Friday, December 30, 2005

NeoCon Stasi:Spy vs. Spy

Increasingly, it is appropriate to characterize the Bushcon spy operation as an all-American version of Stasi (Staats Sicherheitsdienst), the feared East German secret police. As it turns out, the neocon Stasi engaged in spook activity not only against American citizens, but government bureaucrats and fellow spooks as well. “NSA spied on its own employees, other U.S. intelligence personnel, and their journalist and congressional contacts,” reports Wayne Madsen. “WMR has learned that the National Security Agency (NSA), on the orders of the Bush administration, eavesdropped on the private conversations and e-mail of its own employees, employees of other U.S. intelligence agencies—including the CIA and DIA—and their contacts in the media, Congress, and oversight agencies and offices,” behavior fitting of the Committee for State Security, or the Soviet era KGB, responsible for the liquidation of anti-Soviet and counter-revolutionary organizations.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Anti-Imperialists Beware - Bush Is Reading Again by Jim Lobe

As the U.S. was gearing up for war in Iraq in the summer of 2002, for example, reporters noticed that Bush had tucked under his arm a rather scholarly – and hence unlikely – book, Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime, a book by Eliot Cohen, a neoconservative military historian and friend of then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Neocon Muslims: nuisance or threat by Kaleem Kawaja

In post 9/11 America the American-Muslim community is faced with several challenges to its future wellbeing. Challenges are both from outside the community and from within. It is no secret that the neocons in the American power structure are a source of much of the vilification that the community has suffered in the last three and half years.

Why Does the Left Hate Israel? Richard Baehr

For decades, most American Jews have believed there were far greater threats from the fringe right than the fringe left in this country. While this view may have been reasonable in the past, it is certainly not so today. The fringe right still exists- the neo-Nazis in Northwest Idaho, Matthew Hale, and David Duke, and the remnants of the KKK. But the views of the fringe right have been marginalized by their repudiation by virtually all mainstream elements on the political right.

Neocons Use CNN to Continue Psyops Against American Muslims bu Kurt Nimmo

Mr. Awad, however, is missing the point—the Straussian neocons don’t give a whit about the constitutional rights of Arabs in America and this “covert” program, obviously a “waste of time” that will turn up nothing, is not designed to protect us from dirty bombs but rather to further stigmatize Muslims as crazed terrorists. Snooping on “more than 100 predominantly Muslim-related sites” is intended to send a strong message—you can’t trust Muslims and you may be in danger if you live near a mosque.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Neocon optimism on Iraq by Steven Clemons

In their upbeat Weekly Standard assessment of the Dec. 15 Iraq parliamentary elections, they ridicule 'sour experts' whom they assert are going far out of their way to explain why 'the peaceful election of a national assembly for a fully self-governing Arab democracy was not a turning point.' But the election, according to Kristol and Kaplan, was no less than an 'eruption of democracy in the heart of the Arab world.'

Meanwhile, another neoconservative fellow traveler, Lawrence Kaplan, writes in The New Republic that while Americans have an understandable affliction of 'milestone fatigue' after all previous celebrated 'turning points' -- ranging from the capture of Saddam Hussein to last October`s constitutional referendum -- failed to trigger a stabilizing cycle in Iraq, Dec. 15 'really was a milestone.' In an assessment echoing Francis Fukuyama`s yesteryear notion on the 'end of history,' Kaplan confidently writes that 'however torturous the path to Iraqi democracy may have been ... for America at least, the path ended' on the day of Iraq`s elections.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Internal Enemies: Kill Them and Let God Sort Them Out by Kurt Nimmo

Keep in mind that Bush—or more accurately, the Straussian-Machiavellians ensconced in the White House and the Pentagon—have offered up a "proposal" to "transform CIFA from an office that coordinates Pentagon security efforts—including protecting military facilities from attack—to one that also has authority to investigate crimes within the United States such as treason, foreign or terrorist sabotage or even economic espionage." Of course, it is "treason" and "sabotage" to oppose the occupation of Iraq and the neocon master plan to invade Syria and Iran (or rather bomb the hell out of them) and preventing this "terrorism" is now a military task to be conducted by the folks who are trained to kill people and blow things up, as the exigencies of war demand. The CIFA’s busy work will undoubtedly make COINTELPRO and even Operation CHAOS look like the dabbling of grade schoolers by way of comparison.

Why The Patriot Act Is Intended To Fail by Alex Jones & Paul Joseph Watson

From all the indications we have studied it seems that the Patriot Act is intentionally destined to fail so that when the Globalists carry out a terror attack they can blame 'civil liberties advocates' for preventing them from keeping the general public safe and then reject out of hand criticism of all future police state legislation that they pass.

Neo-Cons who have received their uniform talking points memo are all over the radio bragging, 'you just wait until there's another attack, you'll be in the forced labor camps'. We have heard this from Michael Savage and many others of his ilk on numerous occasions.

xymphora: Holocaust II and the neocon conspiracy

The neocon deal is an excellent one: it's a trade of your reputation, which you don't really have as everybody hates you anyway, for a trillion dollar war Israel could never pay for. The worst that could happen is that a few covert agents for Israel might have to go to jail, a small price to pay to avoid the Holocaust (you also have to put up with American blowhards complaining that 'Happy Holidays' is a Jewish plot to destroy Christmas!). The Project of Greater Israel is greater than any one man or any one time, and it is the greatest honor one can have to fall on one's sword to prevent Holocaust II. Besides, we all know no one is going to jail and Scooter and Judith are going to end up very rich as a result of all this conspiring.

Phony Wars and the Prince of Peace by Christopher Manion

Nor is veracity highly prized. In defending their war fever, neocons constantly invoke the spirit of Ronald Reagan. Curiously, however, they shrink from the observation that it was President Reagan who worked closely with Pope John Paul II to bring down the Soviet Empire, and did it without a shot being fired. President Bush, on the other hand, defied Pope John Paul’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq. Now we know, by the president’s own estimation, that his war has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis, not to mention more than 2000 American soldiers and Marines.

It’s pretty simple. The neocon game is designed to distract believing Christians from a disastrous Iraq war. If it succeeds, evangelicals will take their eye off the Iraq war and will suit up for a phony one. But hope springs eternal: this Christmas, and beyond, Christians might actually embrace the Prince of Peace.

Monday, December 19, 2005

American imperialism is the problem, not merely Bush's neo-conservatism by Iqbal Siddiqui

"The growing pressure on Bush owes more to the fact that his policies in Iraq are failing than any genuine realisation that the US should not have been in Iraq in the first place. It is not the ever-increasing revelations of the lies that US politicians told to justify their war that has brought this pressure on them, but the fact that their policies in Iraq are failing. The problem that the neo-conservatives have is that they cannot earn a reputation for dishonesty in one area and then expect to be believed in others, or at least not for long. Having taken the US into Iraq on blatantly false pretenses, Bush was always likely to have trouble persuading Americans that all was going well there in the face of the evidence before their eyes."

Neo-Cons, Fundies, Feddies, and Con-Artists by Francis Boyle

It is now a matter of public record that immediately after the terrible tragedy of 11 September 2001, U.S. Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld and his pro-Israeli "Neoconservative" Deputy Paul Wolfowitz began to plot, plan, scheme and conspire to wage a war of aggression against Iraq by manipulating the tragic events of September 11th in order to provide a pretext for doing so.1 Of course Iraq had nothing at all to do with September 11th or supporting Al-Qaeda . But that made no difference to Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, their Undersecretary of War Douglas Feith, Undersecretary of State John Bolton, and the numerous other pro-Israeli Neo-Cons inhabiting the Bush Jr. administration.

Who Are the War Criminals? Naming Names by Justin Raimondo

When the Soviet empire imploded, most conservatives gave up the idea of America as the world's policeman – but not the neoconservatives. They had originally come from the Left, and, having acquired the most authoritarian and elitist tendencies of the Right, the neocons retained the worst of the socialist movement's messianic pretensions, especially in the realm of foreign policy. As for their extraordinary bloodthirstiness, a brief look at their history shows us it was always there.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Victory in Iraq by Paul Rogers

A clash of views about what to do in Iraq has exploded in Washington in the past month. The advocates of withdrawal are making the running, but there remains a powerful body of opinion that believes victory is possible. Its proponents are well represented in the neo-conservative wing of Washington politics and particularly in the neocon house journal, the Weekly Standard. The views expressed in such circles deserve serious analysis, both for their own sake and because they shed an interesting light on the nature of the evolving US strategy in Iraq.

Superpower vulnerability by Henry C K Liu

Such holy wars of moral imperialism cannot be blamed entirely on neo-conservatives in the second Bush administration. While the two wars on Iraq were initiated by the two pere et cie Bush administrations that sandwiched eight years of Clinton rule, the Bosnia and Kosovo wars were the handiwork of Clinton administration neo-liberals. The faith-based foreign policy of George W Bush echoes the value-based interests of the foreign policy of Bill Clinton, such as the grandiose aim of enlarging democracy by force around the world and preventing mass starvation and ethnic genocide by spilling more blood.

Scooter Libby, Neocon Martyr by Justin Raimondo

In the Bizarro World of the neocons, government officials who expose CIA agents are patriotic heroes, and the chief of staff of the second-most powerful officeholder in Washington is a victim of government persecution, who stands before his persecutors practically defenseless.

You can't make this stuff up.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

The Worst and the Dullest by Scott McConnell

Discussion of the neoconservative role in the run-up to war has been made a sensitive issue, the Likudnik aspect especially so. As the war has gone sour and interest in the neocons has bubbled up around the globe, the neoconservatives have devoted no small amount of ink to either denying that neoconservatism exists, to claiming that users of the word are motivated by anti-Semitism, or to burying the concept under clouds of obfuscation—as in, for instance, presenting George W. Bush as the ultimate neoconservative, a ploy that seems to have fallen out of rhetorical fashion as the president’s poll ratings have dropped.

French Lessons by Steve Sailer

While the liberals’ awareness of American history has been faulty, the neoconservatives have been downright incoherent with schadenfreude. Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Max Boot offered this unlikely assertion: “France, like most European nations, defines itself in ethnic, cultural and religious terms that can leave non-Caucasian and non-Christian outsiders feeling excluded, however long they have lived there. Foreigners find it much harder to become ‘French’ or ‘German’ than ‘American.’”

