A Dark Week for the Neoconservative Movement

…by Jonas E. Alexis

Bill Kristol, who said that the GOP’s existential dream of American exceptionalism is a version of Zionism,[1] has recently admitted in his weekly newsletter that it has been “a dark week” for people like him. Why?

Most VT readers probably know the answer already. Obama, Kristol lamented, has made a

“terrible nuclear arms deal with Iran. Of course, nothing reminds one more of the importance of 2016 than the Iran deal, and the need to reverse it and the disastrous foreign policy path we’re on.

“In this case, though, it’s also important for Congress to do its best now to save us from even beginning to go down the path laid out by this deal.”

Joseph Klein of the Neocon flagship FrontPage Magazine lamented: “Iran nuke deal framework: worst fears confirmed.”[2] Caroline B. Glick of the Jerusalem Post has declared that the Iran nuclear deal is a “diplomatic track to war.”[3]

For Norman Podhoretz of Commentary, the deal is “a dishonorable and dangerous product of appeasement…”[4]

Both Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former secretaries of states, falsely declare that the deal “is in defiance of UN resolutions.” They move on to concoct two categorical lies, which state that

“Iran’s centrifuges have multiplied from about 100 at the beginning of the negotiation to almost 20,000 today. The threat of war now constrains the West more than Iran…

“In the process, the Iranian program has reached a point officially described as being within two to three months of building a nuclear weapon.”[5]

It is pretty obvious to notice that the whole Neocon/Zionist kingdom is roaring like a hungry lion seeking to devour an innocent sheep. But some in the Zionist movement think that those Neocons are simply wrong.

Former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy has slammed Netanyahu for trying to kill the Iran deal.[6] CIA director John Brennan, of all people, has even condemned those who criticize the Iran deal. And then this:

“Thirty-one percent of U.S. Republicans favor a new nuclear deal with Iran, creating a challenge for their party’s lawmakers who largely oppose the framework accord sealed between Tehran and world powers…”[7]

To please his Neocon listeners, Obama has recently said demonstrably false things such as Iran has been involved in anti-Semitic activities,[8] that Iran “has been advancing its nuclear program for decades,” that it was “operating thousands of centrifuges, which can produce the materials for a nuclear bomb,” and that it was “concealing a covert nuclear facility.”[9]

All of that has shown to be fabrications and hoaxes.[10] In fact, Israeli historian Benny Morris, a flaming Zionist, admitted that some of the “evidence” came from “the Israeli intelligence in the first place.”[11]

Yet despite the fact that Obama seemed to be appealing to his neoconservative hawks, despite the fact that there is virtually little in the Iran deal that really challenges Israel (the deal does not even ask Israel to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty), the Neocons were still unhappy.

This obviously got the attention of Jewish writer Jacob Heilbrunn, who opened his article in the LA Times saying:

“If nothing succeeds like failure, then the neoconservatives who championed democracy promotion and regime change against Saddam Hussein are very successful indeed.

“After the Iraq war went south, the reputations of leading neocons such as former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz came into disrepute.

“But as the Obama administration has worked toward its controversial nuclear deal with Iran, the neocons have once again become the dominant voice on foreign policy in the Republican Party.

“Writing in National Review on the eve of the agreement, the historian Victor Davis Hanson declared, ‘Our dishonor in Lausanne, as with Munich, may avoid a confrontation in the present, but our shame will guarantee a war in the near future…’

“Just as they argued that Saddam Hussein was on the verge of obtaining a nuclear bomb, so leading neocons are rehearsing the same arguments about Tehran. They say the U.S. has no choice but to go on the attack before Iran explodes a nuclear bomb and becomes a regional superpower with the ability to destroy Israel.

“The GOP’s approach to foreign affairs has become so uniform that any dissent from within is almost immediately slapped down. Consider former Secretary of State James Baker, who has advised the Bush family for decades.

