ZGram - 3/21/2003 - "The Toledo Blade: 'Whose national interest?'"

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny:  Now more  than ever!

March 21, 2003

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

I send you the introductory comment and actual editorial below the 
way they were sent to me:

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Here is phenomenal editorial from the Toledo Blade which should be
disseminated near and far, and which could form the basis for many
good letters to the editor and talk show comments:

The Toledo Blade is a substantial US daily newspaper.

Jim (a friend) spoke with its news department to verify that the piece below
was an actual editorial, and not an op-ed piece, and told the reporter to gi=
ve
his congratulations to the editors and to say that they had made newspaper
history.  Finally, he said that  if the nation's larger papers had run
editorials like this one a few months ago, the present war may have been
averted.

If you wish to send a message of encouragement or support to counterbalance
the criticism they must be receiving, their contact information follows:

The Toledo Blade Company,
541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660, (419) 724-6000

RUSSELL, ROSE <rrussell@theblade.com>  Associate editor

SHUTT, DAVID <dshutt@theblade.com>  Editorial director  (419) 724-6067

WALTON, TOM <twalton@theblade.com>  Vice president-Editor (419) 724-6170

  -\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=3DTO&Date=3D20030318&C=
ateg
ory=3DOPINION02&ArtNo=3D103180065&Ref=3DAR&SectionCat=3DOPINION

Editorials | Article published Tuesday, March 18, 2003

Whose national interest?

The Democratic Party's shunning of Virginia Congressman James Moran because
of remarks some wrongly construe as anti-Semitic suggests a greater fear of
losing conservative American Jewish money in 2004 than an adherence to
honest, intelligent, political principles.

Mr. Moran, an 11-term congressman, was critical of U.S. Jewish leaders who,
he felt, could alter war fervor. He said many were swayed after talking with
hawkish former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. If he
misrepresents their position, they can say so. House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi is out of line to demand Mr. Moran's head.

=46or half a century there has been a wrongheaded effort to label anti-Semit=
ic
any criticism of anyone or anything Jewish, including Israel. Fear of the
hateful tag inhibits open discussion, minimizes honest criticism, and blocks
informed decisions.

Mr. Moran isn't alone in linking White House policy makers to Israeli
interests. He may be, sad for him, the first elected official to be
forthcoming. And he erred in alluding to strong support for war in the
Jewish community, which is diverse.

Stanley Heller, American and Jewish, has tried to keep his co-religionists
honest for 20-odd years. In a Feb. 20 article at www.antiwar.com, he cited
"rabid neocons" - some of whom, "like Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, and
David Wurmser, actually worked for Israeli think tanks writing grand papers
for (Likud) Prime Minister Netanyahu on how the U.S. and Israel should take
apart and reconstruct the Middle East," and who now hold key roles in
shaping U.S. foreign policy

Though Mr. Heller ascribes most war zeal to oil, empire dreams, and weapons
testing, he says "We owe it to Americans to tell them the whole truth, that
part of the war drive is being fueled by a wacko militarist clique from
Israel and its interlocking bands of American Jewish and Christian
supporters."

He's not alone. In the Feb. 23 (London) Observer Ed Vulliamy, and in the
March 3 San Diego Union-Tribune, James O. Goldsborough, speak in the same
vein - of America's first religious war and proponents' visions of empire.

Mr. Vulliamy takes on the empire theme. In 1992, he says Paul Wolfowitz
wrote a blueprint for America=92s 21st century foreign policy that seems a
play book for this administration. It talks of using "nuclear, biological,
and chemical weaponry, pre-emptively 'even in conflicts that do not directly
engage U.S. interests.'"

Is this what Americans want? Does Israel have too strong a hand in our
foreign policy, or do its interests merely coincide with ours? Americans
won't know without open discussions free of political repercussions and
stifling accusations.

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