It's All Greek to Victor Davis Hanson by Gary Brecher

Hanson has become so sure that the ancient Greeks are with him and the neocons that he can’t see how Thucydides’ story silently condemns our Iraq adventure. If only we could resurrect the real Thucydides and commission him to do a history of Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Now that would be worth reading. But I don’t think Victor Davis Hanson would enjoy it.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Lieberman's 'War Cabinet' by Justin Raimondo

Lieberman, like the rest of his fellow neocons, is living in a fantasy world. Of those 27 million Iraqis he keeps invoking, the overwhelming majority want us out. As to the nature of the insurgency, even the president recognizes that some, perhaps a good number, represent nationalist forces who simply resent the occupation: Lieberman, however, disdains them all as "terrorists," "revanchists," and "Islamic extremists." To blame the insurgents alone for the civil war is to blank out the reality of Shi'ite death squads striking in the south and central regions of Iraq, instituting a veritable reign of terror; it is to ignore Kurdish ultra-nationalists intent on driving Arabs off their land. Lieberman somehow fails to mention any of this.

Monday, December 12, 2005

White House Liars on the Defensive by Gary Leupp

Already U.S. forces have clashed with Syrians within Syria. The U.S. accuses Syria of actively abetting the influx of "foreign" (non-Iraqi Arab) jihadi fighters into Iraq. The best U.S. intelligence estimates indicate that only 4 to 7% of the anti-occupation fighters in Iraq are non-Iraqi, but the neocon reality creators teach us that al-Qaeda-linked al-Zarqawi and his terrorists (who were they not facing our brave troops in Iraq would be slaughtering our innocents in New York) are the Syria-backed backbone of the insurgency. So, they can say, it's totally fair to engage in hot pursuit actions, in self-defense, and to wipe out jihadi enclaves, and put pressure on Damascus. And they've been assembling a whole array of other charges to justify "regime change" in Syria. Bashar Assad, they'll say, arranged the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister!

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Shirin Neshat of Sarbazan to Persian Journal: Monarchy the Only Alternative to Ahmadinejad and the IRI

Shirin Neshat of Sarbazan insists to Dr. Bahman Aghai Diba of Persian Journal that the reinstitution of the Persian Monarchy is the only alternative in Iran to the lunacy of the IRI regime and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cited by Dr. Diba in a recent op-ed piece in the latter publication.

Mark Dankof of BATR and Neo-Con Watch duly notes that Ms. Neshat's op-ed piece is published just prior to today's apocalyptic article in the Sunday Times (UK) indicating that Sharon and the IDF have decided on March of 2006 as the definitive time to preemptively attack Iran from the air. Given this ominous report, and the fact that civilization's survival may depend on the intelligence and good will of the likes of Ahmadinejad, Sharon, Netanyahu, Dick Cheney, and Pat Robertson, Pastor Dankof suggests this Christmas as a time for serious prayer---and a serious American Paleo-Conservative New Year's Eve Party under the joint sponsorship of SARTRE, Todd Brendan Fahey, and the good Pastor--where escapist humor and much German Weissbier may provide needed salve and verve to troubled souls contemplating a world led by the aforementioned diabolical world players into the abyss of a darkening spring.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Ex-neocon hawk Paul Wolfowitz now touts peace by Dana Milbank

On another day when the Iraq war was tearing Washington apart, a leading architect of that war, Paul Wolfowitz, was donning sheep's clothing over at the National Press Club.

The former deputy defense secretary, now president of the World Bank, gave a 30-minute speech Wednesday about the virtues of peace, the ills of poverty and the benefits of multilateralism -- without a mention of Iraq.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Even Meltdowns Generate Light by Bill Grigsby

The president has never been much more than the pitch man for the NeoCon, complete with the requisite production team and presidential props: cowboy hat, blue workshirt, Christian persona, the practiced swagger, recently-acquired NASCAR accent, an endless supply of camera-ready backdrops, a press secretary to handle the low-level lying, etc. So when the pitch man can’t even sell the product anymore, you either replace him, repackage the product, or clean out the vault before the police arrive.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Robert Kagan's in Pain, and I'm Here To Help by Karen Kwiatkowski

The Kagan monthly column for the Post is a plea for the President to get with the program – the neoconservative program – and stop talking about troop reductions. Troop reductions are not going to happen, says Kagan.

And he should know, of course. He’s one of the handful of people who really and truly understand why American soldiers, bureaucrats and contractors are occupying Iraq, building bases, interfering with their "sovereign" government, guarding the oil fields and allocating the oil contracts. It isn’t about Mars or Venus, or democracy or stability. It isn’t about terrorism, unless terrorism can help convince economically pressured American taxpayers and worried American families to stay the stupid course mapped out all those years before Dubya stumbled into the White House.

The Phantom Menace by J. Hoberman

Curtis discusses the convergence of neocon and jihadist interest in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. But his narrative comes unraveled both in his underemphasis on Desert Storm's unintended consequences and overemphasis on the conservative "political terrorism" directed against President Bill Clinton. Just marking time until back in power and relentlessly exploiting 9-11, Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Wolfowitz set about conjuring a spook house of sleeper cells, dirty bombs, and Iraqi WMDs.

The Prospects for Democracy in Iraq by Charley Reese

The president has bought into the neoconservative idea that we can spread democracy in the Middle East and now appears to believe he's God's man doing God's will. That's part of the tragedy of human history – people with good intentions doing bad things. As long as he defines victory as a permanently free and democratic Iraq, then all he will ever know is defeat.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Bush Considering Freeing Jewish Spy Pollard

The United States is considering the possibility of releasing a Jewish spy in return for the release of jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, Israeli media reported Monday.

The website of Israeli Ha'aretz daily said the idea of exchanging Jonathan Pollard for Barghouti came after international requests to release Barghouti to race in the Palestinian legislative elections due on Jan. 25, 2006.

Monday, December 05, 2005

'Urban Myth' or Treason? by Justin Raimondo

Furthermore, distinguishing itself from the many tall tales spun by Chalabi, and dressed up to look half credible by the neocons, this particular one takes on special importance because it stands at the center of a scandal that already threatens the War Party at its very core: the burgeoning investigation by special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald into top officials in this administration, including but not limited to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Neo-Crazies Already Planning Beyond Iran by Gordon Prather

Of course, there are actions the AEI neo-crazies say we must take against countries other than Iran.

For example, they charge a "fascistic takeover" is under way in Turkey. Instead of being a democratic Muslim bulwark against Islamofascism, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is "systematically" turning his country into a state governed by a radical Islamic ideology hostile to Western values and freedoms.

Friday, December 02, 2005

The Final Day of the PNAC Cabal by Ingmar Lee

This is the sneering, war-mongering, world-domineering, power-tripping clique of the Neocon cabal, the psychopathic architects and miserable masterminds of the unwinnable Iraq catastrophe. But they've blown it, the naked stupidity of their Commander-in-Chief is exposed and America will pay. The Neocon scheme is exhausted, Bushed.

Bush's 'Great Leap Forward' by Justin Raimondo

It is futile to argue with this administration, to debate the terms of our engagement in the Middle East – or anywhere else, for that matter. Every attempt to remind them of the facts of reality runs up against a wall of indifference to the truth: these people believe they can create their own truth, by sheer coercion. The interaction of neoconservative intellectuals and administration policymakers is, in this instance, a perfect illustration of the co-dependence of what Ayn Rand called "Attila and the Witch Doctor." As Attila moves in for the kill, the Witch Doctor rationalizes the carnage – without referring to facts, but to nebulous aims, goals, and words, words, words.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Democrats Forget Palestine, Again and Again by Joshua Frank

DNC Chair Howard Dean has a fickle stance on virtually every foreign policy issue thrown his way. None, however, are more telling of his party’s incompetence than his posture on the Israeli/Palestinian issue, which is virtually identical to that of the neocons.

Plamegate's Soft Underbelly by Phil Toler

Even if Cheney, Rove, and Bush are never touched by an actual indictment, the entire support structure they rely on to maintain the monstrous US foreign policy that is at the root of most of our problems will be chiseled away, a few players at a time, until the sordid reality that their agenda is dominated by those who care far more about Israel than the United States is revealed. With the Emperor, Cheney and his Rove/Bush front standing naked for all to see, the revulsion of a vast majority of Americans might be just the tidal wave required to cleanse Washington of the Neocon vermin and their agents, cast Israel adrift to demonstrate its unsustainability, and let true representatives of the people embrace the pre-PATRIOT Act Constitution and set about to repair all the damage wreaked by the Criminals-in-Chief.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Can a Third Party Save Us From a Neocon Doom? by Robert Schumacher

Unchecked “neconservative” power in the United States over the past six years has brought us to bloody international warfare, attempted to establish a technological and executive police state, and helped rush out of America any industry that can be moved to foreign places whose pitiful social conditions generate big profits for a privileged few of our citizens. We have seen the GOP under neocon rule change its flags from the standard of the “old republic” to that of a new empire, the power thrust of an elite corporate globalism. Neocons seem to be at odds with the traditions of the republican party, whose constituency is largely middle class traditionalists of every faith and variety. At the head of the GOP today are wealthy corporate-backed globalists, whose policies primarily revolve around growing rich on the economies of the world. These are a very small minority of the GOP, yet they command most of of the power. Far outnumbering these wealthy interests is middle America, who still hold it a virtue to place “America First” and deal with the rest of the world accordingly.

The World's Most Dangerous Man by Justin Raimondo

The neocons hate the Vietnam analogy precisely because it suits the facts so snugly. They don't like to be reminded that their last great crusade to implant "democracy" at gunpoint ended not just in failure, but in a full-fledged military defeat. To even bring up the subject is to be accused of wanting to repeat that result – as if the critics of the policy, rather than the policymakers, are to be held morally responsible for the consequences of the course our rulers have chosen.

Putin and the Neo-Comintern by Patrick J. Buchanan

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which pumps out tens of millions of dollars to "promote democracy" abroad, is its pivotal agency. For 20 years, it has been headed by Carl Gershman, who broke from the Socialist Party to organize Social Democrats USA, which rallied to the candidacy of liberal Democratic Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson, whose staff was a nesting ground of neocons from Richard Perle to Frank Gaffney to Elliott Abrams.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Neocon Philosophy and Espionage

Leo Strauss, the neocons' "Philosopher," taught that deception is a virtue. The neocons' "godfather," Irving Kristol, reports that Strauss had the "greatest impact" on his conservative thinking. Strauss believed there was "inherent conflict between philosophic truth and the political order." Consequently the "great philosphers prior to the Age of Reason ... took the greatest care in their writing so as not, as the British would say, to 'frighten the horses.'" (Neoconservatism, p. 8) And so, neocons hide the truth from "the horses" and feel entirely justified in their deceptions. The WMD deception is a case in point.

Stephen Bryen—Espionage: (synopsis of full story) In 1979, apparently showed secret documents to Rafiah, of Mossad (Israeli CIA). He denied having accessed the documents but refused to be polygraphed, and his finger prints were found on them. Appointed in 1981 to DOD by Richard Perle , he received Top Secret ("NATO/COSMIC”) clearance. In 1988, Bryen arranged for state-of-the-art klystrons to be released for export to Israel against the wishes of DOD. In 2001, with the support of Paul Wolfowitz , Bryen was appointed a member of the China Commission (in part concerned with Israel's transfer of advanced technology to China).

