Tom Hayden: Things Come ’Round in Mideast

Tom Hayden: Things Come ’Round in Mideast

Posted on Jul 18, 2006
By Tom Hayden

Editor’s note: In this essay, veteran social activist Tom Hayden, drawing upon his own rude political awakening to the realities of Israeli and Middle East politics during the 1980s, warns that the Israel lobby in the U.S. aims to “roll back the clock” and “change the map” of the region and that its neoconservative supporters will probably try to use the current Middle East crisis to ignite a larger war against Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060718_tom_hayden_things_come_round/

profiteers (the Bush junta, oil/energy corporations, arms manufacturers, the Saudis and the bin Ladens--in short, the Bush Cartel war cabal) that is the chief force behind both the Iraq war and this widened Mideast war, and not the Israel lobby or even the Israeli leadership (which is currently destroying Beirut and slaughtering numerous innocents). I think the current Israeli war is Plan B of the NeoCon/Bushite "Project for a New American Century" (PNAC). They couldn't get the American people to go along (EIGHTY-FOUR PERCENT of the American people oppose U.S. participation in a Mideast war!--in a recent poll), nor Europe, Russia or China, so Plan B for the takeover of the Mideast oil fields: let Israel do it.

Israel's crazy leadership is willing enough. But the Israeli people and Israel as a whole--the country itself--is being USED by U.S. war profiteers to sidle the U.S. into a widened Mideast, in the teeth of vast opposition in the U.S. And I have to include most of our Democratic Party leadership in this nasty, fascist conspiracy--because they're going right along with it, PRETENDING that it's "support for Israel." What crap. This is support for the U.S. war industry and Corporate Rule. It has NOTHING TO DO with the safety of Israel. The current Bushite/Israeli policies (wholesale slaughter and invasions in the Middle east) is suicidal for Israel. And that's what I mean by "crazy." I don't know what has possessed these Israeli leaders. They think they can run the entire Middle East as an armed fortress? And they don't think that the Bush Cartel won't hang Israel out to dry, for yet more piggish profit and power? In an instant, they would sink Israel--in favor of Saudi sultans and bin Ladens! And their minuscule support among Americans is rife with venomous, witch-hunting, scapegoating bigots--the stupidest, most bigoted people on earth! Today it's gays and brown immigrants and Arabs. Tomorrow it's Jews. Just like that, it could happen. The Bush junta is EVIL. Israel has made a "pact with the Devil." And so has our Democratic leadership.

This has certainly been the policy of the "Israel lobby." Hayden is right about that. But he overestimates the power of that lobby (vs. the Bush junta), and puts things in the wrong order, power-wise. Bush junta first (which holds all the power to fund or not fund Israel's defense and aggression). The Israel lobby/leadership second--which is implementing PNAC-Plan B. There are a lot of Jewish voters in the U.S. (but still a small minority). There is a lot of Jewish money in the U.S. for political campaign contributions (and a lot of OTHER money in politics--a whole lot). And there is the Israel lobby run by the current Israeli leaders. These forces cannot tell the Bush junta what to do--that is, the combined power of all U.S. war profiteers, oil giants, rightwing nut billionaires and other corporate interests. They are joined right now in common purpose. But they can be quickly un-joined, if the Bush junta smells advantage from doing so. They could drop Israel in a minute. They could vilify Israel AND Jews, through their rightwing 'christian' bigotry network. They are frigging white supremacy Nazis--but perhaps greedbags and power monsters first of all. The Israeli government (and ITS war profiteers) are certainly not innocent. Their actions toward Palestinians and their current bombing of Beirut are abominable. They are committing war crimes. But that doesn't mean they are leading this war agenda. It would be more accurate to say they are taking advantage of it. And Israel itself--the country and its people--just as with the U.S. itself--the country and its people--are being dragged into the hell of endless war by crazy, greedy, ruthless, unaccountable cabals. We CANNOT WIN THIS WAR against the huge, overwhelming population of Islamic peoples in the Middle East. Peace is the ONLY path to Israel's survival--and its leaders are rampaging in the opposite direction, on behalf of the Bushites!

And the American people are being impoverished by it (not to mention being made into the pariahs of the world)--entirely against their plainly evident will (84%!), by means of rigged elections (which the Democratic Party leadership has so far gone along with!).

It will be the end of both democracies--American and Israeli. And the cabals running these two countries could together bring about the end of the world, with one limited nuclear weapons exchange. (Read Carl Sagan's "The Cold and the Dark" about the impacts to the atmosphere of even a limited nuclear exchange.)

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Now I'm going to read Hayden through. But I think he's got things in the wrong order. Think of it this way: If there were no Israel and no Israel lobby, would the Bush junta STILL to be bent on occupying all Mideast oil fields? You bet they would. They are PLAYING Israel! (Hayden apparently thinks it's the other way around--that Israel is playing the Bushites. I don't think so.)

I voted for him for Governor of California when he ran.

In the first part, Hayden takes us back to the Israel invasion of Lebanon in 1982. He was present at the border, on a "support Israel" mission, when this happened. He talks about how Israel mis-represented this invasion as creation of a demilitarized zone. But it was a full invasion of Lebanon. Hayden also talks about the realities of being a political candidate and office-holder in Los Angeles, where candidates are vetted by Israeli officials as "friend of Israel" or not. Hayden, on the whole, throughout his career has been a friend of the Israeli peace movement, and a supporter of Israel in general (not of Israeli aggression), and of Jewish concerns (such as the treatment of elderly Holocaust victims by insurance companies).

