In Cold Blood: Perpetual War

[H2O Man]

{1} "For his part, Cheney knew that the real foreign policy struggle within the administration was not over Rove but Powell. One night he remarked privately that the administration had these intense discussions about the two sides of the Iranian government, that of the democratically elected president, Mohammad Khatami, and the powerful theocratic religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 'The debate is whether it's two sides of the same government or whether it's two separate governments,' he said of Iran, adding jokingly, 'The same question applies to Don Rumsfeld and Colin Powell'." -- "Plan of Attack"; Bob Woodward; pages 128-9

I would like to take a few minutes to discuss the United State's relations with Iran. Sources such as Reuters and Truthout reported that President Bush, in an interview with Israeli media, had noted that all options -- including force -- "are on the table" regarding Iran. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder almost immediately responded, "...let's take the military option off the table. We have seen it doesn't work." (8-13-05)

Bush's comments raised concerns in Europe, in part because it confirmed an article from the 3-13 London Times, which reported that the "inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave 'initial authorisation' for an attack (on suspected Iranian nuclear sites) at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert.'" The article described practice raids by elite commando units in rather specific detail. It noted that US officials said a strike could not be ruled out if the UN became deadlocked on the issue.

Further, in a 2-18 London Daily Telegraph article ("America Would Back Israel Attack on Iran"), Bush was quoted as saying, "Clearly, if I was the leader of Israel and I'd listened to some of the statements by Iranian ayatollahs that regarded the security of my country, I'd be concerned about Iran having nuclear weapons as well. And in that Israel is our ally, and in that we've made a very strong commitment to support Israel, we'd support Israel if her security is threatened." (Both London quotes taken from D. Ireland's "The Real AIPAC Spy Ring Story -- It Was All About Iran"; 8-5-05; direland.typepad.com)

We know from reading Richard Clarke's "Against All Enemies" that Iran has proven a difficult country for the United States to deal with since the late 1970s. The goal of this essay is not to attempt to define the Iranian state of affairs. However, it is worth noting that in the Reagan era, a number of members of the Reagan & Bush1 administration were involved in illegal activities that were part of the Iran-Contra scandals. More, in the 1990s, a group of people who were from the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush1 administrations became involved in the "neoconservative movement," which identified a change in governments in Iran as one of their goals.

And, as readers will know from previous DU essays ("Feith-based intelligence: A Neocon Scandal" and "Part 2: the Karl Rove of AIPAC"), an administration official named Lawrence Franklin who is under indictment for espionage is known to have met twice in Europe with a notorious Iranian arms dealer from the Reagan-Bush1 scandal.

{2}"America's and Israel's responses must be regional, not local. Israel and the United States should adopt a coordinated strategy, to regain the initiative and reverse their region-wide strategic retreat. They should broaden the conflict to strike fatally, not merely disarm, the centers of radicalism in the region -- the regimes of Damascus, Baghdad, Tripoli, Tehran, and Gaza." -- David Wurmser; "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm"; 1995

In 1995, a group of neocons authored the "A Clean Break" proposal, which Richard Perle hand-delivered to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The plan called for: {a} the USA to withdraw from the Palestinian conflict; and {b} for Israel to "roll back" enemies in neighboring countries with "preemptive strikes" that resulted in the installation of friendly governments.

The Muslim world's view of this proposed policy can be found in "Imperial Hubris" by "Anonymous" -- the retired CIA senior analyst -- on pages 11-12, in the secontion on a "greater Israel." The Islamic world's perception that the US backs such a plan is playing a significant role in the current world tensions.

Netanyahu rejected the neocon's plan. However, when George W. Bush assumed the office of the president, it was revived. In large part, this would be the game plan of those in the camp of VP Cheney. They include the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld; his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz; Richard Perle, the chairman of the Defense Policy Board; Douglas Feith, the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, which is the highest policy position in the Pentagon; and David Wurmser, who started in the State Department, and became VP Cheney's top Middle East expert.

{3}" 'Then along comes a new Administration that is made up of the same neocons that were promoting the (hawkish) Iran policy,' the veteran lobbyist continued, 'but this Administration was divided down the center ...On the one hand, you have the neocons ...on the other side, you have Powell and Richard Armitage and the State department (and the CIA), who want to try to open up a dialogue. One is for confrontation, one is for dialogue ... So the neocons, the Iran hawks, know they have got a natural ally ... at other think tanks around town who feel the same way they do....They also have AIPAC, which has made (Iran) its number-one issue ... My guess is that they went to AIPAC and the others with the same message:"You have friends we don't. Help us to persuade them to see it our way." ' "
-- "The Big Chill" by Laura Rozen; The Nation; 7-14-05

Paul O'Neill, who had only been the Secretary of Treasury for a few days, attended a January 30, 2001 meeting of President Bush2's senior national security team. He would later tell how President Bush started the meeting by announcing, "We're going to correct the imbalances of the previous administration on the Mideast conflict." He noted that he planned to pull the US back from its involvement in the Palestinian conflict, exactly as advocated in Wurmser's "A Clean Break."