The coming storm: Jack Abramoff's bipartisan sleaze by Joshua Frank

The most fascinating aspect of this whole controversy is the number of people it potentially involves. From elected officials in Congress to top conservative activists, the Abramoff lobbyist sham could ravage the neocons far worse than the CIA-leak affair. It could also take a top Democrat or two down as well.

The Abramoff saga is more than one sordid tale of an insider gone wild; it's a vivid narrative of how business is done in Washington. From legal maneuvering to backroom bribes and pay-offs, big business runs Washington politics and Abramoff is just one in a long line of power hungry lobbyists.

Bush would create a war elsewhere . . . the next logical victim: Venezuela! by Bob Chapman

Not only are George and the neocons lame ducks, they face political disintegration. They are political liabilities to members of the Republican Party and this is in the process of causing desertion.

The indictment of Lewis Libby is enough to put a large hole in the neocon armor. It is obvious the Plame affair was a Cheney operation and Libby is the designated patsy.

Realists Tighten Grip as Talks Open with Iran by Jim Lobe

In a new indication that the balance of power within the administration of President George W. Bush has tilted strongly in favor of the realists, Washington's influential ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, has disclosed that Bush has authorized him to open direct talks with Iran about stabilizing Iraq.

The announcement, which came in an interview with Newsweek magazine, marks a major change in policy. The two countries have not held direct talks since mid-May 2003, shortly after the U.S. ouster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, when the influence of neoconservatives was at its zenith.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

NOT OIL BUT ISRAEL by Stephen J. Sniegoski

That goes against what I regard as the fundamental reason for the war: the war was led by neoconservatives and fought in the interests of Israel, at least as Likudniks envision Israel's interests. It is all well-documented, though the neocons imply that Israeli interests coincide with those of the United States. But as I point out in my article on the subject — and this fact is on the public record, too — the original idea for the war was conceived in Israel. Moreover, the war achieved the goal hoped for by the Likudniks — destabilization of the Middle East.

All Faiths Must Face Their Demons: Neocon Pundits Malign American Muslims by Louay Safi

Three militant neocon pundits spoke vehemently against the Bush administration’s gesture to include American Muslim leaders in discussions on how to deal with the rising tide of anti-Americanism and restore the level of trust and support the United States enjoyed prior to the missteps the administration took at the neocons’ urging.

Murtha and the Demented Neocon Political Constellation by Kurt Nimmo

Jack Murtha is no antiwar peacenik. He is simply not infected with the neocon illness of total war dementia, although he does not cringe at the prospect of American imperialism and empire building. Adamo would have us believe Murtha is a liberal—and considering the degree of fascistic reaction emanating from the Arab-hating and misanthropic neocons and their supporters, the garden variety hawkishness of Murtha may actually be considered a form of liberalism.

According to Indictment, AIPAC Has Been Under Investigation Since Early 1999 by Andrew I. Killgore

Who launched the current FBI investigation of AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), Israel’s principal lobby in the United States? The original version had it that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was told about the investigation soon after President George W. Bush began his first term of office. That was in early 2001.

According to a story by Laura Rozen in The Nation of July 14, 2005, President Bush, after long refusing to meet with PLO chief Yasser Arafat, had decided to meet Arafat at the September 2001 opening session of the United Nations General Assembly “if progress were made in high level talks between Palestinians and the Israelis.” Citing a Sept. 9, 2001 article by Jane Perlez in The New York Times, Rozen said that, after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the Bush/Arafat meeting never took place. Rice, reportedly concerned over the leak of sensitive administration intelligence in the Perlez article, then demanded an FBI investigation. This meant that the investigation began in early September 2001.

Friday, November 25, 2005

America must lead for globalism to succeed by Edward Goldberg

Globalization was antithetical to the President Bush/neo-conservative value of American exceptionalism. An administration made up of many who thought President George H.W. Bush's "new world order" was naive in its world view, both in protecting U.S. interests and guaranteeing future U.S. economic security, could not tolerate the slow erosion of the power of the nation-state which was implicit as globalization sped forward.

A Feast of Scandal by Justin Raimondo

The massive theft, which I wrote about here, epitomizes the operating strategy of the neoconservative gang that Black did so much to promote and propagandize for: like Richard Perle, another Hollinger executive who pillaged the company, Black fattened his bank balance even as the public purse was drained on the War Party's behalf.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Lesser Neocons of L'Affaire Plame by Christopher Deliso

The present study considers four such figures: David Wurmser and Frederick Fleitz, both formerly employed in the State Department office of the Madman with the Handlebar Mustache, John Bolton; Marc Grossman, a longtime State Department official recently turned lobbyist; and Eric Edelman, like Grossman a former ambassador to Turkey, longtime Cheneyite, and current recess appointee to Doug Feith's old position as No. 3 in the Pentagon.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Cheney tries to raise the stakes by Jim Lobe

Cheney's decision to harp more on the prospect of an al-Qaeda takeover of Iraq suggests that he and his neo-conservative supporters believe that prospect to be the strongest barrier to a total collapse of their Iraq policy. In a series of articles and media appearances over the last several days, prominent neo-conservatives such as AEI fellow Richard Perle, and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, have made the same argument.

So, what is a 'neocon'? by Bill Steigerwald

To seek enlightenment on things neoconservative, I rang up four of the biggest names in the punditry business and asked them the same questions. Rich Lowry is editor of National Review. Paul Weyrich is chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation. Paul Gigot is editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page. And George Will is the famous syndicated columnist:

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

The malady recurs by Patrick J. Buchanan

As for Bush, a retreat from Iraq and defeat there would mean a failed presidency. The Bush Doctrine of employing U.S. power to unhorse dictators and impose democracy will be dead.

America will adopt a new non-interventionist foreign policy, except where vital U.S. interests are imperiled. The tragedy is that we did not do, voluntarily, 15 years ago, what a foolish, failing neoconservative foreign policy may now force us to do in the not-too-distant future.

Final Declaration of Brussel's Peace Conference by Axis for Peace

A military coalition has launched itself into an unbridled exploitation of the world’s resources and energy reserves. Fuelled by neo-conservatives, it has increased its attacks, practicing all forms of interference, from forcing changes in regimes to colonial-style expansionism. This coalition continually violates the principles of international law as they were established by the conference of the Hague and laid out in the San Francisco Charter.

Monday, November 21, 2005

The neconservative temptation beckoning Britain's bitter liberals by David Clark

It is common outside America to regard neoconservatism as synonymous with the Republican right. In fact, its roots lie mostly on the left. The original neoconservatives - also nicknamed Socialists for Nixon - were anti-communist leftists and liberals who became alienated from the Democratic party when it endorsed the anti-Vietnam war candidate George McGovern for president in 1972. Appalled by what they saw as the refusal of liberals to defend their values and confront totalitarianism in the guise of Soviet power, the neoconservatives drifted to the right, contributing to a broader political realignment that swept Ronald Reagan to power.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Neo-con wants to cut friendly ties with Saudi Arabia by Anna Carbino

Former Department of Defense adviser Richard Perle, the immensely influential godfather of the neo-conservative movement, launched a public broadside against the alleged corruption of the Saudi Arabian government Thursday, and called on the United States to cease its friendly relations with Riyadh.

The "Neocons": From the Cold War to the "Global Intifada" by Leon T. Hadar

The neocons' main antagonists in the successful effort to get the United States to start shooting in the campaign to contain Saddam were the so-called "paleoconservatives," such as Pat Buchanan and Joseph Sobran, who since the end of the Cold War had been advocating a less activist American foreign policy. Indeed, neoconservative columnists like Rosenthal have accused the two of "anti-Semitism" for questioning whether there is a compatibility between the American interests and that of the Likud government.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Fitzgerald Busts Neo-Con Black But Will He & McNulty Go The Distance? by Wayne Madsen

Hollinger's board includes Richard Perle, 911 Commission member and former Illinois Governor Jim Thompson, and Henry Kissinger. Incoming Deputy Attorney General and US Attorney for Eastern Virginia Paul McNulty has probed deals involving the Pentagon, Boeing, Perle's Trireme Partners (a joint Perle-Kissinger investment firm), and Hollinger. Perle as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board recommended the Air Force's use of Boeing planes for replacement fuel tankers over Airbus. His Trireme Partners had received an influx of Boeing capital.

Faking the Case Against Syria by TRISH SCHUH

Abdel Nour's other links include the World Lebanese Organization, which advocates Israel's re-occupation of south Lebanon. In 2000, he and neocon Daniel Pipes composed the policy paper "Ending Syria's Occupation of Lebanon: the US Role" and together co-author the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin. The bulletin is a project of the neocon Middle East Forum and is a frequent resource for American intelligence agencies.

Reflections on the Riots in France by Habib Siddiqui

Although Pipes does not explain what he meant by political naiveté, it is not difficult to visualize that he may be taking a salvo at France for her opposition to join the neocon-managed war party in its invasion of Iraq! In Secretary Rumsfeld’s words, France and Germany, therefore, belonged to the “Old Europe.”

The Scooter Saga by Joseph Sobran

You’d think, to hear these folks, that “policy differences” were innocent opinions, like the debate over Shakespeare’s authorship, even if they are battles over life-and-death exercises of military force. Libby, even more than his boss Cheney, has been part of the neoconservative cabal that was hankering for war with Iraq long before George W. Bush was even a candidate for the presidency. It comes as no surprise that they should resort to underhanded tactics against anyone they regard as an enemy.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Libby Out, Two New NeoCons In - And Why Saddam Was Deleted by Karl W B Schwarz

One of the things that stands out in the Neoconned books is that we apply moral standards to all but ourselves in how this nation conducts itself, whether in international business, law, war, or in meddling in the affairs of other nations, especially if those nations have valuable natural resources like natural gas or oil.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

The Iranian Order of Battle by Shirin Neshat of Sarbazan for Global Security.org

If you like handicapping horses, baseball, football, and the Bush team's chances of mass indictments at the hands of Patrick Fitzgerald, you'll love the inside information which Shirin Neshat of Sarbazan provides for John Pike's Global Security.org think tank on the structure of the Persian military units the West will encounter if a few Neo-Con lunatics get their way. Add to that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Baseej suicide waves, and one hopes for some sanity in Washington before catastrophe ensues.

Ms. Neshat's new Sarbazan home page is dedicated to her father, the late General Ali Neshat, Commander of the Shah's Imperial Guard, and may be seen at:
http://www.alineshat.com/sarbazanmain.htm.

