ZGram - 3/20/2004 - "Some thoughts about the neocons"

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

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

February 20, 2004

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

There is an excellent article on America's neocons - I prefer to call 
them America's Fifth Column - on 
http://www.counterpunch.org/christison03052004.html and an equally 
insightful comment on that article, written by Steven Sniegoski. 
Read one or both - they're worth it!

[START]

Friends,

Christison on the Neocons

Bill Christison is a former CIA figure who is not too fearful to 
mention the role of Israel's supporters in shaping American foreign 
policy. In this article, Christison details the neocons' power. 
(Although the title refers to the neocons' "faltering," this does not 
seem to be central to the article.) Acknowledging that the neocons 
don't act alone, Christison writes that "Within this entire 
conglomerate, the neocons definitely wield real power and influence, 
even though none of them at present occupies a cabinet-level 
position. But one thing and only one thing makes them important -- 
the fact that with minor exceptions, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice 
have enthusiastically accepted all the early phases of the policy 
agenda that has, since the early 1990s, been the very trademark of 
the neocons."

I would go even farther than Christison here. It should be added that 
Cheney and Rumsfeld have been close to the neocons for some time, and 
are, to some extent, dependent on neocon support. Rice is a foreign 
policy lightweight, with little knowledge about the Middle East. 
Bush, of course, is a total dunderhead. The neocons' power results 
from the fact that they have an agenda and a network pushing their 
propaganda within and outside of the Bush administration. There has 
been no real countervailing power in the Bush administration.

Of course, the September 11 terrorist attacks provided the neocons 
with the golden opportunity to implement their agenda. And their war 
agenda does mesh with the interests of war profiteers, Republican 
political partisans, Christian Zionists, and war liberals bent on 
advancing democracy, women's rights, etc. in far corners of the 
globe. But the neocons have been the key to this whole war coalition, 
which has coalesced around the neocon agenda.

Christison points out that the neocon foreign policy agenda contains 
two aspects: one global and the other oriented toward an 
Israelocentric Middle East. "This agenda includes a general, or 
global, aspect and another aspect that gives greater emphasis to the 
Middle East than to any other area. The global agenda includes 
constantly expanding U.S. military expenditures, a unilateral U.S. 
drive for global domination, and increased control over the world's 
fossil fuel supplies."

While the two aspects are there, it is apparent to me that the focus 
on Israel is primary. There are many other American imperialists such 
as Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft who opposed the war on 
Iraq because they correctly believed that it would impede America's 
global imperial effort. The unilateralist war has alienated allies. 
America's military forces have been stretched thin. The billions of 
defense dollars that have been diverted to Iraq cannot be used for 
more profitable imperialist ventures. While the neocons do have an 
American global dominance objective, they only intend to pursue it by 
a policy that simultaneously advances Israeli interests. However, the 
optimal way of advancing American imperialism would not necessarily 
involve advancing Israel.

Christison points out that neocons are "lying low for the moment," 
due to the obvious problems in Iraq. They have had to downplay their 
role in the policymaking. Furthermore, there is the election year 
politics, making it especially essential to cover up any relationship 
between the war and Israel. Bush's "political handlers surely want to 
avoid the embarrassment that might result if it became more widely 
accepted that one of the real U.S. motives in invading Iraq was to 
strengthen Israel's military position and political dominance 
throughout the Middle East."

"Supporters of Bush have launched a two-pronged counterattack, 
arguing first that the influence of the neocons over U.S. foreign 
policy is a myth and, second, that if you are dumb enough to believe 
the myth, it is almost a sure thing that you are also an anti-Semite."

While covering up their own power in the administration, the neocons 
are moving to take more power. One tactic is to present their WMD 
lies as incompetent intelligence gathering by CIA professionals, who 
actually have served as a block to neocon propaganda efforts. 
Christison points out that this is actually an effort by the neocons 
to expand their influence and replace the intelligence professionals. 
"They are trying to switch the entire blame for the fiasco over 
weapons of mass destruction and the continuing killings in Iraq to 
the CIA. There is no question that the CIA deserves some of the 
criticism directed against it, but most of the blame in my view 
belongs to the administration's own distortions and exaggerations of 
intelligence. The neocons want to reorganize the intelligence 
apparatus of the United States to make it even easier for the 
administration to introduce more distortions and exaggerations into 
intelligence analysis in the future."

Christison also makes the sometimes-ignored point that neocons are 
not isolated from the general Jewish pro-Zionist community. Where 
their interests converge on the interests of Israel, non-neocon 
Zionist organizations such as AIPAC work together with the neocons. 
"It suffices to know, however, that the neocons and the [Israel] 
lobby together form a very powerful mutual support society, and their 
relationship is symbiotic in the extreme."

Christison also emphasizes the close ties between the American and 
Israel military-industrial complexes as a major factor in orienting 
American foreign policy toward Israel.

"AIPAC sells Israel by telling a congressman that he or she should 
support Israel because this is how many industries in your state have 
business links to Israel, this is how many military research people 
are sitting in universities in your district, this is how many jobs 
in your district are dependent on the military and the defense 
industry." I just don't see the pressure from the defense industry as 
a fundamental explanation for congressional support for Israel. 
American defense contracts with Israel would seem to be only a tiny 
fraction of the American defense industry's business, and far more 
members of Congress are willing to reduce the American defense budget 
than to take a stand against Israel.

As opposed to Christison's alleged indirect approach, it appears that 
organized supporters of Israel go directly after politicians that 
they deem opponents of Israel and can inject very substantial amounts 
of money to do this. Pro-Zionists were able to remove Senator Charles 
Percy (Illinois) in 1984 for actually okaying defense sales to Saudi 
Arabia. Similarly, the removal of Black congresspersons Earl Hilliard 
(Alabama) and Cynthia McKinney (Georgia) in 2002 was achieved in such 
a direct fashion rather than through any pressure from arms dealers. 
In short, the Israeli lobby can directly mount a political challenge 
to any member of Congress who opposes Israel and most members of 
Congress simply don't want to face this danger and thus support the 
Israeli line. It also should be remarked that the generally 
pro-Israel slant of the American media, where Jews are heavily 
involved, also plays a role in shaping public and elite opinion, and 
can be used to attack any political figure who dares to criticize 
Israel.

Christison also touches on the possibility the neocons might be 
involved in an "October surprise" to keep Bush in office. However, 
while he recognizes that a new Kerry regime would not have neocon 
advisers, its foreign policy in the Middle East would not be 
drastically different from the Bush regimes.

[END]

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