“When he recently appeared before the liberal Jewish group J Street to criticize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for foot-dragging on reaching an accommodation with the Palestinians, he was denounced on Twitter by William Kristol, the editor of the neocon Weekly Standard. ”[12]

Again, why were the Neocons not happy?

Well, they seem to think that Obama did not include John Bolton’s diabolical thesis in the Iran deal, which reads: “To stop Iran’s bomb, bomb Iran.”[13] Neocon hawk Michael Cutler followed this Zionist line of reasoning by saying that Iran is “the world’s most pernicious state sponsor of international terrorism…”[14]

Netanyahu, for his part, has gone berserk saying that he is “trying to kill a bad deal.”[15]

His solution?

Well, you’ve got to give Netanyahu some credit for his “genius”: America and much of the world need to “ratchet up the sanctions.”[16] During the same interview, the psychopath did not realize that the Zionist gun was loaded and shot himself in the toes by saying

“In an ideal situation, you wouldn’t have countries seeking to annihilate the state of Israel and openly saying that. I think the real problem in the Middle East is … countries like Iran that pursue nuclear weapons with the explicit goal first of annihilating us, but also ultimately of conquering the Middle East and threatening [the U.S.]”[17]

At a different occasion, Netanyahu asked, “Why doesn’t the framework address Iran’s intercontinental ballistic missile programme whose sole purpose is to carry nuclear payloads?”

Here is the rub: Jewish Neocon Jonathan S. Tobin of Commentary thinks that Netanyahu has “a strong argument.”[18] He’s got to be kidding.

Why doesn’t the psychopath in Tel Aviv address Israel’s intercontinental ballistic missiles the regime has been hiding for years? Why can this man be rational at least once? Even the New York Times, of all places, has argued that Netanyahu has placed “unworkable demands on Iran.” It acknowledged:

“The Israelis are now insisting that Iran end all research and development on advanced centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium; reduce the number of operating centrifuges at its Natanz plant beyond what was agreed to in the framework; and close its underground enrichment facility at Fordo.

“Also, Israel has demanded that Iran allow inspections “anywhere, anytime” by international monitors, ship its stockpile of enriched uranium out of the country and disclose past nuclear-related activities that might involve military uses.”[19]

Iran should accept the challenge, as long as Israel would do the same. But the regime does not even want to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. So, which is really an existential threat in the Middle East?

Let us find out.

 Iran has done its best to reach out to the West for decades, but the neoconservative hawks have given the country no chance.

Flynt Leverett, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, declared that Iran is a rational country and has made several attempts to make rational deals with the West, most particularly America, but the United States has reversed those deals and continued to propound the neoconservative mantra that Iran is a suicide country.

In 2008, CBS did an interview with Ali Akbar Salehi, who got his Ph.D. from MIT in nuclear engineering. Once he was done with his studies, Salehi moved back to Iran for an administrative career at the Sharif University of Technology. During the interview, Salehi cogently declared:

“I have a lot of respect…for the people of the U.S. and I’ve always said this: I do not consider the U.S. as a country. I think the U.S. belongs to the whole human kind. It’s a human heritage. I don’t think history will be able to produce another country like the U.S. Because it’s a country that has served humanity so much, in terms of technology, in terms of science…

“Most of my professors were from the U.S. Even my bachelor’s degree is from the American University of Beirut. Again I had a lot of U.S. professors there. I feel indebted to them. This is part of my religion. You know, whoever teaches you something, you are indebted to them for your life. So my respect goes for the entire U.S. people. But you see this is different when it comes to the actions of their government.”[20]

This certainly does not correspond with neoconservative ideology. What makes it even more interesting is that Salehi was appointed by Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei, two people the neoconservatives have labeled as irrational. Khamenei even declared:

“Certainly there are conditions where our ties with the United States could be normalized.”[21]

Prior to Ahmadinejad, Mohammed Khatami, then president of Iran, made several attempts to reach out to the U.S. In a 1998 CNN interview, he claimed “an intellectual affinity with the essence of American civilization,” a reference to Alexis de Tocqueville.