The Senators' Rebellion by Justin Raimondo

As everyone waits for Patrick J. Fitzgerald's other shoe to drop – perhaps on Karl Rove's neck, maybe on a few more members of the neocon coven in the vice president's office – "cutting and running" is perhaps too kind a gloss to put on it. They aren't just running away from the war they voted for and never publicly questioned until now – they're racing as fast as they can away from the core cadre of the War Party in this administration, i.e., the neoconservatives, who are now politically radioactive.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

AIPAC judge: I'll decide what's harmful

In a hearing last week in the case against Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, two former AIPAC staffers, Judge T.S. Ellis of the U.S. District Court in Alexandria ruled in favor of government arguments that recordings and transcripts of tapped conversations involving the defendants include material that would be harmful to the national interest if revealed. Ellis said he would determine what material the defense can use and what material it can not access.

Deja vu, Hidden Documents and the Physics of 911 by Meryl Ann Butler

The neo-cons' newest confidential-memo-brought-to-light says that another devastating terrorist attack on American soil could “validate” the President's war on terror and allow Bush to “unite the country” in a “time of national shock and sorrow .” This would naturally boost their party's ratings, which are currently in the gutter along with their moral values.

The Weekly Standard's War by Scott McConnell

With the fledgling Fox News network, the Standard soon emerged as the key leg in a synergistic triangle of neoconservative argumentation: you could write a piece for the magazine, talk about your ideas on Fox, pick up a paycheck from Kristol or from AEI. It was not a way to get rich, but it sustained a network of careers that might otherwise have shriveled or been diverted elsewhere. Indeed, it did more than sustain them, it gave neocons an aura of being “happening” inside the Beltway that no other conservative (or liberal) faction could match. Murdoch had refuted the otherwise plausible arguments in Norman Podhoretz’s eulogy.

My Fair Neocon by Karen Kwiatkowski

Safe harbor for neoconservatives in Washington and elsewhere is going to be hard to find. They plotted and with the help of the Congress, executed an ill-conceived war, dreaming of chocolate candy tossed by beaming children and beautiful women. They dreamed of spontaneous and pro-American democracy in an oil rich country occupying the sweet spot of the Middle East. They dreamed such lovely dreams.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Grand Daddy Neocon Shoots Messenger by Kurt Nimmo

Norman Podhoretz, the grand daddy of the Straussian neocons, expends a few thousand words in an attempt to convince us George Bush didn't lie when he told us Saddam had a WMD program and was in cahoots with Osama bin Laden. "Among the many distortions, misrepresentations, and outright falsifications that have emerged from the debate over Iraq, one in particular stands out above all others. This is the charge that George W. Bush misled us into an immoral and/or unnecessary war in Iraq by telling a series of lies that have now been definitively exposed," writes Podhoretz in the December issue of Commentary (posted in advance on the Commentary website).

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Zarqawi Black Op Hits Amman by Kurt Nimmo

Once again, murder and mayhem directed against innocent Arabs serves as an object lesson—the people of the Middle East (that is to say Muslim people) have two choices: either they accept the Likudite-neocon plan to cut their countries into malleable chunks based along ethnic and religious lines, and endure the rule of hand-picked puppets and monarchs, or they will suffer the machinations of al-Zarqawi, the dead cretin who is now embodied in a counter-gang black op of endless violence and mass murder designed to push Iraqis—and Jordanians, eventually ordinary Syrians and Iranians—into supporting the dictatorships installed in their country. Of course, regardless of these covert ops, the Iraqi resistance (and soon the Syrian and Iranian resistance) will continue to struggle to evict foreigners and occupation forces from their country.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Bush Leaves GOP in Crisis by Patrick J. Buchanan

In foreign policy, Bush I was an internationalist out to build a “New World Order” after the Cold War. However, post-9/11, Bush II converted to a neoconservatism that calls for unilateral American intervention in the Middle East and the Islamic world, to bring down dictators and establish democracy.

True to the neoconservative creed, Bush launched a global crusade for democracy that is now bringing ever closer to power Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Syria, and Shia fundamentalists in Baghdad and Basra.

Did anti-Semitism inspire Joseph Wilson? by Jack Cashill

As Wilson explains, these plans were hatched by Richard Perle and his study group some years back. And now, as a result, "... American boys and girls are dying for Israel." Wilson does not specify that Richard Perle or Ken Adelman, whom he also mentions, are Jewish. That much is understood. On the left, "neocon" has become code for "Jew." And as with World War II, it is the Jews who have prodded us into war.

CNN Psy-Ops by Wayne Madsen

CNN's Christiane Amanpour, married to Democratic neo-con Jamie Rubin, Madeleine Albright's one-time water carrier, is now reporting from France on the "seriousness" of the situation, likening it to the Algerian Civil War and leftist riots in 1968. She also referred to riots on one of the islands off of France but did not seem to recall its name. The island is Corsica, which has seen violence from an independence movement.

With Amanpour's scripts obviously being pre-approved by CNN's Washington head honcho Wolf Blitzer, a one time reporter for the Jerusalem Post and a former editor for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) newsletter The Near East Report, look for CNN to hype the situation in France and elsewhere as a European "Intifada."

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

The Case Against This Monstrous War by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

Like many Americans, I’ve grown sad and frustrated at the triumph of neoconservative foreign policy. It was sold to Americans not merely on the basis of lies, but also by means of bumper-sticker slogans trotted out – and dutifully absorbed and repeated by shills determined to live down to every caricature of conservatism ever devised – by a White House that cynically exploited ordinary people’s patriotic inclinations in order to prosecute a war whose aims remain obscure to this day.

No Surprise: Wolfowitz Wants More Non-Whites in Russia by David Duke

Wolfowitz, who supports apartheid Israel -- with its immigration almost completely limited to Jews -- supports the efforts to de-Europeanize Russia, Byelorussia (White Russia), and Ukraine, three of the Whitest major nations on Earth. Vast areas of Russia -- the largest country on Earth -- have been composed almost exclusively of White heritage for thousands of years. Moscow alone, a city of 12 million, has more White people in it than the whole of Sweden and Denmark combined and is the most European of any of the world's largest cities.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

G. W. B. 's Downhill Scooter Ride by Gene Messick

Scooter, the Architect of the NeoCon Strategic Battle Plan and Cheney's chief cheerleader, needed all these connections, so he could sneak around with no one watching him. Thanks to American hero Patrick Fitzgerald, now we'll see more of this invisible Architect's clever handiwork. And Karl is left still spinning in the wind. Not a bad week, Mr. Fitzgerald!

Monday, November 07, 2005

Israel as an Extension of American Empire by Jeff Halper

Sizer defines Christian Zionism by seven tenets:

1. A literalist hermeneutic
2. The Jews remain God's chosen people
3. The Jews have a divine right to the land of the Middle East
4. Jerusalem is their exclusive capital
5. The Jewish temple must be rebuilt
6. The Arabs are the enemies of God's people
7. The world will end soon in the great battle of Armageddon but Christians who support Israel will escape.

Neo-Con/Fascist Provocateurs Behind French Riots? by Wayne Madsen

Sarkozy has strong links to the Likud Party in Israel and the neo-cons in the Bush administration and the Blair government in London. The neo-con media conglomerates such as Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and the Hollinger Group are blaming the violence on France's relative tolerance of its large Muslim population. The neo-con media is also playing up reports that French rioters are proclaiming that they are turning Paris into "Baghdad."

I. Lewis ("Scooter") Libby: The Nexus of Washington's Neocon Network by Richard H. Curtiss

Lewis Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Richard Cheney and former attorney for fugitive financier Marc Rich, testifies at a March 1, 2001 hearing on the Rich pardon by the House Committee on Government Reform.

Neocon cabal's dilemmas by Norman Levine

The persistence of the Iraq insurgency forced the neo-conservative movement to address the question of 'nation building.' When American armies initially invaded Iraq the administration of President George W. Bush stated that U.S. forces would be greeted as 'liberators,' but the protracted guerrilla warfare now in process altered the dialogue. The major question was no longer should America invade, but how to build a stable nation in Iraq.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Neo-Conservatism: The Cult of American Ascendancy or Moral Bankruptcy? by Habib Siddiqui

Neo-Conservatism: The Cult of American Ascendancy or Moral Bankruptcy?

By Habib Siddiqui

Al-Jazeedrah, November 4, 2005



It is said that the last two political philosophers who both influenced world events and shared many of the worldviews of today's neocons were Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), who published "The Prince" in Italy in 1515, and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels (who inspired a young Adolf Hitler with his magazine "Ostara"). Neo-conservatism, as a strategy and philosophy of government owes it to them.

The modern-day neo-conservatism comes from the far left - a group historically identified as former Trotskyites,[1] and was introduced to America in the 1960s by Professor Leo Strauss of the University of Chicago. The ideas of President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-09) were quite similar to many of the views of present-day neocons.

The old conservatism relied on tradition and history. It was moderate and slow or careful to change. The new or “neo” conservatism, under Straussians, is not slow or moderate, but dynamic, destructive, diehard and reactionary in every sense of the term. Thus, there’s nothing “neo” about neoconservative views, and surely nothing conservative. Yet today’s neocons have been able to hijack the conservative movement by claiming themselves as vanguards of a new or modern form of conservatism.

Both Paul Wolfowitz (who now runs the World Bank) and Abram Shulsky, director of the Office of Special Plans (OSP), received their doctorates under Strauss in 1972. [The OSP was created specifically to find the evidence of WMDs and/or links with Al Qaeda, piece it together, and seal the case for the invasion of Iraq.] During the Cold War, Shulsky’s area of expertise was Soviet disinformation techniques, which it seems he was able to modify zealously in the OSP in cooking up the case against Saddam.[2]

Others closely linked with neoconservative views are: Richard Perle (Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and Member of the Defense Policy Board), Douglas Feith (former undersecretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon – and overseer of the OSP) and Elliott Abrams (special assistant to the president focusing on Middle East affairs) – all former aides to (late) Senator “Scoop” Jackson (d. 1983), who is considered an icon figure among neoconservatives. They are all ardent Likudnik Zionists who played major roles in designing America’s new strategy of preemptive war. Other notable neocons include: William Bennett (author of Book of Virtues); Michael Ledeen of the AEI; former CIA Director James Woolsey; Gary Schmitt [director of the influential Project for the New American Century (PNAC)], Norman Podhoretz, Samuel Huntington, Francis Fukuyama, Frank Gaffney Jr. (CSP); Robert Kagan (PNAC); William Kristol (editor of Weekly Standard); Stephen Cambone (Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence), “Scooter” Libby (Cheney’s former chief of staff, lately indicted on five counts), John Hannah (Libby’s former assistant, now promoted as Cheney’s national security adviser), John Bolton (US ambassador to the UN); (Defense Secretary) Donald Rumsfeld and (Vice President) Dick Cheney. The godfather of modern-day neo-conservatism is Irving Kristol, father of Bill Kristol, who set the stage in 1983 with his publication Reflections of a Neoconservative.

