How pro-Israel neocons pushed for war in Iraq [VIDEO]

Israel and its American partisans played a major role – perhaps the decisive role – in pushing the U.S. to invade Iraq, because they considered Iraq a potential threat to Israel – an invasion that has resulted in the deaths of half a million Iraqis, 7,000 Americans, will cost Americans trillions of dollars, and led to the regional chaos we see today.

Numerous analysts have discussed the Israeli connection to the Iraq war in detail… there have been in depth articles by Stephen Green, Kathleen Christison, and many others …and essential books; the The Israel Lobby by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, and, especially The Road to Iraq by Muhammad Idrees Ahmad and The Transparent Cabal by Stephen Sniegoski.

Mainstream Israeli media have not been shy in discussing the topic. A 2003 article in Ha’aretz, one of Israel’s main newspapers, reported bluntly:

“The war in Iraq was conceived by 25 neoconservative intellectuals, most of them Jewish, who are pushing President Bush to change the course of history.”

It gave what it termed “a partial list” – US government officials Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Eliot Abrams, journalists William Kristol, and Charles Krauthammer” – describing them as “mutual friends who cultivate one another.”

The article included an interview with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who was quoted as saying:

“It’s the war the neoconservatives wanted. It’s the war the neoconservatives marketed. Those people had an idea to sell when September 11 came, and they sold it. Oh boy, did they sell it. So this is not a war that the masses demanded. This is a war of an elite.”

The article continued:

“Friedman laughs: ‘I could give you the names of 25 people (all of whom are at this moment within a five-block radius of this office) who, if you had exiled them to a desert island a year and a half ago, the Iraq war would not have happened.’”

Another Israeli newspaper article described how some of these individuals, high American officials, gave Israeli leaders tips on how to manage American actions and influence US Congressmen, concluding:

“Perle, Feith, and their fellow strategists are walking a fine line between their loyalty to American governments and Israeli interests.”

American author, peace activist, and former CIA analyst Kathleen Christison discussed the situation in a 2002 article, reporting: “Although much has been written about the neo-cons who dot the Bush administration, their ties to Israel have generally been treated very gingerly.”

The Bush administration, she wrote, was “peppered with people who have long records of activism on behalf of Israel in the United States, of policy advocacy in Israel, and of promoting an agenda for Israel often at odds with existing U.S. policy. These people,” she wrote, “who can fairly be called Israeli loyalists, are now at all levels of government, from desk officers at the Defense Department to the deputy secretary level at both State and Defense, as well as on the National Security Council staff and in the vice president’s office.”

Christison described the network that Friedman mentioned:

Richard Perle, head of the Defense Policy Board”…

Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, one of Perle’s many protégés, described by an associate as “over-the-top crazy when it comes to Israel” … named by Time Magazine as the “godfather of the Iraq War”)

Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice Presidential chief of staff, mentored by Wolfowitz

Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense ], another Perle protégé, given an award by the Zionist Organisation of America, citing him as a “pro-Israel activist”

Peter Rodman and Dov Zachkeim, Assistant Defense Secretaries ….

David Wurmser, co-author with Perle and Feith of strategy papers for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu…. His wife co-founder of a website run by retired Israeli military and intelligence officers…”

Elliott Abrams, director of Middle East affairs …

Thomas Dine, head of Radio Liberty, formerly head of AIPAC, Israel’s main lobbying organ ,,,,,

David Frum, Bush speechwriter who coined the term “axis of evil” for Bush’s state-of-the-union address …

Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy, another Perle protégé, …

Imports from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank spun off from AIPAC…..

the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), whose high-powered board is often able to place members inside conservative U.S. administrations. “

The list goes on and on… the Kagans, Michael Ledeen, Stephen Bryen, Kenneth Adelman, Philip Zelikow,

Their neo-con strategy papers dotted with concepts like ‘redefining Iraq,’ and ‘redrawing the map of the Middle East…

Author Stephen Green wrote a meticulously researched expose, turned down by numerous media outlets before finally being published by CounterPunch in 2004, describing how some of these individuals, including Perle and Wolfowitz, had been investigated through the years by US intelligence agencies for security “lapses” benefiting Israel. Yet, despite a pattern of highly questionable actions suggestive of treason, they continued to procure top security clearances for themselves and cronies….