Khatanmi further declared that both America and Iran are intrinsically religious and that both countries ought to find common ground for fruitful dialogue and relationship.

Khatanmi even apologized for “the 1979-1981 hostage crisis” that “left Americans with negative feelings toward the Islamic Republic.”[22] But the Zionist machine shut him down.

Yet Iran never gave up on engaging America on a fruitful and rational relationship. In 2003, the Iranian government re-energized the peace talks and even made it clear that Iran would allow full transparency of their nuclear program. They also vowed to fight terrorism “including decisive action against any terrorists—above all Al-Qaida—on Iranian territory.”

They further agreed to cooperate “for actively supporting political stabilization and the establishment of democratic institutions and democratic government representing all ethnic and religious groups.”

Iran also made it clear that the United States must take action against terrorist organizations such as the MEK, which the U.S. was supporting at the time.[23] But the U.S. once again turned all those opportunities down precisely because the neoconservative/Zionist machine allows no peace talks. As Leverett puts it,

“The proposition that the Islamic Republic is implacably and unreasonably hostile to the United States is, of course, a staple of neoconservatism.”[24]

Therefore, it is not Iran that is an existential threat in the Middle East. Jewish artifacts of all kinds have played a vital role in Iran among the Jewish community, where they largely enjoyed the ambiance.[25] Noted political scientists such as Kenneth Waltz have made it clear that a nuclear Iran is not a threat to the Middle East or America. According to Waltz,

“Israel’s regional nuclear monopoly, which has proved remarkably durable for the past four decades, has long fueled instability in the Middle East.

“In no other region of the world does a lone, unchecked nuclear state exist. It is Israel’s nuclear arsenal, not Iran’s desire for one, that has contributed most to the current crisis. Power, after all, begs to be balanced.”[26]

Former CIA official Paul R. Pillar made similar arguments.[27] If there is an existential threat in the Middle East, it is none other than the terrorist state of Israel. And if there is a covert agent for the terrorist state of Israel in America, it is none other than the Neoconservatives, who still try to wield their power as if the mess they have induced in Iraq is not enough.

The wars in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and other parts in the Middle East have cost billions of dollars. By 2010, the war in Afghanistan had already surpassed the $12 billion mark.[28] Even British academic and diplomat Rory Stewart could not see the future of Afghanistan in a positive light, particularly when U.S. and British soldiers leave the country.[29]

By January 2011, it was reported that the U.S. had wasted $12 billion in Afghanistan.[30] In the same month, the budget deficit was reaching the $1.48 trillion mark,[31] while the U.S. debt was nearly $14.3 trillion.[32] By the summer of 2012, the U.S. debt has already reached the $16 trillion mark.[33]

In other words, trillions of dollars have been spent for wars when they could have helped reboot the economy.

Moreover, the war in Iraq not only sent the American people a six-trillion dollar bill, but it has also stopped population growth, which is important for any sustained nation.[34]

Then we have the so-called counterterrorism movement unleashed by the neoconservative circle. Counterterrorism has become, in the words of Paul R. Pillar, “an increasingly institutionalized killing machine that appears destined to operate indefinitely against a continually replenished list of targets.”[35]

Pillar continues to argue that the counterterrorism advocates failed to learn that

“terrorism is not something with a beginning and an end. It is instead a tactic that has persisted throughout history. And yet the notion of a beginning and an end persists in thinking in this country about terrorism.

“The counterterrorism machine has gotten cranked up to run in ways that would not be acceptable to most Americans if it were to run forever, and yet there is no evident point at which, once turned on, it should be turned off.”[36]

Pillar could not be any more right. Even by October 2012, most Americans do not want the U.S. to intervene in the Middle East.[37]

Time Jewish columnist Jack Hunter knows that this is not what most Americans have signed up for. But he diabolically declared,

“The bottom line in the end is—whose 4-year-old gets killed? What we’re doing is limiting the possibility that 4-year-olds here will get killed by indiscriminate acts of terror.”[38]

Glenn Greenwald responded,

“Klein’s justification—we have to kill their children in order to protect our children—is the exact mentality of every person deemed in U.S. discourse to be a ‘terrorist.’