The neocon institutions and publications include: American Enterprise Institute(AEI), Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), Center for Security Policy (CSP), Hudson Institute, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Bradley Foundation, Heritage Foundation, Jamestown Institute, Smith Richardson Foundation, John M. Olin Foundation, Project for the New American Century (PNAC), Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies; Commentary, National Review, New Republic, National Interest, Public Interest, Policy Review, Washington Times, Weekly Standard and Front Page Magazine.

In order to understand today’s U.S. policies and the subsequent problems facing the nation for years to come, it is, therefore, important to recognize the philosophic connection between modern-day neoconservatives, Leo Strauss and Machiavelli.

In his book “The Prince,” Machiavelli describes two types of governments – monarchies and republics. His focus, however, is on the former. The most controversial aspect of his thesis is that some “virtues” will lead to a prince’s destruction, whereas some “vices” will allow him to survive. He also argues that it is better for a prince to be feared than loved and that the prince should know how to be deceitful when it suits purpose.

Leo Strauss was a Jewish émigré from Germany who arrived in the United States in 1938 and later taught political philosophy at several major universities before his death in 1973.[3] Like many other philosophically-inclined German students of the time, he attended the lectures of Martin Heidegger, a very controversial philosopher of the Nazi era.[4] Strauss was preoccupied with the goal of figuring out how to prevent America from falling into the same trap of a decline into fascism that Germany had. Ironically, he himself fell into the trap of “fascistic ends-justifies-the-means” thinking.[5]

One of Strauss’s books was Thoughts on Machiavelli in which he approved of Machiavelli’s philosophy. Strauss believed that the person who whispers in the ear of the ruler is more important than the ruler. He was consistently suspicious of anything claiming to be a solution to an old political or philosophical problem. He was very skeptical of "progress.” He spoke of the danger in trying to ever finally resolve the debate between rationalism and traditionalism in politics.

Professor Shadia Drury of University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada is among the world's foremost scholars on the history, philosophy and politics of neo-conservatism. She is the author of the acclaimed books Leo Strauss and the American Right (1998) and The Political Ideas of Leo Strauss (1988). Her recent article “Saving America: Leo Strauss and the neoconservatives” is very useful to understand the subject. There, Drury also offers an insight into the minds of the disciples of Strauss: “The trouble with the Straussians is that they are compulsive liars. But it is not altogether their fault. Strauss was very pre-occupied with secrecy because he was convinced that the truth is too harsh for any society to bear; and that the truth-bearers are likely to be persecuted by society - specially a liberal society - because liberal democracy is about as far as one can get from the truth as Strauss understood it.”[6] Is it any difficult to understand why the neocons lied about WMDs to justify the invasion of Iraq?

Strauss was an unabashed critic of modern liberalism and was interested in governments taking a greater interest in the problem of human excellence and political virtue. Through his writings, Strauss constantly raised the question of how, and to what extent, freedom and excellence can coexist.[7]

Drury says, “Strauss's disciples … are afraid to speak the truth openly, lest they are persecuted by the vulgar many who do not wish to be ruled by them. This explains why they are eager to misrepresent the nature of Strauss's thought. They are afraid to reveal that Strauss was a critic of liberalism and democracy, lest he be regarded as an enemy of America. So, they wrap him in the American flag and pretend that he is a champion of liberal democracy for political reasons - their own quest for power. The result is that they run roughshod over truth as well as democracy.”[8] Strauss, According to Drury, was “the enemy of liberty in general. It was for love of America that he wished to save her from her disastrous love affair with liberty...”

Are we, therefore, surprised to see what neocons - Richard Perle and David Frum (former speech writer for President Bush) – advocated in their book "An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror"?[9] Following the footstep of Strauss, they advocated establishing a government database (including national identity card with biometric data for everyone) and surveillance system that would dwarf the worst form of statism that the world has ever seen.

Strauss had a "huge contempt" for secular democracy, and so do his disciples. Drury says, "Secular society in their view is the worst possible thing, because it leads to individualism, liberalism, and relativism, precisely those traits that may promote dissent that in turn could dangerously weaken society's ability to cope with external threats.”

Strauss believed Nazism to be a nihilistic reaction to the ungodly and liberal nature of the Weimar Republic. He wanted religion to impose moral law on the masses who would otherwise be out of control. At the same time, he stressed that the rulers need not be bound by it.

In his approach to philosophical texts, Strauss taught that there was the distinction between 'esoteric' and 'exoteric' readings. He maintained that philosophers very often concealed their true thoughts beneath an exoteric teaching; only a careful study would reveal the true or esoteric teaching. Primarily, philosophers did this to protect their own lives, and to guard against the detrimental effects of philosophy upon people who cannot understand it fully.

Strauss, according to Drury, was not as obscure or as esoteric as his admirers pretend. There were certain indisputable themes in his work. The most underlying theme was the distinction between the ancients and the moderns. Drury writes, “According to Strauss, ancient philosophers (such as Plato) were wise and wily, but modern philosophers (such as Locke and other liberals) were foolish and vulgar. The ancients denied that there is any natural right to liberty. Human beings are born neither free nor equal. The natural human condition is not one of freedom, but of subordination. And in Strauss's estimation, they were right in thinking that there is only one natural right - the right of the superior to rule over the inferior - the master over the slave, the husband over the wife, and the wise few over the vulgar many.”[10] This dichotomy requires "perpetual deception" between the rulers and the ruled, according to Drury.

In a 1999 essay titled "Leo Strauss and the World of Intelligence (By Which We Do Not Mean Nous)" (in Greek philosophy the term nous denotes the highest form of rationality), Shulsky and Schmitt, two neocons, argue that Strauss's idea of hidden meaning "alerts one to the possibility that political life may be closely linked to deception. Indeed, it suggests that deception is the norm in political life, and the hope, to say nothing of the expectation, of establishing a politics that can dispense with it is the exception."[11]

Strauss' attitude toward foreign policy was downright Machiavellian. "Strauss thinks that a political order can be stable only if it is united by an external threat," Drury wrote in her book. "Following Machiavelli, he maintained that if no external threat exists then one has to be manufactured." "Perpetual war, not perpetual peace, is what Straussians believe in," says Drury. The idea, in her words, simply translates into an "aggressive, belligerent foreign policy," of the kind, scripted by neocon think tanks like the PNAC and AEI, which has become the hallmark of the Bush Administration since 9/11.[12]

Drury wrote, “Hitler had a profound contempt for the masses - the same contempt that is readily observed in Strauss and his cohorts. But when force of circumstances made it necessary to appeal to the masses, Hitler advocated lies, myths, and illusions as necessary pabulum to placate the people and make them comply with the will of the Fürer. Strauss's political philosophy advocates the same solution to the problem of the recalcitrant masses. … The trouble is that neoconservatives have zero tolerance for human vices or follies, and as a result, they are unwilling to give liberty a chance. … Strauss had no objections to democracy as long as a wise elite, inspired by the profound truths of the ancients, was able to shape, invent, or create the will of the people.”[13]

Let us next look at the views Michael Ledeen, who is one of the foremost theorists of the neoconservative movement today. Like his spiritual mentor Leo Strauss, he is a great admirer of Machiavelli. His 1999 book - Machiavelli on Modern Leadership - offers some clue to his mind and why he thinks that Machiavelli’s iron rules are as timely and important today as five centuries ago. In his more recent book, The War Against the Terror Masters, he reiterated those beliefs. He specifically praises: “Creative destruction is our middle name, both within our own society and abroad… Our enemies … fear us, for they do not wish to be undone. They cannot feel secure so long as we are there.” Ledeen concludes: “They must attack us in order to survive, just as we must destroy them to advance our historic mission.”

In Machiavelli on Modern Leadership, Ledeen praises a business leader for correctly understanding Machiavelli: “There are no absolute solutions. It all depends. What is right and what is wrong depends on what needs to be done and how.” This is a clear endorsement of situation ethics.

Ledeen, like Strauss, believes man is basically evil and cannot be left to his own desires. Therefore, he must have proper and strong leadership, just as Machiavelli argued. Only then can man achieve good, as Ledeen explains: “In order to achieve the most noble accomplishments, the leader may have to ‘enter into evil.’ This is the chilling insight that has made Machiavelli so feared, admired and challenging…we are rotten.” Ledeen argues, “It’s true that we can achieve greatness if, and only if, we are properly led.” In other words, man is so stupid that they are incapable of ethical, moral and spiritual greatness without being dictated by a powerful authoritarian leader.

Since the publication of his book Universal Fascism in 1972, Ledeen has been accused of being an apologist for fascism, which to him was the ‘Revolution of the 20th century.’ He said that the fascist state was “a generator of energy and creativity.” He criticized Mussolini not for being revolutionary enough; Mussolini “never had enough confidence in the Italian people to permit them a genuine participation in fascism.”

Ledeen and the neocons, like their mentors Machiavelli and Strauss, recognize the importance of exploiting religion for political means. According to Ledeen, religious zeal is especially necessary when force is used to promote an agenda.[14] Ledeen explains why God must always be on the side of advocates of war: “Without fear of God, no state can last long, for the dread of eternal damnation keeps men in line, causes them to honor their promises, and inspires them to risk their lives for the common good.” Ledeen adds: “Without fear of punishment, men will not obey laws that force them to act contrary to their passions. Without fear of arms, the state cannot enforce the laws.”[15]

Today’s neocons are mostly Likudnik Zionists. They are for legitimizing illegitimate, UN-defying claims of the Zionist state. They want entire Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to remain with Israel. But such cannot happen without emotional support from Christian majority, especially its evangelical sector that now number 70 million in the USA. Following the Straussian strategy, therefore, they have tied their unholy knots with Christian evangelicals, who in turn have become their most passionate supporters in promoting the immoral doctrine of preemptive war. They are all agog for the US to use force to change regimes and altering the map of the Middle East.[16] They are also the best supporters of the rogue state outside Israel.

Neocons crave for an external threat to bring into fruition their agenda of world hegemony. Following Strauss, Ledeen thus writes: “…of course, we can always get lucky. Stunning events from outside can providentially awaken the enterprise from its growing torpor, and demonstrate the need for reversal, as the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 so effectively aroused the U.S. from its soothing dreams of permanent neutrality.” Ledeen calls Pearl Harbor a “lucky” event for waking up the sleeping giant. The PNAC, as one may recall, as recently as September 2000, likewise, anticipated the necessity for a “Pearl Harbor” type event that would arouse Americans to back up their ruthless plan for global hegemony, while smashing any potential “rival.”