Israeli leaders worked to sell the war to Americans. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and former Prime Ministers Netanyahu, Peres, and Barak told Americans that it was urgent that Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction program be stopped, and Israeli intelligence agencies fed the US reports supposedly documenting these.

The Israeli article I mentioned earlier reported that the goal was far more than just an invasion of Iraq: “at a deeper level,” the piece said, it is “a greater war…… “to consolidate a new world order” “to create a new Middle East….

“the Iraq war,” the article said, is “really the beginning of a gigantic historical experiment…”

We’re now seeing the outcome.

I’ve only scratched the surface on uncomfortable facts about the Iraq war that some wish to remain hidden, but my time is up….

It’s time for everyone to learn this information, the larger history behind it, and for all of us to join together to end the continuing drive for Americans to make war on Israel’s perceived enemies.

Articles mentioned in the video:

“White Man’s Burden,” by Ari Shavit, Ha’aretz, April 3, 2003: http://iakn.us/2ggApnF

“Perles of Wisdom for the Feithful,” by Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz, October 1, 2002: http://iakn.us/2hkzdzo

“The Bush Neocons and Israel,” by Kathleen and Bill Christison, Counterpunch, December 2002: http://iakn.us/2h1ajEi

“Neo-Cons, Israel and the Bush Administration,” by Stephen Green, Counterpunch, February 2004: http://iakn.us/2ggBcVi

Books mentioned in the video:

“The Transparent Cabal: The Neoconservative Agenda, War in the Middle East, and the National Interest of Israel​” by Dr. Stephen J Sniegoski: http://iakn.us/2geT2mJ​

“The Road to Iraq: The Making of a Neoconservative War” by Muhammad Idrees Ahmad: http://iakn.us/2hoz4Hn

“The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt: http://iakn.us/2gfPFAR

Some additional books with information on this topic:

“Shadow Elite: How the World’s New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market​” by Janine R. Wedel: http://iakn.us/2hoBKEW

“Queen of Chaos: The Misadventures of Hillary Clinton”​ by Diane Johnstone: http://iakn.us/2gojmhO

Wedell discusses the “massive and concerted ​’information​’ effort conducted by the Neocon core and their associates, with crucial participation from certain columnists and reporters, that was essential in taking the United States to war in Iraq​.”​

“​….​beginning in the mid-1970s, they employed methods ranging from the creation of alternative intelligence; to might-be-authorized, might-not-be authorized diplomacy; to setting up pressure groups; to suspending standard government process, always contesting government information, assessments, and expertise. These methods—perfected over the years—would be deployed in full force in the Neocon core’s effort to take the United States to war in 2003.​”

Johnstone states: “…the neocons gained notoriety as architects of the disastrous invasion of Iraq. The main thinker behind this war was Bush’s Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Paul Wolfowitz​…”

“…two veterans of the defunct PNAC, William Kristol and Robert Kagan, returned in 2009 to found the Foreign Policy Institute (FPI). Robert Kagan is the current leading neocon theorist and the husband of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, instigator of the Ukrainian coup in early 2014.​​​”

For information on the early roots of the Israel lobby, please see Alison Weir’s book, “Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel”: http://iakn.us/AOBJ-book

Iran

For information on the efforts against Iran, please see http://iakn.us/2gUjFif and http://iakn.us/2gUls6T 

Below is the New York Times ad demonizing Iran shown briefly in the video. The organizations on the left are the sponsors of the ad, as noted by their logos below the photo of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

UPDATE:

On December 11, Code Pink said they would post Alison’s testimony on their website. Although we are disappointed that this information was not included in the testimonies given on Dec. 1-2 in Washington DC, covered by some news media, we’re pleased that it will be on their site.

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Forward: Syria Strike Gives Veteran Neocon Wolfowitz Signs Of Hope For Trump

Alison Weir’s talk in Berkeley, California that discusses this and other aspects

UPDATE – EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NEW INFORMATION:

Oil for Israel: The Truth about the Iraq War, 15 Years Later