“Almost every single person arrested and prosecuted over the last decade on terrorism charges, when asked why they were willing to kill innocent Americans including children, offered some version of Joe Klein’s mindset.”[39]

 The big question is simply this: If the war on terror is genuine, why aren’t we waging a war on the Israeli regime, which has committed unimaginable terrorist acts from time immemorial?[40] Trillions of dollars need to be put to use in order to fulfill the neoconservative dream.

At the same time, students were suffering from debt,[41] and the average student debt was nearing $27,000 by October 2012,360 and usurers were creating esthetic and moral terrorism among home owners,[42] while at the same time pension funds were being looted.[43] (A good friend of mine who graduated from UCLA  and who also studied mathematics and philosophy is carrying a $100,000 debt on his shoulder!)

Moreover, cities such as Detroit, which used to be “the industrial capital in the nation,” have been leveled to near economic ruin.[44]

What is the conclusion? All decent Americans and people around the world should be able to say: No more wars for Israel, the Neoconservatives, and their puppets like John McCain.

The vast majority of Americans has already supported a deal with Iran,[45] so let us keep telling the regime in Israel that America is no longer for sale. Journalist Elias Isquith has reported that Netanyahu “accidentally revealed his desire for more war.”[46] Isquith does not mince words here:

“Throughout his career, but especially in the time since President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has revealed himself to be something most politicians are not: a terrible bullshitter…

“Even if you adjust your measurements to reflect his profession (where bullshit is nearly omnipresent), Netanyahu’s phoniness is obvious. It’s a strange thing to say about the second-longest serving PM in Israel’s history, I grant, but it’s true nonetheless. It’s absurdly easy to tell when ‘Bibi’ is full of it…

“During his appearance on ABC, though, the mask slipped. “How did you get a peaceful solution in Syria?” he asked, referring to the crisis of late-2013, when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allegedly used chemical weapons against his own people, and did so despite President Obama’s earlier threats.

“‘You ratcheted up the pressure,’ Netanyahu continued. ‘And when Syria saw … those pressures were raining down on them, they agreed … to what was not agreed before.’ But as Netanyahu surely knows, this answer is disingenuous at best.

“Why is the Syria example so misleading? Not because Netanyahu’s mixed up his timeline or misrepresented the cause-and-effect. And not because Assad and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are allies, not the same person. No, the reason Netanyahu’s example is such nonsense is because it shows almost the exact opposite of what he said.

“If not for a last-minute intervention by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who offered to act as a mediator and dismantle its client Assad’s chemical weapons, a war between Syria and the United States is exactly what would have happened.”[47]

Isquith concludes, “When Netanyahu says he wants a ‘good’ diplomatic solution more than he wants war, don’t listen to him.”[48]

Isquith is right on target here. If the Israeli-run NSA is still “collecting everybody’s information, including your dick pics,” according to Edward Snowden,[49] then Netanyahu has some explanation to do: what is the Israeli regime going to do with all those “dick pics”? We know that so-called stand-up comedian Sarah Silverman has an affinity for things like that. Will he send them to her?

In any event, let us not quench Netanyahu’s Mephistophelian desire, which now seeks to drink Iranian blood. As Israeli military historian Martin van Cleveld has put it in the past, the Israel regime is “like a mad dog” and will not hesitate “to take the whole world down” with them if they realize that “Israel goes under.”[50]

Cleveld was not joking, and the Pentagon itself has recently declassified Israel’s nuclear program for everyone to see.[51] Iraqi blood for Netanyahu is a relic of the past, but, like Dracula, his thirst is never quenched. Through ISIS, the mad man in Tel Aviv has already drunk the blood of Christians in Syria,[52] and now he wants fresh Muslim blood.