One can only ponder if there is any similarity between 9/11 and Parl Harbor. One thing for sure that 9/11 has revitalized the neoconservative movement and catapulted it to a brief but heady hegemony over the foreign policy of the United States. Soon after 9-11, Rumsfeld and others neocon hawks argued for an immediate attack on Iraq, even though Iraq was not implicated in the attacks.[17] Michael Ledeen and other neoconservatives are already lobbying for war against Iran and Syria.

And there are those who see 9/11 as the 1933 Reichstag fire of our time.[18] That arson attack on the Weimer Republic was blamed on the communists and not the Nazis. It eventually solidified Hitler’s hold on Germany.

To sum up, neocons: (1) want the US to be the world's unchallenged superpower; (2) share slavish and unwavering support for Israel and have close ties with the Likud Party; (3) support Likud’s agenda to retain Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel; (4) support American unilateral action; (5) support preemptive strikes to remove perceived threats to US security; (6) promote the development of an American empire; (7) equate American power with the potential for world peace; (8) seek to democratize the Arab world; (9) push regime change in states deemed threats to the US or its allies; (10) want the US to fight Israel’s proxy war to make the region safer for Israel.[19]

Neocons also agree with Trotsky on permanent revolution - violent as well as intellectual. They venerate Leo Strauss. They are for redrawing the map of the Middle East and are willing to use force to do so. They accept the notion that the ends justify the means. They express no opposition to the welfare state. They believe lying is necessary for the state to survive. They believe pertinent facts about how a society should be run, i.e., by the elite (who would whisper into the ears of the ruler). They endorse attacks on civil liberties, such as those found in the Patriot Act, as being necessary. They believe neutrality in foreign affairs is ill-advised.

Final Words:

Neocons are the most powerful, the most organized, and the best-funded ideologues in the western world. They also run the most sought-after reactionary think tanks and foundations. That is why they have been able to occupy important positions since the Reagan days and continue to play a significant role within the Bush (Jr.) Administration and the Republican Party.

As has been demonstrated by their recent actions, especially the Libby case, there is no doubt that neocons don’t mind conning America to bring about their utopian ideals. It is they who are the greatest threat to the US and the rest of our planet. It is ironic that they have decided to conquer the world in the name of liberty and democracy, when they have so little regard for either. Their movement represents the epitome of fascism. Their ideology is based on flawed notion of ‘clash of civilizations’ – a sure recipe for more war, more violence, more death and destruction, and more disasters. It would neither make America any secure nor bring peace into our world. It would only rob us of our humanity. Sooner we dump the champions of this morally bankrupt philosophy the better we are to delay the clock of Armageddon from ticking.

Dr. Habib Siddiqui, (saeva@aol.com)


[1] Irving Kristol wrote in 1983 that he was “proud” to have been a member of the Fourth International in 1940. Other former Trotskyites that are now neocons include James Burnhamd and Max Kampelman.

[2] See, Seymour Hersh’s “Selective Intelligence,” Fact: Annals of National Security, the New Yorker magazine issue of 2003-05-12.

[3] In his student days in Germany, Strauss was known as a Zionist.

[4] Strauss is also accused of being a life-long collaborator and promoter of Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt. (See, e.g., Jeffrey Steinberg’s article: “Synarchism: The Fascist Roots of the Wolfwitz Cabal,” Executive Intelligence Review, May 20, 2003.)

[5] http://www.buzzflash.com/hartmann/05/08/har05008.html

[6] http://evatt.org.au/publications/papers/112.html

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Strauss

[8] Op. cit.

[9] Lately David Frum led media barrage against Supreme Court nomination of Ms. Miers, which forced her to withdraw her nomination (October 27, 2005).

[10] Op. cit.

[11] See also Seymour Hersh’s report on neo-conservatism in the New Yorker magazine, where he makes similar conclusions.

[12] Jim Lobe, http://www.alternet.org/story/15935/

[13] http://evatt.org.au/publications/papers/112.html

[14] Ledeen says, “It’s been true throughout history and remains true today, each side of major conflicts invokes God’s approval. Our side refers to a “crusade;” theirs to a “holy Jihad.” Too often wars boil down to their god against our God. It seems this principle is more a cynical effort to gain approval from the masses, especially those most likely to be killed for the sake of the war promoters on both sides who have power, prestige and wealth at stake.”

[15] See Congressman Ron Paul’s analysis, op. cit., for a detailed analysis of these ideas.

[16] Norman Podhoretz argued “changes of regime are the sine qua non throughout the region.” He suggested that “At a minimum, the axis should extend to Syria and Lebanon and Libya, as well as ‘friends’ of America like the Saudi royal family and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, along with the Palestinian Authority.” [In praise of Bush doctrine, Commentary, September 2002]

[17] http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/neo-conned.htm (Ron Paul ‘s Neoconned’)

[18] See, e.g., Jeffrey Steinberg, op. cit.

[19] The Christian Science Monitor has an excellent piece “Neocon 101,” which is worth reading to understand this philosophy. Congressman Ron Paul’s addresses the U.S. House of Representatives –“Neo-conned” – dated July 10, 2003, is also very informative and useful.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Smearing Fitzgerald by Justin Raimondo

What would the neocons do without the David Dukes and Lyndon LaRouches of this world? To say nothing of Hitler? By associating these names with the "persecution" of poor innocent little Scooter, who's just a nice Jewish boy who went to Yale, Libby's neocon fan club achieves its purpose: smearing Fitzgerald, albeit indirectly. The clear implication of all this is that the prosecution itself must be motivated by some unacknowledged agenda: after all, if they're just getting him on what is a "technicality," according to Kay Bailey Hutchison, then that leaves plenty of room for inferring that this is an American version of the Dreyfus case.

My Weekend With the Wonks by Leon Hadar

Even those Democrats participating in the event who have been critical of the neocons did not express opposition to the global democracy project itself. They just seemed to suggest that unlike the neocons, they would be able to achieve it at less cost, especially in military terms, for the U.S. Call it "neocon lite."

Stop the Next War Before It Starts by Ron Jacobs

Obama and Voinovich are but two senators, but unfortunately, with the exception of perhaps two or three members of the House, they represent the strongest opposition in Congress to the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) – the neocons whose blueprint is being used by the Bush administration in its endeavor to dominate the planet. Indeed, the Democrats have similar goals of their own. The title of their plan, which was unveiled during the Kerry campaign for president, is "Progressive Internationalism: A Democratic National Security Strategy" [.pdf]. The Democrats' paper uses the tragedy of 9/11 as a starting point.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

The Libby Affair and the Internal War by JAMES PETRAS

Libby's rise to power was part and parcel of the ascendancy of the neo-conservatives to the summits of US policymaking. Libby was a student, protégé, and collaborator with Paul Wolfowitz for over 25 years. Libby along with Wolfowitz, Elliot Abrams, Douglas Feith, Kagan, Cohen, Rubin, Pollack, Chertoff, Fleisher, Kristol, Marc Grossman, Shumsky and a host of other political operators were long term believers and aggressive proponents of a virulently militaristic tendency of Zionism linked with the rightwing Likud Party of Israel. Early in the 1980's, Wolfowitz and Feith were charged with passing confidential documents to Israel, the latter temporarily losing his security clearance.

Spread of Democracy in Mideast Important to Israeli Security

"The spread of democracy will make the Middle East a safer neighborhood for Israel. An American retreat from Iraq, on the other hand, would only strengthen the terrorists who seek the enslavement of Iraq and the eventual destruction of Israel," said Stephen Hadley in remarks released by the White House.

Charles Krauthammer, Call Your Shrink by Chris Moore

What drove Krauthammer, a trained psychiatrist, to his verbal fit of rage? Apparently it was an article that appeared in The New Yorker in which Scowcroft criticized the neoconservative worldview and suggested America should take a more realistic approach to its foreign policy formulations.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Lies of the Neocons: From Leo Strauss to Scooter Libby by John Walsh

All governments lie as I. F. Stone famously observed, but some governments lie more than others. And the neocon Bush regime serves up whoppers as standard fare every day. Why this propensity to lie? There are many reasons, but it is not widely appreciated that the neocons believe in lying on principle. It is the "noble" thing for the elite to do, for the "vulgar" masses, the "herd" will become ungovernable without such lies. This is the idea of the "noble lie" practiced with such success and boldness by Scooter Libby and his co-conspirators and concocted by the political "philosopher" Leo Strauss whose teachings lie at the core of the neoconservative outlook and agenda, so much so that they are sometimes called "Leocons."

Poll: Over Half of US Troops Against Neo-con War

56% "strongly disapprove" or "disapprove" of how Bush has dealt with the Iraq debacle

"Hell Week" isn't over for the neo-cons, and may go on until George Bush, Jr. finally leaves office.

A new poll finds that over half of US soldiers asked are opposed not only to Bush's record on the Iraq quagmire, but think he is a deadbeat president as well.

While You Slept- by Justin Raimondo

Michael Ledeen, the neoconservative ideologue and veteran of the Iran-Contra scandal, whose Iranian – and Israeli – contacts made him a key go-between in the arms-for-hostages deal, is the Machiavelli of the neocons, the one who ends his polemics with the exhortation "Faster, please!" – a plea to accelerate the pace of "regime change" throughout the Middle East. And he is not just an ideologue, rooting on the sidelines for the "good guys," but an active player, as La Repubblica makes all too clear: he played the key role of facilitator of the various factions with a keen interest in "liberating" Iraq. La Repubblica cites an unnamed U.S. intelligence source:

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

THE MERRY-GO-ROUND OF REFCO/BAWAG DERIVATE-BIZ &NEOCONS

This is the policy actually being conducted by neocons today. That is war, after war, after war in an effort to destroy the economy of the US and force Americans to accept world government. Fortunately, the neocons have failed in Iraq and that could inhibit the opportunity of warfare against other states. The invasions were to establish an imperial occupation, control oil, stop oil from being sold in Euros, to cover up economic failure and to outflank Russia and China. These wars were intended to be the first of many wars - permanent warfare. In this guise control over the populace could be perpetuated. We do not dream these scenarios up. They were spelled out in July 1996, in the paper, "A Clean Break" delivered to then Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The authors were Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, David Wurmser, Meyrav Wurmser and Charles Fairbanks.

How the neocons hijacked the “war on terror”

The war against Iraq has polarized Americans before the first shot was fired. And as the war was brought home with nonstop frontline images, the lines between pro- and anti-war have solidified, especially as U.S. and coalition forces began to take casualties in the “post war insurrection”.

Neocon, Interrupted by Steven LaTulippe

An even more dangerous question involves our new, impending conflicts in the Middle East. By what mysterious pattern of thinking could our government, which has made an unmitigated disaster of Iraq, be considering "regime change" in Syria and bombing missions in Iran?

