War Push tied to Neoconservatives & Entanglement with Israel--WV Gazette
SEVERAL years ago, retired Ambassador Robert V. Keeley spoke in Charleston's former W.E. "Ned" Chilton III Leadership Lecture series. He criticized the U.S. policy that lets American Jews hold dual citizenship in both Israel and America, voting in both nations and serving in armed forces of each.
Today, Keeley is chairman of a Washington think-tank — the Council for the National Interest Foundation — which focuses on harmful effects of America's excessive entanglement with Israel. This country's zealous support of Israel, plus providing U.S. weapons used against subjugated Palestinians, has made America hated by much of the Islamic world, the foundation contends.
Worse, it says, America was sucked into the disastrous Iraq war partly because U.S. "hawks" allied with Israel wanted America to wipe out an Arab regime that menaced Israel. In a full-page New York Times ad, the CNI Foundation said:
"Under the influence of well-positioned neoconservatives and the Israel lobby, we chose to go to war in Iraq and engage in what has proved to be an almost senseless war and occupation, now being overwhelmed by sectarian strife."
In another such ad, Keeley's group asserted that "one of the major reasons we chose to put a priority on toppling Saddam Hussein was due to the lobbying efforts for Israel in Washington." It said a poll commissioned by the foundation found that 39 percent of Americans think "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."
Still another ad said "irrational concern for Israel by U.S. policymakers continues to be a prime motivation for our military adventures. ... So far, the United States and Israel have chosen a military solution to what is essentially a political problem."
The CNI Foundation opposes Israel's occupation of captured Palestinian territory — "the imprisonment of the population on the West Bank into small bantustans, some 64 by one count" — and "the continuing Israeli siege of Gaza." It adds that U.S. fundamentalists worsen this problem, saying:
"Some Christian evangelicals are joining in the fight to prevent the Bush administration from pressuring Israel to give up any West Bank territory for peace. This is based on their relatively narrow [ed. corrupt, heretical, and 20th century] interpretation of the Bible. The future is not bright, unless the American people come to realize how dangerous an 'Israel first' policy in the Middle East really is for the war in Iraq and for containing terrorism."
When he was ambassador to Greece, Zimbabwe, Mauritius and other foreign posts, Keeley was a career diplomat, not a political appointee. Today, his CNI group recommends that a powerful international commission backed by the United Nations be appointed to arbitrate a solution to the deadly conflict between Israel and surrounding Arabs. This seems a better plan than sending more U.S. weapons to help Israel quell conquered Palestinians.
Meanwhile, thinking Americans should ponder the CNI explanation of why President Bush plunged America into the unnecessary Iraq war. All his pretexts turned out to be untrue, leaving most people with no answer for why the war was started. Democrats now controlling Congress are trying to learn the reasons for the war. They should investigate this motive, along with others.
[republished here for educational purposes only under Fair Use doctrine]
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