Top US general praises man who got US into Iraq, WMD fabricator Ahmad Chalabi
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Sherwood Ross: Warning: Both U.S. Parties Plan To Keep Troops in Middle East Don't look for either Clinton or Obama to change U.S. policy toward the Middle East. The current issue of The Nation explains they both want to keep the military there to guarantee oil sufficiency.

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Posted by Patrick Foy on October 24, 2007 For all practical purposes, we are at war with Iran. One wonders what the White House is waiting for. The EU is in the bag. Capitol Hill, taking its cue from AIPAC, plus all the front-running presidential contenders of both parties, who take the same cue, have stated unequivocally that the option for the United States to bomb Iran is on the table until and unless Tehran stops enriching uranium. The blank check for war has been signed, sealed and delivered. [Read More]

Tonight: Clemons on Air America; Wilkerson on Colbert Report | Main October 31, 2007
Private Note to Bush from Hagel Calls For Direct, Unconditional, Comprehensive Talks with Iran



I have just secured a private letter -- not yet publicly released -- from Senator Chuck Hagel to President Bush and copied to Condoleezza Rice, Robert Gates, and Stephen Hadley. I should add that I did not receive this letter from Senator Hagel but from other sources.

The letter urges the President to pursue "direct, unconditional, and comprehensive talks with the Government of Iran."

In the letter, both attached (Hagel letter pdf) and reprinted in full below, Hagel warns that "unless there is a strategic shift [from the current situation], I believe we will find ourselves in a dangerous and increasingly isolated position in the coming months." Hagel continues, "I do not see how the collective actions that we are now taking will produce the results that we seek."

Senator Hagel encourages President Bush to take the bold strategic step of offering a completely different course for US-Iran relations. He writes about direct unconditional talks:

An approach such as this would strengthen our ability across the board to deal with Iran. Our friends and allies would be more confident to stand with us if we seek to increase pressure, including tougher sanctions on Iran. It could create a historic new dynamic in US-Iran relations, in part forcing the Iranians to react to the possibility of better relations with the West. We should be prepared that any dialogue process with Iran will take time, and we should continue all efforts, as you have, to engage Iran from a position of strength. We should not wait to consider the option of bilateral talks until all other diplomatic options are exhausted. At that point, it could well be too late.

This letter is a call for serious, level-headed rationality from one of the Senate's most stalwart "classic conservatives."

I have since learned that the letter somehow made its way to US Central Command Commander William Fallon, perhaps through Defense Secretary Gates or other avenues, and Fallon allegedly communicated with the Senator that serious articulations of American interests and consideration of the options Hagel recommends are much needed in this current political and policy environment.

I need to also report that while I am in complete agreement with the content of Senator Hagel's letter and had the privilege of moderating a dinner discussion with him yesterday evening, the content of this letter came via other sources to me -- and I trust the Senator and his staff will respect the fact that I felt it important to bring this letter to public attention and have not violated any trust with any person in his office.

Full Text of Letter from Senator Chuck Hagel to President George W. Bush on US-Iran Policy, 17 October 2007:

October 17, 2007 The President

The White House

Washington, DC 20500


Dear Mr. President:

I write to urge you to consider pursuing direct, unconditional and comprehensive talks with the Government of Iran.

In the last two years, the United States has worked closely with the permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany, Japan, and other key states as well as the UN Secretary General and the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency to pursue a diplomatic strategy regarding Iran's nuclear program. I have supported your efforts. Maintaining a cohesive and united international front remains one of our most effective levers on Iran.

In the last year, you have also authorized our Ambassador in Iraq, Ryan Crocker, to hold bilateral talks with Iranian officials regarding the situation in Iraq. I have also supported this effort. Although Iran has continued dangerous actions in Iraq, this channel for dialogue is important.

I am increasingly concerned, however, that this diplomatic strategy is stalling. There are growing differences with our international partners. Concerns remain that the United States' actual objectives is regime change in Iran, not a change in Iran's behavior. Prospects for further action in the UN Security Council have grown dim, and we appear increasingly reliant on a single-track effort to expand financial pressure on Iran outside of the UN Security Council. Iran's actions, both on its nuclear program and in Iraq, are unchanged. Iran's leaders appear increasingly confident in their positions vis-a-vis the United States.

Unless there is a strategic shift, I believe we will find ourselves in a dangerous and increasingly isolated position in the coming months. I do not see how the collective actions that we are now taking will produce the results that we seek. If this continues, our ability to sustain a united international front will weaken as countries grow uncertain over our motives and unwilling to risk open confrontation with Iran, and we are left with fewer and fewer policy options.

Now is the time for the United States to active consider when and how to offer direct, unconditional, and comprehensive talks with Iran. The offer should be made even as we continue to work with our allies on financial pressure, in the UN Security Council on a third sanctions resolution, and in the region to support those Middle East countries who share our concerns with Iran. The November report by IAEA Director General ElBaradei to the IAEA Board of Governors could provide an opportunity to advance the offer of bilateral talks.

An approach such as this would strengthen our ability across the board to deal with Iran. Our friends and allies would be more confident to stand with us if we seek to increase pressure, including tougher sanctions on Iran. It could create a historic new dynamic in US-Iran relations, in part forcing the Iranians to react to the possibility of better relations with the West. We should be prepared that any dialogue process with Iran will take time, and we should continue all efforts, as you have, to engage Iran from a position of strength.

We should not wait to consider the option of bilateral talks until all other diplomatic options are exhausted. At that point, it could well be too late.

I urge you to consider pursing direct, unconditional and comprehensive talks with the Government of Iran.

Thank you for considering my views.

Best wishes.

Sincerely,

Chuck H.