The unraveling of the Cheney cabal by Ehsan Ahrari

Those who read James Mann's highly underpublicized, but excellent book, The Rise and Fall of the Vulcans, have known about the power that the neo-conservatives (aka Vulcans) wielded in President George W Bush's White House. The indictment of Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, only confirms the essence of that cabal. What is still to come out are its details.

Why a nuclear attack is on the neocon agenda by Jorge Hirsch

The real reason for nuking Iran, however, is none of the above. It was spelled out with surprising candor in the Pentagon draft document "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations" [.pdf] as one of several possible reasons geographic combatant commanders may request presidential approval for use of nuclear weapons:

"To demonstrate U.S. intent and capability to use nuclear weapons to deter adversary use of WMD."

Monday, October 31, 2005

We Have Been Warned by U.S. Representative Ron Paul (R-TX)

We have been warned. Prepare for a broader war in the Middle East, as plans are being laid for the next U.S.-led regime change – in Syria. A UN report on the death of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafig Hariri elicited this comment from a senior U.S. policy maker: “Out of tragedy comes an extraordinary strategic opportunity.” This statement reflects the continued neo-conservative, Machiavellian influence on our foreign policy. The “opportunity” refers to the long-held neo-conservative plan for regime change in Syria, similar to what was carried out in Iraq.

Libby's Indictment: Counterrevolution by Paul Craig Roberts

The Bush administration neoconservatives who assembled the "intelligence" knew that it was false. The neoconservatives had their own agenda. They used the terrorist attacks of September 11 to turn the Bush administration to their agenda. As the leaked top secret British government Downing Street memo made clear, the agenda was to invade Iraq, and "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

Before the War With Iran Begins by Mark Dankof

Before the War With Iran Begins

It is abundantly clear that war between the United States and Iran is approaching. Paleo-conservatives at BATR and the complete political spectrum of antiwar columnists at Eric Garris's Antiwar.com correctly read the tea leaves of Neo-Con perfidy well before Mr. Bush's preemptive attack on Iraq in March of 2003. One of those tea leaves, was clearly the Project of the New American Century (PNAC) project as outlined in 1996, which laid out the corporate vision for war of Zionist Israel, the Oil Barons, the Bilderberg, the Trilateral Commission, Central Bankers, and the British government in partnership with our own cabal inside the Washington Beltway.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Pan-Turanianism Takes Aim at Azerbaijan: A Geopolitical Agenda by Dr. Kaveh Farrokh

Dr. Kaveh Farrokh of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver sends Mark Dankof's readers at BATR and Neo-Con Watch a post of his new on-line book, published through the kind auspices of Shirin Tabibzadeh and Rozaneh Magazine. It is must reading for those interested in inside information on the forces manipulating ethnic and regional conflicts in the Middle East and Central Asia to precipitate a War for Empire, petroleum consortiums, and Neo-Cons pulling strings to begin an expanding conflagration in Iran and Syria.

Dr. Farrokh's note to Mark Dankof is posted below for background information.
-------------------------------
Greetings Mark,

As promised previously, I have posted my upcoming book (originally intended for publication) for free and unrestricted on-line public access. The link is:

Pan-Turanianism Takes Aim at Azerbaijan: A Geopolitical Agenda

http://www.rozanehmagazine.com/NoveDec05/aazariINDEX.HTML

The situation is all the more dangerous now, given the disastrous anti-Israel speech by the Iranian leadership in Tehran. Truly "fuel for the fire". That speech is a godsend to pan-Turan separatists like Rahim Shahbazi.

The recent Ahmadinejad speech is detracting attention from the disasterous AEI meeting hosted by anti-Iran "scholar" Michael Ledeen (forwarded below - I am sure you have seen this).

Ledeen's platform is one of many that provides pan-Turanian Azeri separatists such as Rahim Shahbazi, to spew nonsense narratives such as the "presence of Turks in Azerbaijan for 7000 years" and other such claims (see Part II of the on-line book). Pan-Turan ideology is discussed in Part I of the book, and Part II discusses how a false "history" has been invented for Azerbaijan.

Thanks to the anti-Iranian nature of the panel, and Iranian ignorance regarding Iran's pre-Islamic past, people like Shahbazi can act as pan-Turanian Prima Donnas.

The on-line book will fully expose the fraudulent basis of Pan-Turanian claims and who these so-called activists (including the Kurdish and Ahwazi seperatists) are. The e-mail below reveals the real agenda of the pan-Kurd and Al-Ahwaz seperatists as well. These are discussed in the Part VI of the book.

As promised, the book will also focus on the Bernard Lewis Plan and the geopolitical agendas (Part VI of the book). You may wish to start with Part VI first, before reading the book from its outset. This is because Part VI reveals information that will greatly surprise you - esp. regarding the separatism agenda against Iran.

Preparation of this book has taken a few years, so please be patient as you read this - try and read it in chunks. There are close to 200 pictures in the book as well (some will be shocking indeed). There are many details that I hope you will read carefully.

Pan-Turanian ideology has spent a lot of time and resources to prepare for Iran's destruction. Shahbazi (see e-mail below) now talks of Iran's "Balkanization". Make no mistake - he is a Grey Wolf (Turkish racist party) pan-Turan racialist. His powerful backers (e.g Ledeen) and handsome funding allow Shabazi to engage in widespread intellectual flatulence.

But this is what you must take notice - as you see in the attachment below, Shahbazi's argument is not with current regime in Tehran - he is against Iran and Persian culture itself. He is one of the Chehreganli-school hate-mongers who insists on viewing issues in racial (Persian vs. Azeri) terms. The recent Ahmadinejad speech is lamentable, however that must not detract us from witnessing the fruition of a long-term plan to "Balkanize" Iran.

There are many parallels with Yugoslavia in the late 20th century. Foreign sponsorship of separatism as well as inept political leadership in Belgrade (recall Slobodan Milosevic) destroyed that nation. Iranians need to wake up to what is happening. It is up to the people of Iran now to save their nation from destruction and senseless violence.

Please forward this on-line book to as many people and associations, as possible. I only ask that we all work together to stop the coming madness.

To Unity, Understanding, and Peace
Kaveh Farrokh


FORWARDED MESSAGE

In a message dated 10/27/2005 12:02:19 AM Pacific Daylight Time, niacnews@niacouncil.org writes:

Subj: [disc] AEI PANEL LAMBASTS IRAN'S ETHNIC POLICIES
Date: 10/27/2005 12:02:19 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: niacnews@niacouncil.org
To: niacnews@niacouncil.org
Sent from the Internet

http://www.niacouncil.org/pressreleases/press302.asp
AEI PANEL LAMBASTS IRAN'S ETHNIC POLICIES
By Ehsan Tabesh

The National Iranian American Council

www.niacouncil.org

Washington DC, October 27, 2005 - The American Enterprise Institute and its resident scholar, Michael Ledeen, hosted a five-paneled discussion titled "The Unknown Iran: Another Case for Federalism?" The idea behind the conference, Ledeen explained in his opening statement, had come about through his realization that "only 51 percent of the population of Iran is 'Persian,' as they call it."

Prior to opening the conference, Ledeen dismissed allegations that AEI seeks to dismember Iran by pointing out that the think-thank hosted similar conferences on ethnic groups in Iraq prior to the US invasion of that country. Rather, "the panelists, who think of themselves as Iranian, seek to educate the American Public," he argued.

The conference and the ensuing chaos, which one audience member described as "Jerry Springeresk," demonstrated - in spite of Ledeen's assurances - major differences between the panelists on the central issue of Iran's identity and unity.

While Manda Zand Ervin, founder of the Alliance of Iranian Women, emphasized Iran's national unity and attributed ethnic tensions in Iran "to the repression of the Iranian regime," others put equal blame on the previous Iranian regime. Rahim Shahbazi, vice president of the Azerbaijani Societies of North America, accused both Iran's Islamic and Monarchic regimes of having conducted "cultural genocide for the last 80 years on two-thirds of Iran's population."

Shahbazi went on to declare that Turks have inhabited "Tabriz for more than 7,000 years. Since 5,000 BC, Tabriz has been the capitol of Turkish dynasties, of which the Qajars was the last."

Chiming in later, Morteza Esfandiari, representative for the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, criticized the Iranian government's treatment of the Kurdish population. "Kurdish kids are forced to study Persian in the name of unity," explained Esfandiari. Successive Iranian governments have promoted the language and culture of Iran's Persian population at the expense of those of other ethnicities, he argued.

Contrary to panelists like Esfandiari, Amanollah Riggi, chief of a 300,000 man strong Baluchi tribe, emphasized Iranian unity by referencing his own national identity and pride. "People say 51 percent of Iran is Persian, they are wrong; 99 percent of Iran is Persian and I am proud to be Persian too," Riggi stated. "From Kurdistan, to Khuzistan, to Azerbaijan, Iran once upon a time was a united Persia," remarked Riggi as one audience member protested by yelling "Viva Kurdistan!"

Ali Al-Taie, professor of sociology at Shaw University, who was the last panelist to speak, began his statement with a verse from the Quran, and argued that the Arabs of Khuzestan were the region's indigenous population and not recent immigrants. Al-Taie, who maintained that Iranian Arabs are descendents of the Elamite civilization, told the audience that his Doctoral degree was not recognized by the Pahlavi regime due to his Arab ethnicity.

Shahbazi was particularly vocal in his criticism of Iranian opposition groups, which he referred to as the "Persian opposition." He identified the Iranian government and Persian opposition groups as the main obstacles to ethnic harmony. "When it comes to ethnic rights, Persian opposition groups are on the same side as the terrorist Islamic Republic. If this continues, we will see the Balkanization of Iran," warned Shahbazi.

He dismissed Azeris that occupy high-level government posts in Iran as "hired guns designated to implement the racist chauvinistic policies of Iran." These Azeris, which include Ali Khamenei, were in his view "Uncle Toms" to the Azeri cause.

The Azeri nationalist later stated that "the Azeris have become disillusioned by the religious propaganda from the government" and turn to Turkish state TV for inspiration.

Shabazi's statements were cheered by a small group of supporters in the audience and at one point, audience members from different groups had to be physically separated in order to avoid a brawl.

The tense environment that surrounded the panelists' statements escalated during the question and answer period.

The first question, which was quickly dismissed by Ledeen, focused on his involvement in the Iran-Contra affairs and his advocacy for "an American style Iranian liberation."

When asked if he would welcome Iraqi Kurds "speaking up on behalf of Kurds in Iran that are under siege," Esfandiari responded "I certainly would," adding that Iranian Kurds share a close relationship with Kurds in Iraq and Turkey.