Colin Powell, the only person at the meeting who could raise his hand when Bush asked, "Anybody here ever meet Sharon?", objected to this plan. He noted it could lead to an increase in violence. "Sometimes a show of strength by one side can really clarify things," Bush answered.

In "Feith-based intelligence," I noted that a newspaper reported on 9-9-01 that President Bush had changed his mind, and was prepared to meet with Yasar Arafat at the up-coming UN General Assembly. After 9-11, of course, this meeting would never occur. The neocons were angry that some on the Powell side of the government had influenced Bush; more, they were furious that Armitage had leaked this to the media. They pressured Condi Rice, who in turn called the Department of Justice, and demanded the FBI investigate leaks from the administration to the media.

As we know, this call resulted in the investigation that has resulted in Lawrence Franklin and two AIPAC employees being indicted for espionage. This investigation is far more involved than simply a government worker sharing his concerns with like-minded patriots from a Washington lobby.

{4} "The Israelis devote a considerable portion of their covert operations to obtaining scientific and technical intelligence. This has included attempts to penetrate certain classified defense projects in the United States and other western nations. The Israeli intelligence service depends heavily on the various Jewish communities and organizations abroad for recruiting agents and eliciting general information ... Israeli agents usually operate discreetly within Jewish communities and are under instructions to handle their missions with utmost tact to avoid embarrassment to Israel." -- CIA document circa 1979, quoted in "A Pretext For War" by James Bamford, page 405

Around the time that the CIA issued this memo, Jonathan Jay Pollard, who was employed by the US Office of Naval Intelligence, was passing over 800,000 pages of highly classified documents to Israeli intelligence. When Pollard's activities were uncovered, it was found that someone had been "tasking" Pollard. In other words, the person who was supervising his spying would identify what documents were needed, and Pollard would fill his order.

In his book on the Pollard case ("Territory of Lies"), Wolf Blitzer wrote, "Their (the Department of Justice) fears were based on more than just a hunch. During their many hours of interogating Pollard, they discovered to their absolute horror that the Israelis had been rather specific in 'tasking' him to obtain certain documents. Indeed, Pollard was often asked to obtain classified documents by their code numbers and titles. U.S. counterintelligence agents quickly concluded that Israel must have had at least one other agent on the inside providing the names of the documents. Perhaps the agent did not have a 'courier card,' like Pollard."

This person was called "Man X" by those investigating the suspected spying that involved Pollard. He -- or they -- were never formally identified and arrested. However, one man who has never stopped investigating the case is David Szady, the FBI's assistant director for Counterintelligence. Szady is a former CIA official who, when informed about the neocon spy case, immediately suspected it could involve "Mr. X."

James Bamford notes that former CIA counterterrorism chief Vince Cannistraro has revealed that Douglas "Feith was fired from a job in the National Security Council early in the Reagan years for leaking classified information to Israel." (page 404)

In "The Price of Power," Seymour Hersch noted that in the fall of 1970, the FBI taped Richard Perle (at the time a staff member for Henry "Scoop" Jackson) passing classified information he had obtained from the National Security Council to the Israeli embassy. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover provided H.R. Bob "Law-n-Order" Haldeman with a summary of the tape.

And former Nixon administration senior advisor Patrick Buchanan notes in his book "Where The Right Went Wrong" that in "1992, when Wolfowitz was an assistant secretary of defense, a startling document leaked from his shop. Defense Planning Guidance had been prepared by Wolfowitz and his deputy, Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, for Secretary Richard Cheney. Barton Gellman of the Washington Post called it a 'classified blueprint intended to help "set the nation's direction for the next century ...'." (page 42)

{5}"Several U.S. officials and law enforcement sources said Thursday that the scope of the FBI probe of Pentagon intelligence activities appeared to go well beyong the Franklin matter. FBI agents have briefed top White House, Pentagon, and State Department officials on the probe in recent days. Based on those briefings, officials said, the bureau appears to be looking into other controversies that have roiled the Bush administration, some of which touch Feith's office.

"They include how the Iraqi National Congress, a former exile group backed by the Pentagon, allegedly received highly classified U.S. intelligence on Iran; the leaking of the name of CIA officer Valerie Plame to reporters; and the production of bogus documents suggesting that Iraq tried to buy uranium for nuclear weapons from the African country of Niger. Bush repeated the Niger claim in making the case for war against Iraq.