Let us all send the psychopath in Tell Aviv the news: stay in Tel Aviv and immerse himself in kosher food if he likes, but he should no longer tell us that he is still thirsty for the blood of the Goyim. The UN has already declared that Israel is the “worst violator of human rights.” To make matters even uglier, the White House has recently

“posted a reference to Netanyahu’s widely mocked 2012 UN speech. In his address, the Israeli leader drew a red line on a cartoonish drawing of a bomb to warn against the possibility of Iran getting a nuclear weapon. The White House copied Netanyahu’s bomb drawing and repurposed it to advocate for the US’ initialagreement with Iran.”

In other words, the White House still treats Netanyahu as a “chickenshit.”

So, the Israeli regime is not doing well at the present moment, since they currently have blood on their hands. As Preston James would have put it, let us all shout it from the rooftops. We should also say that no more war for crazy puppets like Jeanine Pirro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w2ZS231BAQ

[1] See Scott McConnell, “How the GOP Became the Israel Lobby,” American Conservative, April 8, 2015.

[2] Joseph Klein, “Iran Nuke Deal Framework: Worst Fears Confirmed,” FrontPageMag.com, April 3, 2015.

[3] Caroline B. Glick, “The Diplomatic Track to War,” Jerusalem Post, April 2, 2015.

[4] Norman Podhoretz, “Obama’s Right,” Commentary, April 7, 2015.

[5] “Ex-secretaries of state Kissinger, Shultz pan Obama’s Iran nuclear deal,” Jerusalem Post, April 8, 2015.

[6] Eline Gordts, “Former Mossad Chief Efraim Halevy Slams Netanyahu For Nuke Deal Criticism,” Huffington Post, April 6, 2015.

[7] “Poll: A Third of US Republicans Support Iran Nuclear Deal,” Jerusalem Post, April 8, 2015.

[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nchk8t7IEig.

[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-FiOkjV_HU.

[10] Seymour M. Hersh, “Iran and the Bomb,” New Yorker, June 6, 2011; Mark Mazzetti, “U.S. Says Iran Ended Atomic Arms Work,” NY Times, December 3, 2007; Mark Hosenball, “Intelligence Agencies Say No New Nukes in Iran,” Newsweek, September 15, 2009; Ken Dilanian, “U.S. does not believe Iran is trying to build nuclear bomb,” LA Times, February 23, 2012; James Risen and Mark Mazzetti, “U.S. Agencies See No Move by Iran to Build a Bomb,” NY Times, February 24, 2012; “U.S. and allies agree: Iran does not have a nuclear bomb, may not want one and is far from building one,” National Post, March 23, 2012; Paul Richter, “Iran’s Nuclear Program Has Slowed Almost to a Halt, IAEA Says,” LA Times, November 14, 2013.

[11] Benny Morris, “The Coming Israel-Iran War?,” National Interest, Nov. 15, 2011.

[12] Jacob Heilbrunn, “The neocons: They’re back, and on Iran, they’re uncompromising as ever,” LA Times, April 2, 2015.

[13] John R. Bolton, “To Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb Iran,” NY Times, March 26, 2015.

[14] Michael Cutler, “Connecting the Dots: Iran, Immigration & National Security,” FrontPageMag.com, April 6, 2015.

[15] Netanyahu tells U.S. TV networks he’s ‘trying to kill a bad Iran deal,’” Haaretz, April 5, 2015.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Jonathan S. Tobin, “Netanyahu Can’t Back Down on Iran,” Commentary, April 6, 2015.

[19] “Israel’s Unworkable Demands on Iran,” NY Times, April 7, 2015.

[20] Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett, Going to Tehran: Why the United States Must Come to Terms with the Islamic Republic (New York: Henry Holt, 2013), 81.

[21] Ibid., 84.

[22] Ibid., 92.

[23] Ibid., 100-101.

[24] Ibid, 81.