Chuck Hagel
United States Senator

cc: Condoleezza Rice

Robert M. Gates

Stephen J. Hadley

This is a letter benchmarking the views of one of the most grounded, foreign policy savvy, common sense thinkers about the eroding state of America's military and national security portfolio. And he's a Midwestern American Republican who served in the United States Military.

Senator Hagel will be speaking for the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Thursday, 8 November, at the Capital Hilton at 11 am on the subject of America's Iran policy -- and no doubt this letter that I have secured will be among the topics of discussion.

-- Steve Clemons

TBR News October 29, 2007




The Voice of the White House

Washington, D.C., October 27, 2007: “Just after the first battle of Fredericksburg in the Civil War, Confederate general Stonewall Jackson rode into the town, accompanied by members of his staff. When they views the extensive vandalism, one of his officers asked Jackson, “Sir, what is to be done?” Jackson surveyed the senseless damage and replied very firmly, “Kill them. Kill them all!” And on that instructive historical note, let us consider our present situation. America’s middle east foreign and military programs are now run entirely by right-wing Jewish groups but hardly for the benefit of the United States. The Likudists in the government and in various political action groups have only the interest of the state of Israel at heart. The so-called neocons deliberately pushed Bush and Cheney into the Iraqi war so as to permit a permanent U.S. military force in the area to protect Israel from her hostile Arab neighbors. Now they are demanding that Bush attack Iran because in the event Iran ever does develop an atomic bomb, they want Americans to save them as they have so many times before. That large numbers of young Americans are dead or have been severely injured means nothing to these miserable creatures. They are secure in the knowledge that they not only have Bush and Cheney’s full attention and cooperation but as they own or control all of the major American media, they have no worries about being exposed. If the lunatic Bush attacks Iran, the rest of us will know who is to blame but that will not bring the dead back to life or give our young men their limbs or sight back. Do remember General Jackson, won’t you?”

The Neocons: A Study in Active Treason

by Brian Harring

George W. Bush is not an original thinker or a man with a flexible personality. He is the son of a wealthy and politically powerful man who traded on this family relationship in his disastrous business dealings. He has always relied on more experienced people to advise and guide him and as President, he is entirely under the direction and control of persons who are either Pentecostal Christians or so-called neocons.

The neocons are a well-organized group of conservative intellectuals with powerful allies in the Bush Administration. This group has become a driving force pushing the United States to invade Iraq and it is also orchestrating growing U.S. criticism of Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran.

These individuals first emerged in the 1960s when a group of thinkers, many of them Jewish and all passionately anti-Communist, became disillusioned with what they saw as a dangerous radical drift within the Democratic Party to which they then belonged.

Advocating a tough policy of building up the U.S. military and confronting the Soviet Union instead of merely using nuclear deterrence to maintain a balance of power, the movement's founders gradually shifted to the Republican Party, becoming a dominant voice in the anti-Russian foreign policy of President Ronald Reagan.

Twenty years later, with allies like Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz in the inner circle of President George W. Bush, this radical conservatism returned in a new guise.

This time, its proponents inside and outside the Administration urged an invasion of Iraq to topple President Saddam Hussein. This has been coupled with a policy of unquestioning support for the State of Israel and growing criticism of non-democratic governments in the Arab World, notably Saudi Arabia.

"By liberating Iraq and establishing a decent, tolerant government in Baghdad, the United States will achieve tremendous beneficial effects in the entire Middle East," said Ken Adelman, who was head of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency under Reagan.

Among these benefits, proponents argue, would be an instant strengthening of reformist forces in Iran and a weakening of radical Islamic forces throughout the Middle East, including among the Palestinians.

"My old mentor Donald Rumsfeld taught me years ago that if a problem seems intractable, like the Israeli-Palestinian Problem does today, what you need to do is enlarge your terms of reference. By destroying Saddam Hussein, we would give peacemakers the opportunity to gain the upper hand over the suicide bombers among the Palestinians," said Adelman.

The arch-conservative case is pushed relentlessly by conservative magazines like Commentary and the Weekly Standard, edited by William Kristol, whose parents, Irving Kristol and Gertrude Himmelfarb, helped found the arch-conservative movement.

Conservative think-tanks such as the Hudson Institute, the American Enterprise Institute and the Project for the New American Century, add weight to the cause.

Gary Schmidt of the Project for the New American Century cast the debate over Iraq as between "old realists" who believed in working through diplomacy using the United Nations, and arch-conservatives who advocated a "Reagan Policy of military strength and moral clarity."

"I don't think there is any question that President Bush will come down on our side," he said. "I firmly believe he has made up his mind to use military force to remove Saddam Hussein."

An important voice in the movement is Richard Perle, yet another former Reagan Defense Department Hawk who served as Chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, a formerly backwater committee of foreign policy old timers that Perle refashioned into an important advisory group.

The Board invited RAND Corporation analyst Laurent Murawiec to deliver a paper arguing that Saudi Arabia ought to be considered an adversary of the United States. The briefing was promptly leaked to the Washington Post.

Backers of an Iraqi invasion were delighted by a Washington Post opinion piece by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who throughout his long career was a staunch advocate of a "balance of power" foreign policy.

But in his densely argued article, Kissinger seemed to be ready to support military force against Iraq under certain conditions.

This is undoubtedly the reason why Bush appointed Kissinger to head a long-delayed commission to investigate the causes of the 9/11 attacks. The resultant outcry over the use of the badly tainted former Secretary of State caused Kissinger to quickly resign his assignment.

Analysts note that Bush's father, former President George Bush, always pursued a cautious, realpolitik policy when he was in the White House and halted the advance of U.S. troops into Iraq at the end of the Gulf War in 1991.

Opponents believe the arch-conservative doctrine is dangerously simplistic and that an invasion of Iraq, far from boosting democratic forces in the Middle East, will only fuel anti-American rage, embolden radicals, weaken U.S. Allies and lead to more terrorism.

