It comes down to a confluence of interests between the Neoconservatives, who are generally Likudnik intellectuals who, in 1996, published a messianic plan for remaking the Middle East in a kind of pipe-dream of what they believe to be best for Israel. This whole gang is almost entirely Jewish, which is, as I've explained in the past, not in the least good for the Jews.
I'm actually dreading the moment when we might see a groundswell of support for Mel Gibson's drunken prattle on how the Jews are responsible for all the wars due to it being linked to the disastrous work of Irving Kristol, William Kristol, Richard Perle, Bernard Lewis, Michael Ledeen, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Jon Podhoretz, Eliot Abrams...the list goes on, not exclusively Jewish, but dominated by those thinkers linked to the hard-right Israeli party.
Thankfully, Israel has a great moderate, even liberal tradition, exemplified by Daniel Levy writing in Ha'aretz for its Israeli readership, "Ending the neoconservative nightmare". After explaining how the Neocons joined together with the"hawkish well-connected Republicans like Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Newt Gingrich, and with the emerging powerhouse of the Christian right," he goes into the reasons that Israel might now disengage from these armchair assholes.
Disentangling Israeli interests from the rubble of neocon "creative destruction" in the Middle East has become an urgent challenge for Israeli policy-makers. An America that seeks to reshape the region through an unsophisticated mixture of bombs and ballots, devoid of local contextual understanding, alliance-building or redressing of grievances, ultimately undermines both itself and Israel. The sight this week of Secretary of State Rice homeward bound, unable to touch down in any Arab capital, should have a sobering effect in Washington and Jerusalem.
He doesn't have all the answers, but thinks lucidly about the alliance, and advises:
A U.S. return to proactive diplomacy, realism and multilateralism, with sustained and hard engagement that delivers concrete progress, would best serve its own, Israeli and regional interests. Israel should encourage this. Israel may even have to lead, for instance, in rethinking policy on Hamas or Syria, and should certainly work intensely with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in encouraging his efforts to reach a Palestinian national understanding as a basis for stable governance, security quiet and future peace negotiations. A policy that comes with a Jerusalem kosher stamp of approval might be viewed as less of an abomination in Washington.
Beyond that, Israel and its friends in the United States should seriously reconsider their alliances not only with the neocons, but also with the Christian Right. The largest "pro-Israel" lobby day during this crisis was mobilized by Pastor John Hagee and his Christians United For Israel, a believer in Armageddon with all its implications for a rather particular end to the Jewish story. This is just asking to become the mother of all dumb, self-defeating and morally abhorrent alliances.
I'm not going to lay bets on the likelihood of this happening before Bush brings on the apocalypse. Per Juan Cole, this is all about oil, and as we have two oil industry representatives/beneficiaries as President and VP, we've got a problem with Iran, and a European reader of his site reports from a speech by someone in Portugal's ministry of energy:
JFR explained to the astonished audience that Iran was the most valuable country on the planet. They have one of the biggest holdings of gas and oil reserves in the world. second in gas, second in oil. On top of that they have direct access to the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the Caspian Sea what makes them a potential platform for the distribution of oil and gas to South Asia, Europe and East Asia. JRF called Iran 'the prize".
He goes on to write how:
The presentation got kind of freaky then. He said the US government wanted to stop state-controlled Iranian or Chinese (or Indian) companies from controlling the oil. JFR says the US Government is convinced that this battle will decide the future of the world. It sounded like he was talking about 'the one ring' in lord of the rings. He who controls Iran controls them all.'
Toward his conclusion, Cole writes:
The second American Century ensues. The "New Middle East" means the "American Middle East."
And it all starts with the destruction of Lebanon.
More wars to come, in this scenario, since hitting Lebanon was like hitting a politician's bodyguard. You don't kill a bodyguard just to kill the bodyguard. It is phase I of a bigger operation.
Both pieces are well worth reading. This isn't about democracy, peace or anything remotely being touted by the powers-that-be. I'm all for Israel being secure but this sure doesn't seem to be the way to do it. I'm all for having enough energy to run my modern life but would like us to be spending the kind of money that we've blown on the Iraq War on alternative energy research.
But, like I imagine the over 60% of Americans not approving of Bush's performance as President feel, I don't expect these jackals to learn from their mistakes. Until they are removed from office, we are all at risk.
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