IRAQ--THE JEWISH WAR
For those who think that the first Gulf War was caused by George Bush the first, read this:
THE ZIONIST CAMPAIGN FOR WAR WITH IRAQ IN REVISIONIST PERSPECTIVE
By Paul Grubach copyright 2002
I. Political Zionism and the Persian Gulf War of 1991
One of the goals of Historical revisionism is to bring to the public's attention the part played by low profile, shadowy forces in getting nations involved in wars. Only rarely will one ever see a discussion in the North American mainstream media of the role played by Zionist interests in getting the United States involved in the Persian Gulf War of 1991.
At the outset, it must be clearly seen that Jewish Zionists perceived Saddam Hussein's Iraq as one of Israel's most dangerous enemies. Hence, wouldn't it be nice, so this Zionist logic went, to goad America into utilizing all of its military might to destroy one of Israel's worst enemies? Simply put, many Jewish Zionists have long relished the thought of America doing Israel's "dirty work." This was revealed in an article that appeared in Cleveland, Ohio's main Jewish community paper, CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS: "Some normally outspoken Jewish activists are deliberately muting their most fervent wish-that the [Bush] administration deal with the Iraqi military threat in a decisive way-out of fear of an anti-semitic backlash that could be a by-product of a costly and protracted Persian Gulf War."1 The PLAIN DEALER (Cleveland, Ohio) pointed out that Israel's contemporaneous Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, actively encouraged the U.S.-led alliance to continue the war effort until
Iraq's military machine was destroyed and Saddam was removed from power. The article added: "In pursuing their [Israeli] interests, Israeli officials have sometimes played down the difficulties Allied forces face in fighting Iraq."2
The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is one of the most powerful of all political lobbying organizations in the United States. In a rare but quite candid WALL STREET JOURNAL article, it was pointed out that AIPAC's efforts were crucial in gaining Congressional approval for President George H.W. Bush's war plans. But even more importantly, the article revealed this immensely powerful Zionist organization worked "behind-the-scenes" and consciously disguised its efforts to garner Congressional approval for the war.3
CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS stated: "Most Jewish groups lined up behind the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations to support publicly the president's policy. How hard they actually worked is unclear. Many senators and representatives reported getting calls from Jewish leaders and constituents.The effort was kept low-profile largely out of sensitivity to possible accusations of turning the [pro-war] resolution into an 'Israel vote.'"4 In politics, when a concerted effort is kept low profile, it means that an attempt is being made to hide the effort from public scrutiny. These pro-war efforts were kept low profile in order to hide from public scrutiny how certain Jewish-Zionists were pushing for a Gulf war.
This intense desire on the part of certain Jews to get the U.S. to destroy Iraq's military capability helps to explain why liberal, anti-war Jewish individuals and organizations suddenly switched into hard-line pro-war hawks. The Jewish Congressman, Rep. Gary Ackerman (D. N.Y.), typifies this element. He had a history of anti-war activism. He opposed the war in Vietnam and the military operation in Grenada. He has described himself as a "peacemonger." Yet, when it came to war against Israel's enemy, Iraq, he voted in favor or President Bush's war plans and called for firm resolve against Iraqi aggression.5
Michael Collins Piper, former columnist for the now defunct SPOTLIGHT, made this observation: "Who engineered congressional approval of the resolution that backed President George Bush's drive for war against Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein? None other than Rep. Stephen Solarz (D.N.Y.), the Israel lobby's chief legislative tactician on Capital Hill."6
Yes indeed, it was ardent Jewish-Zionist Stephen Solarz---liberal critic of the Vietnam war and U.S. military action abroad-who helped form a pro-war pressure group, the Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf.7 That Zionist interests had a decisive impact upon his pro-war behavior was revealed by a comment that he made on January 17, 1991 at Georgetown University, one day after U.S. air strikes against Iraqi targets began: "Enough Jews have been gassed in our century. For that reason alone our [military] strike last night was justified."8
At the 85th Annual Dinner of the American Jewish Committee, he again admitted that the "overwhelming thought of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust" was the ideological driving force behind his pro-war activism.9 As the Jewish critic of political Zionism, Dr. Alfred Lilienthal, has pointed out, this is a stock-in-trade Zionist tactic-using the Holocaust doctrine to "justify" military action against Israel's enemies.10
Certain sources have noted that the Jewish vote in Congress giving President Bush the authority to make war was split: about half of the Jewish legislators voted for it, and half voted against it. They then drew the erroneous conclusion that this in itself "proves that the interests of Israel had nothing to do with the Congressional war resolution." According to this line of reasoning, each Jewish member of Congress was "voting his conscience for what is best for the United States."11
These sources fail to take into account the complexity of the situation. There were in fact two conflicting forces operating upon these pro-Zionist Jewish legislators. Their Jewish identification with Israel was goading them to vote in favor of the war resolution. However, there was also another opposing force at work here. During the late 1980s and 1990s, there was a consistent, mounting criticism of the pervasive Zionist influence upon Congress and society in general. Indeed, political commentators like Patrick Buchanan were bold enough to publicly criticize Israel and "its amen corner in the U.S." who were beating the drums for war. These Jewish legislators were well aware of this criticism, and were also aware of the possibly fatal political consequences if all Jewish legislators voted in a bloc in favor of Bush's war plans; the public's attention may very well have focused upon the inordinate influence that alien Zionist interests have over Congress.