"The neocons have a view of the world that divides it into absolute good versus absolute evil. Their attitude towards an Iraq invasion is, if you have the ability and the desire to do it, that's justification enough," said James Zogby, Chairman of the Arab American Institute.

Other critics see support for Israel as central to archconservative thinking.

"A small but well-placed group of neoconservative officials and commentators is primarily interested in eliminating what they regard as a threat to Israel," said Stephen Walt, a dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

These individuals strongly support a militant Israel; a number are Israeli citizens. In the months leading up to Bush’s catastrophic attack on Iraq, the senior neocons consisted of:

1. Richard Perle: One of Bush's top foreign policy advisors, he was the chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board. Perle was expelled from Senator Henry Jackson's office in the 1970s after the National Security Agency (NSA) caught him passing highly classified (National Security) documents to the Israeli Embassy. He later worked for the Israeli weapons firm, Soltam. Perle came from one the above mentioned pro-Israel think tanks, the AEI.

Note: On March 27, 2003, it was announced in the media that Perle had resigned as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board. His involvement in assisting the Global Crossing bankrupts and his purported $700,000 fee for his work was apparently too much for even the corrupt Bush administration to swallow. A subsequent official report completely exonerated Perle of “any wrongdoing whatsoever” and claimed his actions were “completely within official regulations.” In February of 2004, Perle reluctantly resigned his official duties so as “not to become an embarrassment to President Bush’s reelection campaign.”

2. Paul Wolfowitz: Deputy Defense Secretary, and member of Perle's Defense Policy Board, in the Pentagon. Wolfowitz is a close associate of Perle and has close ties to the Israeli military. Wolfowitz holds Israeli citizenship and his sister lives in Israel. Wolfowitz was connected with the think tank, JINSA. Wolfowitz is the number two leader within the administration behind the disastrous Iraqi war. He has been targeted by Iraqi resistance fighters on several occasions and they only narrowly missed blowing him up in his well-guarded headquarters in Baghdad. Wolfowitz was subsequently appointed by President Bush to head the World Bank and was subsequently fired for questionable activities. He later worked for a think tank.

3. Douglas Feith: Under Secretary of Defense and Policy Advisor at the Pentagon. He is a close associate of Perle and served as his Special Counsel extremist, advocating anti-Arab policies. Feith runs a small law firm, Feith and Zell, which only has one International office, in Israel. The majority of their legal work represents Israeli interests. His firm's own website stated, prior to his appointment, that Feith "represents Israeli Armaments Manufacturers." Feith, like Perle and Wolfowitz, campaigned intensely for war against Iraq. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Negotiations Policy, 1984-1986 and was Special Counsel to Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Peale 1982-1984. In 2001, Feith returned to DoD as Donald Rumsfeld's Undersecretary for Policy, and it was in his office that "OSP", the Office of Special Plans, was created. The OSP was created to manufacture intelligence information to justify the invasion of Iraq. This intelligence flowed directly from Ariel Sharon's office to the Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon. The OSP also miss-planned the post-war reconstruction there, and continues to point an accusing finger at Iran and Syria, as per Zionist plans to control the Middle East and funnel Arab oil to Israeli refineries. Feith is a graduate of Harvard College and Georgetown University Law Center and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Like Perle and the others, Feith is a pro-Israel extremist, who has advocated anti-Arab policies in the past. He is closely associated with the extremist group, the Zionist Organization of America, which even attacks Jews that don't agree with its extremist views. Feith frequently speaks at ZOA conferences. Feith runs a small law firm, Feith and Zell, which only has one International office, in Israel. The majority of their legal work is representing Israeli interests. His firm's own website stated, prior to his appointment, that Feith "represents Israeli Armaments Manufacturer." Feith basically represents the Israeli War Machine. Feith, like Perle and Wolfowitz, campaigned hard for the Israeli proxy war against Iraq

4. Edward Luttwak: Member of the National Security Study Group of the Department of Defense at the Pentagon. Luttwak is an Israeli citizen and has taught in Israel. He frequently writes for Israeli and pro-Israeli newspapers and journals. Luttwak is an extremist whose main theme in many of his articles is the necessity of the U.S. waging war against Iraq.

5. William Kristol: Co-Founder of PNAC. Kristol publishes the Weekly Standard, a Rupert Murdoch-financed magazine that promotes the neocon credo, reportedly a must-read in Cheney's office. In 2002, Media Bypass reported, “In what has been called ‘punditgate,’ conservative journalists Bill Kristol and Erwin Stelzer of The Weekly Standard … have been exposed for accepting Enron largesse. … Kristol, chief of staff to former Vice President Dan Quayle, took $100,000 without disclosing the payments at the time.

6. Henry Kissinger: One of many Pentagon Advisors, Kissinger sits on the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board under Perle. For detailed information about Kissinger evil past, read Seymour Hersch's book, Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House. Kissinger had a part in the Watergate crimes; Southeast Asian mass murders under the CIA’s Operation Phoenix (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos); overthrowing the legitimate government of Chile and installing Chilean mass murdering dictator Pinochet; Operation Condor's mass killings in South America; and more recently served as Serbia's ex-dictator Slobodan Milosevic's advisor. He has consistently advocated going to war against Iraq. Kissinger is the Ariel Sharon of the U.S. Typically, President Bush nominated Kissinger as chairman of the September 11 investigating commission. This was tantamount to selecting Enron’s Ken Lay to investigate a fraud scandal. The ensuing public outcry about this nomination caused Kissinger to beat a hasty retreat and he promptly resigned.

7. Dov Zakheim: Under Secretary of Defense, Comptroller, and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Department of Defense. He is an ordained rabbi and holds Israeli citizenship. Zakheim attended the Jewish College in London and became an ordained Orthodox Jewish Rabbi in 1973. He was adjunct professor at New York's Jewish Yeshiva University.

