S. has *still* clearly continued supporting Israel while it continues down that path instead of opting to see it stopped and seeing peace talks resume.

And forget the non-spectral reality that even in what might be called the “unorganized” jewish community only some pitiful handful of its members have come out against continuing to support Israel while it goes down that path choosing not to even talk peace.

No no no! Forget that! Forget *all* that! What’s important of course is the mere *specter* that somewhere, at some point, someone might take a bit of disliking to the jews generally!

I mean … quelle horreur! What’s a few hundred thousand lives and all that other stuff matter when compared to something *serious* like … advertising how allegedly ethically superior we all are by being against stereotyping!

… and then people wonder how Israel is getting away with it all


Krauss says:

December 21, 2011 at 11:42 am

Sin Nombre, you’re losing your head in hyperbole.
I’m not saying ‘forget it’, I’m saying ‘broaden it’.

Take a deep breath. Slowly.


Sin Nombre says:

December 21, 2011 at 12:13 pm

Yeah, you’re probably right Krauss; sorry to pick on you. I’m just sick of the uber-politically-correct sensitivity that seems to me has gotten us into this situation in the first place. Nobody can say s___ that is about what’s blatantly going on because of being smeared as an anti-semite, so absolutely leaving these Israeli Firsters an open field over which they’ve run us into Iraq and this War on Terror and etc. and so forth.

I just don’t think we can afford to care even anymore realistically. And like I say, if the jewish community isn’t concerned about it enough, why should I be? Of course it *says* it is, but then as I also observed where is that *whole* community now that the Palestinians have simply said stop the settlements and we will talk. Has that community in *any* significant measure stopped its support of Israel? In *any* significant way?

Hell no. So why is it wrong to observe that well, that community does indeed feel that Israel stealing ever more Palestinian land is more important than it talking peace? Please God *someone* please tell me why this is invalid and wrong.

Because if it isn’t wrong, the just how much does that jewish community really care about being negatively viewed? Not as much as it cares about seeing the Israelis ever expand those settlements, logic says.

So how come one can’t just conclude that that community hasn’t just made that choice? Life is tough, choices do have to be made. And you can’t have your settlement cakes and eat the idea that gee you’re wonderful and spotless and would never support anything bad as a group too.


Jeffrey Blankfort says:

December 21, 2011 at 1:51 pm

Krauss, while you are concerned about what you call “the specter of a slow-moving anti-Semitism in certain circles” it is not just the neocons this time but virtually the entire Jewish establishment that is swiftyly pushing hard for a US attack on Iran and/or support for the Israelis should they elect to do it and it has been doing so since the invasion of Iraq, a fact that has largely been ignored by the same folks on the Left who keep insisting that it was a war for oil, an argument that even the NY Times in its latest summary of the war easily disproves.

The problem, Krauss, is not anti-Semitism at any speed but the growth of a virulent form of philo-semitism among certain Republicans and Christian evangelicals which negates the humanity of the Palestinians and undermines what little is left of our democracy.


teta mother me says:

December 21, 2011 at 2:14 pm

I have to give my vote to Sin Nombre here, Krauss.
It was is not just a “cabal” of Jewish neocons allied with Cheney-Rumsfeld; the Israel lobby has achieved full spectrum dominance, its network has a hub in Israel’s highest government offices — Netanyahu’s, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; multiple Jewish billionaires support the lobby; writers who get published because publishers are in the network are part of the spectrum– Mike Evans, and Simon Winchester and Erik Larson come to mind , but no best selling author in any genre makes it through the front door of a major bookstore unless the right things are said about holocaust/Israel/zionism ( David McCullough writes important histories but manages to skirt the issues that would bring the Foxman hammer down on his typewriter).

Further down this thread American spelled out how and why the oil companies did not want and did not benefit from war on Iraq.

Also further downthread, PABelmont lists other lobbies with a keen interest in promoting war, among them the defense contractors. When I lived in the DC area in the mid-1980s, and at the time that Martin Marietta merged with Lockheed, dozens of houses in my neighborhood were sold to Jewish employees of either Martin Marietta then Lockheed Martin. One neighbor came to my house regularly and cried over coffee at my kitchen table because her (Hebrew-speaking) husband had been sent to Israel for 6-8 months at a time.

In that period of time Dov Zakheim held very influential positions in either the Pentagon itself or in major consultants to the DoD. There is a direct linkage between Israel interests and the interests of the defense industry. (Also worth noting — the aeronautics industry that is proving to be of major importance to the economy of South Carolina — Lindsay Graham’s turf–is importing high-skill workers from Israel and Russia, to the chagrin of locals who think they are equally qualified to hold those high-paying jobs.)

Zakheim was one of the panelists in a discussion of Jacob Heilbrunn’s book (that Phil has cited in the past), They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons (Heilbrunn had been a ‘neocon,’ he states). When Heilbrunn said that a primary motivation for several of the neocons listed as ‘part of the cabal’ was their loss of family members in the world war, Zakheim tried to squelch the notion, but Heilbrunn fought back.

In the 1990s the Jewish population of the DC suburbs ballooned — according to the Jewish demographic studies, the Jewish population in the Washington metro area increased by more than 50,000 from 1990 to 2010 { DC msa Jewish pop. 2001, 165,000 DC msa Jewish pop. 2010, 215,600.} An article that was published in a Jewish newspaper (that I can’t find just at this moment) reports that whereas Jews held only low-level positions–mostly as translators, iirc– in Washington policy making circles, in 1995, Jews made enormous gains in access to decision-making or decision-shaping positions in the State Department among other Washington bureaucracies.

The Iran Task Force whose mission is to “educate” Americans on the “threat to humanity” posed by Iran is part of the World Jewish Diplomatic Congress, which in turn is funded by Israel’s MFA.

The qualitative and directional shift toward Israel in Washington policy making correlates with a quantitative increase in Jewish persons present at the policy making table and a leap in wealth aggregation of a number of prominent Jews, among them Sandy Weil at Citibank and others that have already been mentioned.

First generation survivors of Europe’s wars — my father’s generation, for example –provided relatively few to the policy making apparatus; my father, for example, was too injured by the war to be able to do so. The maturation of the second generation, the sons and daughters of war survivors, particularly among the Jewish people, coincided with the bringing to dominance of the Holocaust — American Jews, Portrait of a Split Personality, published in 1968, has NO reference whatsoever to Holocaust or zionism; the words are not indexed and I did not come across them in reading the text. Steven Spielberg, the Bronfmans, Egypt’s peace accord with Israel in 1979, and Iran’s revolution in the same year, were major factors in propelling the holocaust to worldwide awareness.



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