The Jewish legislators who voted against Bush's war plans may have said to themselves: "If all of the Jews in Congress vote in favor of Bush's war plans, and ultimately, this Gulf war turns into a disaster, the political backlash could be fatal. It could mean an end to our political careers and Zionist influence upon Congress. Therefore, I think it is in my own and Israel's best interests if a good portion of we Jewish legislators vote against Bush's war plans."
And yet, there may even be a better explanation as to why the Jewish vote in Congress was split-it may have been planned that way. As the now-defunct The Spotlight noted: ".legislative votes are frequently planned well in advance by both Republicans and the Democrats. This permits legislators with public relations problems to cast 'politically correct' votes, while at the same time being assured the outcome of the balloting will be exactly expected as expected."12 The Wall Street Journal noted that there was quiet relief among Jewish groups when it became known that ".the vote showed no solid Jewish bloc in favor of a war so relevant to Israel."13 One Jewish lawmaker commented that it wasn't such a bad idea that the Jewish vote in Congress was split.14 By consciously splitting the Jewish vote, two objectives could be obtained. Not only could the war resolution get passed. But just as importantly, public opinion would remain largely unaware of the linkage between the pr
o-war resolution, the interests of Israel, and Zionist influence upon Congress. With a split in the Jewish vote in Congress, Zionist politicos could surreptitiously "discredit" the claims of the critics that Zionist interests wield too much influence upon Congress.
In this case, American Zionists faced a severe dilemma. On the one hand, they had to somehow satisfy their most fervent wish of getting America to destroy Iraq's military might. Yet, on the other hand, if the American people ever became aware of the fact that an alien Zionist element was working to have American soldiers sent to die for the state of Israel, the result could be politically fatal. This is why many Jewish efforts to get America involved in the Persian Gulf war of 1991 were kept low profile; this why AIPAC disguised its crucial role in gaining Congressional approval for the war; this is why that much of the pro-war propaganda issuing forth from many Jewish sources was couched in the rhetoric of "patriotism" and "the American national interest." According to many of these Jewish sources, Saddam Hussein was the "new Hitler" bent on destroying America. Hence, as the propaganda went, fighting Iraq was in the best interests of the US. Behind this "patriotic" pr
opaganda and rhetoric lurked so many Zionist interests. As admitted in Cleveland Jewish News, it would have been severely threatening to Zionist interests if large numbers of Americans started asking the question: "Should Americans die for the interests of Israel?"15
Historically speaking, this clandestine method of promoting Jewish interests has been a standard stock-in-trade tactic of many Jews. For example, in 1936 Hollywood Jewish writers and executives had a meeting where they formulated plans for dealing with Nazi Germany. The Jewish producer, David Selznick, along with attorney Martin Gang were present. Gang recalled how Selznick wanted to deal collectively with the Hitler regime. "What stands out in my mind was David Selznick, who wanted to do it in the usual Jewish way of being on the fringes and not letting yourself appear as involved in it.Don't get too public. Do it quietly. Behind the scenes."16
Sometime after the end of the Persian Gulf war, the former Prime Minister of Canada, Brian Mulroney, admitted his country's reason for joining the war effort was to protect the state of Israel: "The ultimate ambition of Saddam Hussein was to launch an attack on Israel, which is why Canada took a stand to avoid this eventuality."17
In all fairness, there were some elements within the Jewish community that were very much against American involvement in the Persian Gulf war of 1991. And I would be quick to point out that Jewish elements were not the only ones pushing for war. There were very powerful WASP and Arab elements behind this push for US involvement in the war. But these admissions in no way nullify the historical fact that Jewish-Zionist elements were an integral part of a coalition of forces that drove America into the Persian Gulf war.
FOOTNOTES
1. CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS, p.5, 1/4/91.
2. THE PLAIN DEALER (Cleveland, Ohio), p.4-A, 2/5/91.
3. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, p.A-12, 1/28/91.
4. CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS (Cleveland, Ohio), p.7, 1/18/91.
5. THE SPOTLIGHT, pp.14-15, 1/28/91.
6. THE SPOTLIGHT, p.20, 2/4/91.
7. Ibid, p.21.
8. CHRISTIAN NEWS, p.6, 1/28/91.
9. CHRISTIAN NEWS, p.23, 5/13/91.
10. Alfred Lilienthal, THE ZIONIST CONNECTION II: WHAT PRICE PEACE? (North American, 1982).
11. CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS, p.7, 1/18/91.
12. THE SPOTLIGHT, p.8, 2/11/91.
13. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, p.A-12, 1/28/91.
14. Ibid.
15. CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS, p.5, 1/4/91.
16. Neal Gabler, AN EMPIRE THEIR OWN: HOW THE JEWS INVENTED HOLLYWOOD (Crown Publishers, 1988), p.342.
17. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS, June 1993, p.57. |