8. Kenneth Adelman: One of many Pentagon Advisors, Adelman also sits on the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board under Perle, and is another supporter of war against Iraq. Adelman frequently is a guest on “Fox News” and often expresses extremist and often ridiculous anti-Arab and anti-Muslim views.

9. I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby: Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff. As the chief pro-Israel Jewish advisor to Cheney, Libby was in a perfect position to influence Cheney’s stand on invading Iraq. Libby is a longtime associate of Wolfowitz. Libby was also a lawyer for convicted felon and Israeli spy Mark Rich, whom Clinton pardoned in his last days as president. On October 28, Libby was indicted for, among other charges, lying to Federal officers and obstruction of justice. As usual, Libby proclaimed his compelte innocence and stated that he would be “completely exonerated” in the future. Libby was subsequently convicted of lying under oath, sentenced to prison but immediately pardoned by Bush when Libby threatened to reveal unpleasant facts

10. Robert Satloff: U.S. National Security Council Advisor, Satloff was the executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

11. Elliott Abrams: National Security Council Advisor. Abrams previously worked at Washington-based "think tank" Ethics and Public Policy Center. During the Reagan Administration, he was the Assistant Secretary of State, handling, for the most part, Latin American affairs. He played an important role in the Iran-Contra Scandal, which involved illegally selling U.S. weapons to Iran to fight Iraq, and illegally funding the contra rebels fighting to overthrow Nicaragua's Sandinista government. He also actively deceived three congressional committees about his involvement and thereby faced felony charges based on his testimony. Abrams pled guilty in 1991 to two misdemeanors and was sentenced to a year's probation and 100 hours of community service. A year later, former President Bush (Senior) granted Abrams a full pardon. He previously worked at Washington-based "Think Tank" Ethics and Public Policy Center. Abrams is the son-in-law of Norman Podhoretz, editor emeritus of Commentary, whose magazine has for decades branded critics of Israel as anti-Semites. Abrams is a diehard PNACer, having “authored the chapter on the Middle East in the 2000 blueprint for U.S. foreign policy by the Project on the New American Century. Edited by PNAC founders William Kristol and Robert Kagan, Present Dangers: Crisis and Opportunity in American Foreign and Defense Policy is a chapter-by-chapter playbook on how to deal with America’s current and future adversaries.”

During the Reagan Administration, Abrams was the Assistant Secretary of State, handling, for the most part, Latin American affairs. He played an important role in the Iran-Contra Scandal, which involved illegally selling U.S. weapons to Iran to fight Iraq, and illegally funding the contra rebels fighting to overthrow Nicaragua's Sandinista government. He also actively deceived three congressional committees about his involvement and thereby faced felony charges based on his testimony. Abrams pled guilty in 1991 to two misdemeanors and was sentenced to a year's probation and 100 hours of community service. A year later, former President Bush (Senior) granted Abrams a full pardon. He was one of the more hawkish pro-Israel Jews in the Reagan Administration's State Department.

12. Marc Grossman: Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He was Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources at the Department of State. Grossman is one of many of the officials from the Clinton Administration that Bush has promoted to higher posts.

13. Richard Haass: Director of Policy Planning at the State Department and Ambassador at large. He is also Director of National Security Programs and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Haass was one of the more hawkish pro-Israelis in the first Bush Administration and sat on the National Security Council, consistently advocating war against Iraq. Haass is also a member of the Defense Department's National Security Study Group, at the Pentagon. Director of Policy Planning at the State Department and Ambassador at large.

14. Robert Zoellick: U.S. Trade Representative, a cabinet-level position. He is also one of the more hawkish members of the George W. Bush Administration who advocated invading Iraq and occupying a portion of the country in order to set up a Vichy-style puppet government. Zoellick was recently (2005) promoted to Deputy Secretary of State

Member of CFR and Project for the New American Century signatory. Formerly U.S. Trade Representative and Under Secretary of State in the Bush administration. It is no accident that Robert Zoellick was in line with the loudest chicken hawks in promoting the Iraq War, and at the same time acted to increase our unemployment lines in America. Robert Zoellick has been instrumental in fostering outsourcing of American jobs to the Third World.

15. Ari Fleischer: Official White House Press Spokesman for the Bush (Jr.) Administration. Fleischer is closely connected to the group called the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidics, who follow the Qabala and hold very extremist and insulting views of non-Jews. Fleischer was the co-president of Chabad's Capitol Jewish Forum. He received the Young Leadership Award from the American Friends of Lubavitch in October, 2001. Fleischer subsequently resigned his White House post.

16. James Schlesinger: One of many Pentagon advisors, Schlesinger also sits on the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board under Perle and is another supporter of the war against Iraq. Schlesinger is also a commissioner of the Defense Department's National Security Study Group, at the Pentagon.

17 David Frum: White House speechwriter behind the "Axis of Evil" label. Frum lumped together all the Administration’s outright lies and accusations against Iraq for Bush to justify the war.

18. Joshua Bolten: White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Bolton was previously a banker, former legislative aide.