His concern, present-time, is that the "Israel lobby" is going to destroy the anti-Iraq war peace movement in the U.S.--and also the movement for withdrawal from Iraq within the Democratic Party leadership. I still think he's got the power situation reversed--that is, it is the BUSH JUNTA that is instigating and supporting the current Israeli bombing (and probable) invasion of Lebanon. It is THEIR intention to destroy the movement toward peace, and it is war profiteer driven. The Israelis COULD NOT be pursuing aggression against their neighbors without Bush junta support. No one else in the world supports them. It is Bushite/PNAC agenda item to invade all Mideast countries and occupy them, and control their oil. They are doing it by PROXY (using Israel).

Hayden does acknowledge this as the Bushite/PNAC agenda. (He discusses the "Clean Break" Memo--see below). And his concern about the "Israel Lobby" is more refined than I guessed it would be (from the brief OP). He's not so much saying that this lobby controls Bushite war policy, rather, that it confuses voters and could derail the peace movement.

Some direct quotes from Hayden:

"How do I read today’s news through the lens of the past?

"What I fear is that the 'Israeli lobby' is working overtime to influence American public opinion on behalf of Israel’s military effort to 'roll back the clock' and 'change the map' of the region, going far beyond issues like prisoner exchange.

"What I fear is that the progress of the American peace movement against the Iraq war will be diverted and undermined, at least for now, by the entry of Israel from the sidelines into the center of the equation.

"What I fear is the rehabilitation of the discredited U.S. neoconservative agenda to ignite a larger war against Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. The neoconservatives’ 1996 'Clean Break' memo advocated that Israel 'roll back' Lebanon and destabilize Syria in addition to overthrowing Saddam Hussein. An intellectual dean of the neoconservatives, Bernard Lewis, has long advocated the 'Lebanonization' of the Middle East, meaning the disintegration of nation states into 'a chaos of squabbling, feuding, fighting sects, tribes, regions and parties.'

"This divide-and-conquer strategy, a brainchild of the region’s British colonizers, is already taking effect in Iraq, where America overthrew a secular state, installed a Shiite majority and its militias in power and now portrays itself as the only protection for Sunnis against those same Shiites. The resulting quagmire has become a justification for American troops to remain. 

"What I fear is trepidation and confusion among rank-and-file voters and activists, and the paralysis of politicians, especially Democrats, who last week were moving gradually toward setting a deadline for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. The politics of the present crisis favor the Republicans and the White House in the short run. How many politicians will favor withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq under present conditions? Isn’t this Karl Rove’s game plan for the November elections?

"....I hope that my story deepens the resolve of all those whose feelings are torn, conflicted or confused in the present. It is not being a “friend of Israel” to turn a blind eye to its never-ending occupation.

(snip)

"...the roots of this virulent spiral of vengeance lie in the permanent occupation of Palestinian territories by the overconfident Israelis. As it did in 1982, Israel now admits that the war is not about prisoner exchanges or cease-fires; it is about eradicating Hezbollah and Hamas altogether, if necessary by an escalation against Syria or even Iran. It should be clear by now that the present Israeli government will never accept an independent Palestinian state, but rather harbors a colonial ambition to decide which Palestinian leaders are acceptable.

"In 1982, Israel said the same thing about eliminating PLO sanctuaries in Lebanon. It was after that 1982 Israeli invasion that Hezbollah was born. I remember Israeli national security experts even taking credit for fostering Hamas and Islamic fundamentalism as safe, reclusive alternatives to Palestinian secular nationalism. I remember watching Israeli soldiers blow up Palestinian houses and carry out collective punishment because, they told me matter-of-factly, punishment is the only language that Arabs understand. Israelis are inflicting collective punishment on Lebanese civilians for the same reason today.

"It is clear that apocalyptic forces, openly green-lighted by President Bush, are gambling on the impossible. They are trying to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in Iraq through escalation in Lebanon and beyond. This is yet another faith-based initiative.

(snip)

"Militarism and occupation cannot extinguish the force of Islamic nationalism. Billions in American tax dollars are funding the Israeli troops and bombs.

"...The absence of (an exit strategy) is the weakest element of the U.S.-Israeli campaign. Just as the White House says it plans to deploy 50,000 troops on permanent bases in an occupied Iraq, so the Israelis speak of permanently eliminating their enemies, from Gaza to Tehran. The result will be further occupation, resistance and deeper quagmire.

"...American soldiers should not be stuck waist-deep in a sectarian quagmire. Congressional insistence on denying funds for permanent military bases is a vital first step. Otherwise we will witness a tacit alliance between Israel and the U.S. to dominate the Middle East militarily.

"Most important, Americans must not be timid in speaking up, as I was 25 years ago. Silence is consent to occupation."

anti-Vietnam War peace movement.

Boy, do I feel old having to say that!

It is sad that there is such a move towards a genocide of the Arabs by the people running Israel.

We've come to expect that from Tom.

It may even mean voting against some you favorite Congressmen and women but that's the only way it can be done. It's the only way to nullify the Israeli lobboy and their money.