[25] Naomi Pfefferman, “An Exhibition of Iranian Jews,” Jewish Journal, October 10, 2012.

[26] Kenneth W. Waltz, “Why Iran Should Get the Bomb: Nuclear Balancing Would Mean Stability,” Affairs, July/August 2012.

[27] Paul R. Pillar, “We Can Live With a Nuclear Iran,” Washington Monthly, March/April 2012.

[28] Richard Wolf, “Afghan War Costs Now Outpace Iraq’s,” USA Today, May 13, 2010.

[29] Tony Karon, “Is the U.S. Admitting Defeat in Afghanistan?,” Time, October 3, 2012.

[30] “U.S. Risks Wasting $12 Billion in Afghan Army Aid,” Reuters.com, January 26, 2011.

[31] Richard Cowan and Kim Dixon, “Budget Deficit to Hit $1.48,” Reuters.com, January 27, 2011.

[32] “Q+A: $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit Looms Closer,” Reuters.com, January 27, 2011.

[33] Ashley Southal, “As Convention Opens, Debt Clock Ticks,” NY Times, August 27, 2012.

[34] Sabrina Tavernise, “Whites Account for Under Half of Births in U.S.,” NY Times, May 17, 2012.

[35] Paul R. Pillar, “Poorly Learned Lessons about Terrorism,” National Interest, October 25, 2012.

[36] Ibid.

[37] Conor Friedersdorf, “A Majority of Voters Want America to Stop Intervening  Abroad So Much,” Atlantic, October 22, 2012; Paul Richter, “Most Americans Want Less Foreign Involvement, Polls Show,” LA Times, October 27, 2012 25, 2012.

[38] Jack Hunter, “Pro-Life Means Anti-Drone,” American Conservative, October 26, 2012.

[39] Ibid.

[40] See for example Ami Pedahzur and Arie Perliger, Jewish Terrorism in Israel (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011).

[41] Stacy Teicher Khadaroo, “No Surprise to Students: College Debt is up 5 Percent for Class of 2011,” Christian Science Monitor, October 18, 2012.

[42] See Alejandro Lazo, “Fed Easing: How Many Home Owners Will it Really Help?,” Christian Science Monitor, September 18, 2012.

[43] See Steven Malanga, “How Retirement Benefits May Sink the States,” Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2012; Steven Yaccino, “Illinois: Chicago Mayor Gives Warning on Pensions,” NY Times, October 11, 2012.

[44] “Detroit Ranked Most Dangerous City in the Country Fourth Year in a Row as Economic Devastation Continues to Take Its Toll,” Daily Mail, October 20, 2012.

[45] Scott Clement and Peyton M. Craighill, “Poll: Clear majority supports nuclear deal with Iran,” Washington Post, March 30, 2015.

[46] Elias Isquith, “Bibi’s Iran shocker: How he accidentally revealed his desire for more war,” Salon, April 6, 2015.

[47] Ibid.

[48] Ibid.

[49] Colin Gorenstein, “The NSA is still collecting “your dick pics”: Edward Snowden’s terrifying warning for John Oliver and America,” Salon, April 6, 2015.

[50] Quoted in “The War Game,” Guardian, September 21, 2003.

[51] Michael Karpin, “Revealing Israel’s Nuclear Secrets: The Pentagon Declassifies a Surprising 987 Report,” Jewish Daily Forward, March 25, 2015.

[52] For a recent report on how Christians are being terrorized, see for example Robert Fisk, “The Christian tragedy in the Middle East did not begin with ISIS,” The Independent, April 5, 2015.

Jonas E. Alexis, Assistant Editor

Jonas E. Alexis has degrees in mathematics and philosophy. He studied education at the graduate level. His main interests include U.S. foreign policy, the history of the Israel/Palestine conflict, and the history of ideas. He is the author of the new book Zionism vs. the West: How Talmudic Ideology is Undermining Western Culture. He teaches mathematics in South Korea.

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