19. John Bolton: Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Bolton is also a Senior Advisor to President Bush. Prior to this position, Bolton was Senior Vice President of the above-mentioned think tank, AEI. In October 2002, Bolton accused Syria of having a nuclear program so an attack Syria could be justified after a subjugation of Iraq. President Bush has appointed Bolton, an extremely opinionated and abrasive individual, to the post of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. His appointment was the subject of strong controversy and as of this writing, Bolton has not been officially appointed. Yale graduate. A prime architect of Bush's Iraq policy, Bolton served Bush Sr. and Reagan in the state department, justice department and USAid and is now under-secretary for arms control and international security in Bush Jr's state department. His appointment was intended to counter the dovish Colin Powell. Bolton now leads Rumsfeld's charge to destabilize Powell's multilateralism. Bolton is part of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, the Project for the New American Century and is a vice-president at the American Enterprise Institute. He was also one of Bush's chad-counters during the Florida count. Bolton has long advocated Taiwan getting a UN seat -- he's been on the payroll of the Taiwanese government. The US unilateralist is a regular contributor to William Kristol's right-wing Weekly Standard and has vilified UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Bolton was an opponent of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and a cheerleader for the Star Wars Defense System. He has hinted at targeting Cuba in the war on terror. His financial interests include oil and arms firms and JP Morgan Chase, like Shultz. It is said that Bolton believes in the inevitability of Armageddon. Like Woolsey, Bolton is said to believe we are in the midst of world war four which he estimates could take 40 years to finish. Despite evidence to the contrary they believe Iraq was involved in September 11. With Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Khalilzad, Bennet, Woolsey, Perle and Kristol, Bolton co-signed a letter in 1998 urging President Bill Clinton to take military action in Iraq.

20. David Wurmser: Special Assistant to John Bolton (above), the under-secretary for arms control and international security. Wurmser also worked at the AEI with Perle and Bolton. His wife, Meyrav Wurmser, along with Colonel Yigal Carmon, formerly of Israeli military intelligence, co-founded the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a Washington-based Israeli outfit which distributes articles translated from Arabic newspapers portraying Arabs in a bad light. He was a member of the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, which on July 7, 1996 which issued a paper by six ''prominent opinion makers'' laying out ''a new vision for the U.S.-Israeli partnership'' that urged an end to ''land-for-peace'' concessions. Among many suggestions was to ''focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.''

Wurmser, of American Enterprise Institute joined his former colleague, John Bolton, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, to be a special assistant. While at AEI Wurmser wrote that any attack on the U.S. military overseas should be met by Washington with a response of massive killing of civilians in the offending nation. Bolton is known for arguing that Washington should disregard international law. He "promptly dismantled or obstructed nearly every multilateral treaty in sight," He was a member of the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, which on July 7, 1996 which issued a paper by six ''prominent opinion makers'' laying out ''a new vision for the U.S.-Israeli partnership'' that urged an end to ''land-for-peace'' concessions. Among many suggestions was to ''focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.''

21. Eliot Cohen: Member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board under Perle; another extremist pro-Israel advisor. Like Adelman, Cohen often expresses extremist and often ridiculous anti-Arab and anti-Muslim views. More recently, he wrote an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal openly admitting his racist hatred of Islam and claiming that Islam and not terrorism should be the enemy.

22. Mel Sembler: President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. A prominent Republican and Former National Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee. The Export-Import Bank facilitates trade relationships between U.S. businesses and foreign countries, specifically those with financial problems.

23. Michael Chertoff: Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, at the Justice Department. Mr. Chertoff subsequently has been appointed to head the Department of Homeland Security. Homeland Security Czar Holds dual Israeli citizenship. Chertoff’s griossly imcompetent performance during the Katrina disaster is noteworthy.

24. Steve Goldsmith: Senior Advisor to the President, and Bush's Jewish Domestic Policy advisor. He also serves as liaison in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (White House OFBCI) within the Executive Office of the President. Goldsmith was the former mayor of Indianapolis.

25. Christopher Gersten: Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Administration for Children and Families at HHS.

26. Mark Weinberger: Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy.

27. Samuel Bodman: Deputy Secretary of Commerce. He was the Chairman and CEO of Cabot Corporation in Boston, Massachusetts.

28. Bonnie Cohen: Under Secretary of State for Management.

29. Ruth Davis: Director of Foreign Service Institute, reporting to the Office of Under Secretary for Management. This Office is responsible for training all Department of State staff (including ambassadors).

30. Lincoln Bloomfield: Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs.

31. Jay Lefkowitz: General Counsel of the Office of Budget and Management.

32. Ken Melman: White House Political Director. Later head of the GOP and subsequently resigned from that post.

33. Brad Blakeman: White House Director of Scheduling.

34. Stephen David Bryen : In 1979 Bryen was investigated for espionage. He had been overheard in the Madison Hotel Coffee Shop, offering classified documents to an official of the Israeli Embassy in the presence of the director of AIPAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. It was later determined that the Embassy official was Zvi Rafiah, the Mossad station chief in Washington. Bryen refused to be polygraphed by the FBI on the purpose and details of the meeting; whereas the person who'd witnessed it agreed to be polygraphed and passed the test. The investigation was squashed by Philip Heymann. Bryen was asked to resign from his Foreign Relations Committee post shortly before the investigation was concluded in late 1979. For the following year and a half, he served as Executive Director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), and provided consulting services to AIPAC.

In April, 1981, the FBI received an application by the Defense Department for a Top Secret security clearance for Dr. Bryen. Richard Perle, who had just been nominated as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, was proposing Bryen as his Deputy Assistant Secretary! Within six months, with Perle pushing hard, Bryen received both Top Secret-SCI (sensitive compartmented information) and Top Secret "NATO/COSMIC" clearances.

In 1988, while serving as the Director (and founder) of DTSA (Defense Technology Security Administration) in the DOD office, Bryen was involved attempting to export sensitive military technology to Israel. In late1988, Bryen resigned from his DOD post, and for a period worked in the private sector with a variety of defense technology consulting firms.

35. Michael Ledeen: A fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Ledeen holds a Ph.D. in History and Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin. In 1983, on the recommendation of Richard Perle, Ledeen was hired at the Department of Defense as a consultant on terrorism. While being investigated as a security risk by his supervisor, Noel Koch, it was learned from the CIA station that Ledeen had been carried in Agency files as an agent of influence of a foreign government: Israel.