Later, when asked if the Azeri community had elected him to speak on their behalf, Shahbazi remarked, "no one sent me to speak, because Azeris in Iran are in jail."

Shahbazi, who was the target of a barrage of questions, was asked if he had evidence to support his assertion that Iranian opposition groups were on the side of the Islamic government. Shahbazi said yes and cited Persian-language Television networks in California that failed to incorporate Turkish or Azeri culture.

When the panel was subsequently asked to define the word "Persian," several claimed not to know the definition. An audience member then angrily responded "How can these panelists not know what Persian means?"

The chaos spiraled out of control as an exchange between Manuchehr Ganji, an audience member, and Al-Taie quickly turned into a yelling match.

When order was eventually re-established, an audience member asked the panel to outline their view on what US policy towards Iran should be.

Ervin-Zand, who earlier had stated that "the regime has concocted the notion of separatism to justify its human rights violations," called on the Bush Administration to end its "appeasement of Iran."

"We hope to see a US policy that ends negotiations with Iran forever," she said, arguing that the regime in Iran would fall if the US refused to talk to it.

Shahbazi, on the other hand, criticized American support of Iranian opposition groups and argued that "the real investment should be in the ethnic problem. This will be the true nuclear bomb that will blow away the Iranian regime."

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Mr. Galloway May Go to Washington, Again by Kurt Nimmo

Neocon sycophants and wannabes have built a cottage industry around attacking Galloway, as they boisterously go after anybody who makes a sound argument in opposition to their ghoulish rationalizations for killing hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Muslims. "Galloway is best known for his support of terrorists whom he refers to as 'the Iraqi resistance,’ his admiration for Saddam Hussein, his allegedly substantial involvement in the 'Oil-for-Food’ scandal, and his seething hatred of the West," writes Horowitz scribbler Rocco DiPippo. In the demented Manichean world of the neocons and their mean-spirited apostles, visceral disgust when confronting the wholesale murder of Iraqi babies and grandmothers is "admiration for Saddam Hussein" and "seething hatred of the West."

We, the People vs. Zionism by Anisa Abd el Fattah

Exactly what Zionism is or is not, does not seem to be of much interest to many Americans who are accustomed to hearing the word "Zionism" in respect to the Biblical idea, and who perhaps have not made the connection between Zionism and neo-conservatism in the United States. Unsavory Zionist ideologues and propagandist among Evangelicals and the Christian right have made a point of purposely blurring any distinctions between spiritual Zion, and the Jewish supremacist ideology called Zionism. They do this hoping to keep America’s faithful pumping their hard earned tax dollars, and charity into Israel, with false claims that Israel is Biblical Zion, and that Zionism is a messianic message.

Dialectics of the Plame Affair by GARY LEUPP

The neocon-dominated Bush administration opted for generalized Southwest Asian war after 9-11. "S.H. and U.B.L.; things related and unrelated," penned Rumsfeld the day after. The meaning of this shorthand is clear in retrospect: the administration would use the opportunity to link unrelated phenomena, most notably Iraq (S.H. = Saddam Hussein) and al-Qaeda (U.B.L. = Usama bin Laden), but also 9-11 with a whole range of unfriendly forces that could be targeted in the new situation. They could be targeted solely on the grounds that they were Arab and/or Islamic, and the American public could be trusted to link them all together as complicit in the terrible attacks. What an opportunity!

Dumb, but smart Feith by ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE

What has Douglas Feith, the former No. 3 at the Pentagon, done to deserve so many high-ranking public hoots of derision? First he was lampooned by Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of both the 2001 Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Iraqi Freedom in 2003. "The stupidest guy on the face of the earth," Franks was quoted as saying.

Background to Betrayal by Justin Raimondo

That makes at least three neocons "turned" by the Bulldog. Libby follows John Hannah, the VP's national security adviser, and David Wurmser, Cheney's Middle East expert-in-residence, down the well-trodden path to collaboration with the special counsel.

Dankof to Persian friends: Ahwazi Arabs Linked to Neo-Cons

I have followed with great interest the recent controversy over the connection of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) to a conference featuring advocates of ethnic/regional separation from a unified Iran. As an American paleo-conservative and friend of the Iranian people, I have warned some of my friends off the record that fine Persian human rights activists who sought the liberation of their country from the IRI regime should be careful to avoid being used by American neo-cons whose desire for the end of the IRI regime is not matched by a commitment to an autonomous, independent Iran free of control by foreign consortiums.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Former UN Weapons Inspector: Don't Rule Out Staged Government Terror by Paul Joseph Watson and Alex Jones

Ritter says Neo-Cons are embattled, surrounded, could resort to desperate measures to further global domination.

Illegal Immigrants as Neo-conservative Cannon Fodder by William Norman Grigg

In a syndicated column published last February, Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Max Boot, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, urged the creation of a mercenary army called the "Freedom Legion" in order to offset diminishing recruitment numbers and pursue the neo-conservative vision of a "global democratic revolution."

Frustrated Scowcroft Assails Neocons, Cheney by Jim Lobe

"I don't think Cheney is a neocon, but allied to the core of neocons is that bunch who thought we made a mistake in the first Gulf War, that we should have finished the job," Scowcroft told The New Yorker.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Our Inscrutable Iraq Policy: Why We Did It, What To Do Now, and What Happens Next by Karen Kwiatkowski

A big one is the general idea embraced by the neoconservative ideologues in the administration that the best thing we can do for Israel’s security is to be there. It is not enough to send several billions in economic and military aid each year, and it is not enough to veto UN resolutions that are unfavorable to Israel. It is not enough to have bases in Saudi Arabia and other conservative Arab monarchies and oligarchies. Some of these American friends are not friends of Israel, and it makes taking diplomatic actions against them more difficult. In the view of many neoconservatives, America needs to be there, militarily and economically in the region, working closely with Israel, our lone democratic ally and one that has the human intelligence capability on the ground that we have never had, and never will have.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Neolib Wes Clark and Bush's Tragic NeoCon Mistakes by Kurt Nimmo

In fact, the Soros neolibs are kissing cousins to the Bush neocons. In essence, they disagree on tactics—the neocons want in-your-face invasions and bombing campaigns, while the Soros-styled neolibs prefer to do their dirty work under a cover of darkness and by proxy through color revolutions and sanctions (i.e., starving people to death). Clark has thrown his lot in with the Soros-styled neolibs. He believes in the “mission in Iraq,” that is to say the belief Iraq must be brought kicking and screaming into the neolib world of “free trade” and subservience to the globalist agenda.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Judith Miller's Bloody Stain on the Press by Ahmed Amr

You would think that any journalist or publisher who had been led astray by the Bush administration would take umbrage at being used by the neocon propagandists as conduits for leaking an endless stream of misinformation to an unsuspecting public. To this day, the New York Times blames Judith Miller's infamous WMD reporting on Ahmed Chalabi and other Iraqi exiles. Sulzberger insists that Miller confirmed and double sourced Chalabia's fiction with United States officials convinced of the need to intervene in Iraq. Administration officials now acknowledge that they sometimes fell for misinformation from these exile sources."

Judith Miller is Unnamed Woman in AIPAC Spy Ring Indictment by Barry O'Connell

This is in reference to a meeting between FRANKLIN (Larry Franklin) and FO-3 (Naor Gilon) at the Pentagon Officers Athletic Club. The woman referenced is Judith Miller. Miller is a reporter for the New York Times who is as I write held in a Federal Facility in contempt of court. She wrote many now discredited stories on WMDs for the Times. The Charitable work was The Iraqi Jewish Archive which Judith Miller and Harold Rhode cooperated on with Ahmad Chalabi.

Cheney 'cabal' hijacked foreign policy by Edward Alden

Vice-President Dick Cheney and a handful of others had hijacked the government's foreign policy apparatus, deciding in secret to carry out policies that had left the US weaker and more isolated in the world, the top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed on Wednesday.

PlameGate - Neo-Cons Ratcheting Up Counter-Offensives

According to informed sources in Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney's Chef of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is expected to resign after he is, as expected, indicted for his role in outing a covert CIA agent, Valerie Plame Wilson, the wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Niger Uranium Forgery Mystery Solved? by Justin Raimondo

Before Fitzgerald is done, we'll see the warlords of Washington hauled before a court of the people. We'll hear the whole sordid story of how a band of exiles, at least two foreign intelligence agencies, and a cabal of neoconservatives inside the Pentagon and the vice president's office bamboozled Congress and the American people into going to war. As the indictments come down, so will the elaborate narrative so carefully constructed by the War Party in the run-up to war be exposed as a tissue of fabrication, forgery, and fraud.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Are Neocons Losing Their Hold? by Howard LaFranchi

Others point to a battle of the books as a sign of a fight for foreign policy. On one side are titles like "Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives are Putting the World at Risk," or "America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order"; on the other side is "An End to Evil," by neocon dean Richard Perle and former Bush speechwriter David Frum.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Traitorous Neo-Con Apparatus Forges Ahead With Military/Intel Putsch

The latest neocon spin is not only to attack Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald in the CIA Leakgate scandal but also to dredge up old canards that Valerie Plame and her Brewster Jennings & Associates counter-proliferation non-official cover (NOCs) team were somehow merely "desk clerks." According to well informed intelligence officials, nothing could be further from the truth. The fact remains that CIA clandestine operatives have been and continue to be disparaged and put in danger by the Pentagon's neocon cell that operates as a parallel and unsupervised operation inside the Policy and Plans directorate.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

The Arabs; It's No Use by Jihad Khazen

This has always been the case even before the neo-cons hijacked U.S. foreign policy. In the nineties the American team to the newly independent Muslim states of Central Asia was made up of Israeli apologists whose first condition in return for American aid was to recognize Israel and establish economic relations with it. The practice remains very much alive, and now unrepresentative Arab leaders need only to start a process of normalization with Israel and the Washington administration immediately forgets supporting terror, human rights abuses and political prisoners and missing opposition figures.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Gaffney's Gripe by Kurt Nimmo

Remarkably, Gaffney is able to pedal his Manichean drivel on the pages of the (Moonie) Washington Times, Jewish World Review, the Wall (War) Street Journal, USA Today, the New Republic, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, and Newsday—in other words, up and down the length and breadth of the corporate press, a media so infatuated with Bush and his neocon minions that it is truly nauseating.

Torture, the GOP, and the Religious Right by Jon Basil Utley

As has often been the case with this war, we find the answer among neoconservatives and the Religious Right, the hard-core alliance for war. Neoconservative leaders, almost all without military or business experience, nor with children in combat, have been the "brains," such as they are, behind the attack and subsequent occupation fiasco. Also, some of the conservative establishment, such as the Washington Times and National Review, offer many writers who endorse torture, and the adored Rush Limbaugh made light of the issue.