After having his access to classified materials blocked he ceased working there. He next appeared at the National Security Council as a consultant working with NSC head Robert McFarlane. Ledeen was involved in the transfer of arms to Iran during the Iran-Contra affair -- an adventure that he documented in the book "Perilous Statecraft: An Insider's Account of the Iran-Contra Affair." A prominent member of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) board of governors and the Center for Security Policy (CSP), he advocates "total war" inline with the "Grand Strategy for the Middle East" which advocates "Iraq as the tactical pivot, Saudi Arabia as the strategic pivot and Egypt as the prize." Ledeen is presently a serving member on the China Commission and, with the support of DOD Undersecretary for Policy Douglas Feith, he has since 2001 been employed as a consultant for the Office of Special Plans OSP). He is involved in the handling of classified materials and has high-level security clearances

36. Michael Joyce: The former president of the Bradley Foundation, one of the largest and most influential right-wing organizations in America. It set up the PNAC led by William Kristol. Kristol's Weekly Standard is viewed in Washington as the in-house paper for Team Bush. The Standard is bankrolled by Rupert Murdoch. Joyce once said that Bush's key people such as Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz "were clearly influenced by Bradley Foundation thinking''.

Also, one can add Condoleezza Rice, Security Advisor to the President, and many of her staff to this listing.

When this cabal, eager for the war against Iraq as a means of securing vital oil supplies, a base of operations against other oil-rich neighboring Arab states, and determined to rid Israel of Saddam Hussein who was seen by Tel Aviv as a dangerous military opponent, wished to prepare a politically and publicly acceptable cause for war, they instituted the following procedures.

Spokespersons for the President contacted the CIA, the DIA, the Department of State and various military intelligence units. These agencies were informed that the President’s security people required any documents that could be located in various files that would support their contentions of an imminent danger of attack by Iraq or its possession of weapons of mass destruction.

One can find in the files of all intelligence agencies throughout the world tens of thousands of intelligence reports covering every conceivable subject of interest to the agencies. The reliability of these reports range from the authentic and valuable to the spurious and worthless. However, when a Presidential request is made for specific material, it is always supplied to the President’s aides regardless of how ludicrous, false or self-serving it might prove to be.

Poll: Forty percent of American voters believe the Israel Lobby has been a key factor in going to war in Iraq and now confronting Iran

By: cnionline.org on: 26.10.2007

Question: Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree that the work of the Israel lobby on Congress and the Bush administration has been a key factor for going to war in Iraq and now confronting Iran?

Method: Conducted by Zogby International of 1,036 likely voters from 10/10/06 through 10/12/06.

The Results:

Strongly agree 16% Agree 39%

Somewhat agree 23%

Somewhat disagree 18% Disagree 40%

Strongly disagree 22%

Not sure 22%

Comments:

A new poll commissioned by the Council for the National Interest Foundation shows that a significant number of Americans are wary of the power of the Israel lobby, and believe it is behind the invasion of Iraq and the current belligerent tone of the White House and Congress toward Iran.

The poll, which was carried out by Zogby International, reveals that 39% of the American public "agree" or "somewhat agree" that "the work of the Israel lobby on Congress and the Bush administration has been a key factor for going to war in Iraq and now confronting Iran." However, a similar number, 40%, "strongly disagreed" or "somewhat disagreed" with this position. Some 20% of the public, or more than one in five, were not sure.

The poll suggests that the espionage charges against two employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the publicity given to a new study of the power of the Israel lobby by two mainstream academic professors has had an affect on people's awareness of the lobby.

The academic study, done by Professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Professor Stephen Walt of Harvard University, was published in the London Review of Books in March 2006, and was the subject of a recent debate at Peter Cooper Union that included Professor Mearsheimer, Prof. Rashid Khalidi (Columbia University), and Prof. Tony Judt (New York University) and three influential pro-Zionists, Martin Indyk, Dennis Ross, and Shlomo Ben-Ami.

The poll's details show that 46% of Democrats tended to believe that the lobby was influential in the decision to go to war in Iraq while 45% of Republicans tended to believe it was not.

Along religious lines, while Protestants tended to be evenly divided on the role of the Israel Lobby in the Iraq invasion, 49% of Catholics tended to see the lobby's hand in the invasion, while 77% of Jewish Americans overwhelming disagreed with the premise. Among ethnic groups, Hispanics (53%) believed that the lobby's role was influential.

Among age groups, 50% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 agreed that the Israel lobby had a hand in forming the current pro-war policy. As one might expect, those who call themselves progressive (49%) or liberal (52%) also agreed in the role of the lobby, while "moderates" (42%) and "very conservative" (44%) people disagreed with the idea, as did a significant percentage of college graduates (44%).

Eugene Bird, president of CNI Foundation, commented about the poll, "It demonstrates the need for widening the circulation of information about the role of the Neocons and the pro-Israel lobby in the corridors of power during the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003."

Some 1,035 people participated in the poll, which was conducted in every part of the country.

http://cnionline.org/learn/polls/czandlobby/index2.htm

Letters to the Editor:

From: Bob Teagarden

Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 11:56 AM

To: "'walter storch'" tbrnews@hotmail.com

RE: Mossad Connections, 9/11

Regarding your excellent article on the plottings behind 9/11. Here is a listing of our official reaction to the attacks on the WTC and Pentagon. Many stories on the net now about ‘radio controlled planes,’ USAF jets shooting down a plane, etc. Some facts might help out here. Bob T.

September 11, 2001:

8:20 AM (approx.): Air traffic controllers suspect Flight 11 has been hijacked. [New York Times, 9/15/01]

8:40 AM: NORAD is notified of hijacking. [New York Times, 10/16/01; Washington Post, 9/15/01]

8:46 AM: Flight 11 crashes into the World Trade Center north tower (approximately 26 minutes after controllers lost contact). [New York Times, 9/12/01]

8:46 AM: Bush later states, "I was sitting outside the classroom and I saw an airplane hit the tower. The TV was on.” [CNN 12/4/01] “When we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building.” [White House, 1/5/02]

8:52 AM: Two F-15s take off from Otis Air Force Base. [Washington Post, 9/15/01] They go after Flight 175. Major General Paul Weaver, director of the Air National Guard, states "the pilots flew like a scalded ape, topping 500 mph but were unable to catch up to the airliner. We had a nine-minute window, and in excess of 100 miles to intercept 175. There was just literally no way.'' [Dallas Morning News, 9/15/01] F-15's fly at up to 2.5 times the speed of sound (1875 mph or 30+ miles a minute or 270+ miles in nine minutes) and are designed for low-altitude, high-speed, precision attacks. [BBC]

8:56 AM: By this time, it is evident that Flight 77 is lost. The FAA, already in contact with the Pentagon about the two hijackings out of Boston, reportedly doesn’t notify NORAD of this until 9:24, 28 minutes later. [New York Times, 10/16/01]

9:03 AM: Flight 175 crashes into the south WTC tower (23 minutes after NORAD notified, 43 minutes after air traffic control lost contact with pilots). [New York Times, 9/12/01, CNN, 9/12/01]

9:10 AM: Major General Paul Weaver states Flight 77 came back on the (radar) scope at 9:10 in West Virginia. [Dallas Morning News, 9/15/01] Another report states the military was notified of Flight 77 several minutes after 9:03. [Washington Post, 9/1/01]

9:24 AM [? – see above]: The FAA, who 28 minutes earlier had discovered Flight 77 off course and heading east over West Virginia, reportedly notifies NORAD. A Pentagon spokesman says, "The Pentagon was simply not aware that this aircraft was coming our way." [Newsday, 9/23/01; New York Times, 9/23/01] Yet since the first crash, military officials in a Pentagon command center were urgently talking to law enforcement and air traffic control officials about what to do. [New York Times, 9/1/01]

9:28 AM: Air traffic control learns that Flight 93 has been hijacked. [MSNBC, 7/30/02]

9:38 AM: Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon (42 minutes or more after contact was lost, one hour after NORAD notification of first hijacking). [New York Times, 10/16/01; CNN, 9/12/01]

10:10 AM: Flight 93 crashes in Pennsylvania (42 minutes after contact was lost). [CNN, 9/12/02]

Pentagon reels from second major nuclear arms blunder in a month

October 26, 2007

Daily Mail/UK

The Pentagon was reeling last night from the American military's second major nuclear weapons blunder in a month.

Congress is demanding a full scale investigation and serious questions are being asked about the compe

Merchants of War

Robert Scheer | Defense contractors made a killing on Bush's 'war on terror,' raking in record profits this year for a a sophisticated military arsenal ill-equipped protect us from the real threat. Maybe they should give bin Laden a cut.

Is Hillary the Next Grover Cleveland? Jon Wiener | Paul Krugman worries about the compromises Clinton has made with her friends in the health care industry.

Immigration: From Talking Point to Sore Point
By MARC SANTORA A plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants was fodder for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s rivals Tuesday night.

• Text: Clinton in the Debate | Times Topics: Hillary Rodham Clinton
• Union Gives Endorsement to Clinton

Clinton would cream Giuliani, poll finds
By: DAVID PAUL KUHN | 10/31/2007 04:40 PM Republican popularity at its lowest level in a generation, huge study by Pew reveals.

Last Call for a Two-State Solution? by Immanuel Wallerstein
The two-state solution -- in one form or another -- has been on the table since the 1917 Balfour Declaration. And throughout the twentieth century it was never embraced by everyone at the same time. Eight esteemed US public figures say this may be the last chance.
more...

Is the Israel Lobby Pushing the United States? by Rami G. Khouri
The authors of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy -- John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt -- still receive ad hominem attacks and denigration. But at least the exposure brings on deeper debate about the issues central to the book.
more...

US ‘Pressuring’ Israel to Evacuate Outposts
Mohammed Mar’i, Arab News RAMALLAH, 1 November 2007 — The US has renewed pressure on Israel to evacuate illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank and has asked it to broaden efforts to help West Bank Palestinians in... Full Story

A Turkey-Iraq War Can Be Postponed, But Not Cancelled
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Nov 01, 2007 - Turkey may send its troops into Iraq in the next few days, unless diplomats and politicians do something. In early November, ministers from Iraq's neighbors and the countries of the UN Security Council will meet in Istanbul, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to go to Washington on November 5 for a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush. Diplomats and politicians could do som ... more

nalysis: Countering religious extremism
Washington (UPI) Oct 31, 2007 - To a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail, so it is perhaps not surprising that U.S. lawmakers should seek to legislate victory in the ideological conflict with violent Islamic extremists. The House has already passed a bill setting up a commission to study the topic, and the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which held a hearing on the issue this week, is ... more

Commentary: The great illusion
Washington (UPI) Oct 31, 2007 - A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion runs deep, Saul Bellow once said. The illusion, yet again, is a Middle Eastern peace conference in November or December that would produce the final outlines and contents of an independent state of Palestine. Seldom has such a vision appeared more chimera than reality, and yet seldom pursued more vigorously, t ... more

Defense Focus: Villain to hero -- Part 1
Washington (UPI) Oct 31, 2007 - Senior executives at Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman should take heart: Nobody likes big defense contracting corporations, and many invent conspiracy theories about them -- until the homeland is under threat: Then the armament companies suddenly become heroes. Major U.S. high-tech defense contractors have just announced their third-quarter earnings, and for most of them t ... more

General Assembly endorses inter-Korean peace process
United Nations (AFP) Oct 31, 2007 - The UN General Assembly on Wednesday adopted by consensus a resolution endorsing efforts by Seoul and Pyongyang to advance the process of inter-Korean dialogue and reunification. The resolution welcomed and backed the October 2-4 summit in Pyongyang between the North and South Korean leaders, only the second in the history of the communist North and capitalist South. During the Pyongyang ... more

Possible 1.3 billion dollar sale of munitions, missiles to Israel: US
Washington (AFP) Oct 31, 2007 - The Pentagon announced Wednesday a possble sale to Israel of 1.3 billion dollars in missiles and munitions, including "bunker defeat" weapons. "It is vital to the US national interest to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability," the Defense Security and Cooperation Agency said in a statement. "This proposed sale is consistent with those objective ... more

Putin rejects calls to curb arms sales
Moscow (AFP) Oct 31, 2007 - Russia will not restrict its arms sales under "political" pressure from other countries, President Vladimir Putin said on Russian television Wednesday. His comments came against a background of Western fears of closer military cooperation between Moscow and Iran, Syria and Venezuela. "We cannot and we will not take into consideration any attempt to impose restrictions on us (other than t ... more

Tribal leaders seek Gates help in expanding Al-Anbar police
Washington (AFP) Oct 31, 2007 - Tribal leaders from Iraq's Al-Anbar province pressed US Defense Secretary Robert Gates Wednesday for help in expanding the size of the local police forces there, a Pentagon spokesman said. Gates met for about half an hour with the eight member delegation, and promised to do what he could to be of help, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. "The conversation focused on how to susta ... more

Analysis: U.S. OK's Saddam law oil deals
Washington (UPI) Oct 31, 2007 - The U.S. State Department says an oil law implemented under Saddam Hussein is good enough for Iraq's national government to sign oil deals, though it would prefer a new national law -- mired in controversy and far from approved -- to be used instead. The new position is a shift for the U.S. government, or at least a nuance in its stance, which has pressed hard for a new hydrocarbons leg ... more

China to raise price of fuel: report
Beijing (AFP) Oct 31, 2007 - China will raise the prices of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel by 500 yuan (67 dollars) per ton, China's economic planner announced on Wednesday, according to state media. The nearly 10 percent increase, which takes effect November 1, was made to narrow the gap between soaring international crude and domestic oil prices, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the National Developmen ... more

Is there truthiness to his '08 bid? By James Rainey Stephen Colbert may be kidding, but his quasi-real campaign has left mainstream media, the Web and election experts buzzing.
Clinton's rivals see an opening By Peter Nicholas and Michael Finnegan The Democratic candidates use her debate answers to highlight what they call an inability to stick with one position.
Bush confidant quits administration By Paul Richter Karen Hughes, one the last of the president's Texas inner circle, is leaving her State Department post, in which she struggled trying to boost America's image overseas.

Illegal immigrant licensing drives debate By Joe Mathews and Nicole Gaouette Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls pounce on Hillary Clinton's seemingly varied responses on the controversial issue.

US Federal Reserve accedes to Wall Street demands with another interest rate cut: Lowering short-term interest rates for the second time in two months - 1/4% rate cut

Federal Reserve staged another pre-emptive strike against a potential economic slowdown yesterday: Dow Jones industrial average climbed 137.54 points


A Quake in the Bay Area Raises Concerns: San Francisco area hit with 5.6 quake

The Empty Chair at the Iraq Hearings – James Taylor, Washington Post
The Real Iraqi Miracle – Dean Barnett, Weekly Standard
Turkey’s Iraq Problem – David Phillips, Boston Globe
Iraq’s Next War – Daniel Pipes, Jerusalem Post
My Lost Year in Baghdad - Mokhtar Lamani, Ottawa Citizen
Afghanistan at the Brink? – Roger Cohen, New York Times
OEF: The Japanese Navy Heads Home - Ayako Doi, Washington Post
Dangerous Cuba-Iran Kinship – Chris Simmons, Miami Herald
EU: From Payer to Player in Middle East - El - Hassan Bin Talal, Daily Star
Regression in Muslim Brotherhood's Platform? - Amr Hamzawy, Daily Star
Beyond Madrid, Terrorist Threat Remains – London Times editorial
Torture and the Attorneys General? – New York Times editorial
Torture in the Senate – National Review editorial
Waterboarding is Torture - I Did It Myself – Leonard Doyle, The Independent
Mukasey's Black Magic on Torture – Rosa Brooks, Los Angeles Times
Dems and Torture: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall – Andrew McCarthy, National Review
Questioning Interrogation – Deroy Murdock, National Review
How to Try a Terrorist? – John Coughenour, New York Times
Supreme Court Will Seal Pervez Musharraf’s Fate – Bronwen Maddox, London Times
Playing Sudan’s Game? – New York Times editorial
Russia: Democracy Disinvited – Washington Post editorial
Russia: Memory, A Shield Against Terror – Boston Globe editorial
Gary Kasparov, Dissident – Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal
Argentina’s Presidential Transition – Jeremy Martin, Washington Times
UK: ‘The Kosher Conspiracy’ – Suzanne Fields, Washington Times
Nuclear India – Richard Halloran, Washington Times
The Meaning of Each Fold – Washington Times editorial
Beersheba’s Message – The Australian editorial

Double-crossing in Kurdistan

The United States plan for Iraq all along has been no less than a "soft" partition, including an autonomous Kurdish mini-state and Shi'ite and Sunni regions. Even Turkey had signed on to this, provided the Iraqi Kurds cracked down on Kurdish militants striking into Turkey. With the militants running wild, though, Ankara has to take care of matters itself - and risk throwing the whole grand scheme into jeopardy, including the US's designs on Iran. - Pepe Escobar (Nov 1, '07)