" 'The whole ball of wax' was how one U.S. official privy to the briefings described the inquiry."
-- Justin Raimondo; antiwar.com; "Indictment Shows Washington Is 'Israeli-Occupied Territory'; 6-15-05

When Larry Franklin and Harold Rhode, representing Douglas Feith, traveled to Europe with Michael Ledeen to meet with Iranian arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar, they were being watched. (The Pentagon and CIA had noted in 1988 that Ledeen was suspected of being a spy for Israel.) Bamford notes their goal was to coordinate efforts to undermine a deal that was being considered by progressive forces in the USA and Iran.

Iran was offering to turn over 5 al Qaeda operatives in return for Washington's agreeing to stop supporting Mujahideen El Khalq (MEK). This Iraqi-based rebel group, supported by Ahmed Chalabi, was listed as a terrorist group by the State Department. It was believed that the 5 operatives being offered by Iran had: {1} information about attacks planned for the future; and {2} details about the location of Usama bin Laden.

It is noted that this meeting represented a "rogue faction" from the Pentagon, attempting to run US foreign policy outside of the normal channels. As noted in "Feith-based intelligence," Franklin was also viewed meeting two AIPAC officials and a representative of the Israeli government, and passing classified information to them.

When confronted by the FBI, Franklin at first was willing to cooperate in order to get charges against him reduced. The FBI gave him "tasks" that included passing disinformation to the AIPAC officials, and then to representatives of Ahmed Chalabi. They had Franklin ask these people to "pass" the information on to higher-level people. And the FBI monitored the flow of information.

On Friday, 8-27-04, the FBI visited AIPAC. Rosen and Weissman were stunned, and refused to be interviewed without their attorneys present. The FBI investigators took a number of AIPAC computer hard-drives, including Rosen's.

Two days later, on a Sunday, Bamford reports that the FBI paid highly unusual visits to the homes of Feith, Wolfowitz, and others. Over the next 21 days, numerous officials were interviewed by the FBI. They were asked questions about Feith, Wolfowitz, Perle, and Wurmser.

On August 27, CBS broke the story. This is the same CBS that would be set-up with fake documents regarding George W. Bush's military service.

Two months later, Franklin had a new lawyer inform the FBI that he would no longer cooperate with their investigation.

On 12-1-04, the FBI conducted a second raid on AIPAC. They confiscated stacks of computer files.

Readers will also remember that the FBI conducted a raid on the offices of Ahmed Chalabi. Media reports connected this raid to concerns that Chalabi had informed some factions inside the Iranian government that the USA had broken their code, and that the US and Israel were able to read Tehran's most secretive internal communications.

There was a time that it was difficult to understand how this fit in the neocon spy scandal. Perhaps it makes more sense now.

[seemslikeadream]

1. Thanks and we have a new name to add USGO-2 Satterfield

NYT- U.S. Diplomat Is Named in Secrets Case
The second-highest diplomat at the United States Embassy in Baghdad is one of the anonymous government officials cited in an Aug. 4 indictment as having provided classified information to an employee of a pro-Israel lobbying group, people who have been officially briefed on the case said Wednesday.

The diplomat, David M. Satterfield, was identified in the indictment as a United States government official, "USGO-2," the people briefed on the matter said. In early 2002, USGO-2 discussed secret national security matters in two meetings with Steven J. Rosen, who has since been dismissed as a top lobbyist for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, known as Aipac, who has been charged in the case.

The indictment said that Mr. Rosen met USGO-2 on Jan. 18, 2002, and March 12, 2002, but provides few details about the encounters. The indictment does not describe Mr. Satterfield's activities in detail nor does it specify what classified information the diplomat discussed with the lobbyist. The meetings were also confirmed by documents, people who have been briefed said. These people asked not to be identified because many of the matters related to the case are classified.
.....
Mr. Satterfield's role in the inquiry has been known within a small circle at the State Department. Before he was sent to Baghdad, officials at the State Department asked the Justice Department whether the investigation posed any impediment to his assignment in Iraq, someone who has been officially briefed said. Officials at the State Department were advised that he could take the job.

http://nytimes.com/2005/08/18/politics/18inquire.html


Official at a "Washington, D.C. think tank

US Government Official 1

US Government Official 2 - David M. Satterfield

DOD employee A

DOD employee B

Foreign Officals 1 - Naor Gilon

Foreign Official 2

Foreign Official 3

http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/37939.htm
Biography of David M. Satterfield

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs
Term of Appointment: June 2004 to February 2005


David M. Satterfield assumed the position of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary on June 1, 2004, having served for the previous three years as Deputy Assistant Secretary. He was Ambassador to Lebanon from September 1998 to June 2001, and was confirmed by the Senate in May 2004 as the next Ambassador to Jordan. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Ambassador Satterfield served on the National Security Council Staff from 1993 to 1996 as Director for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs and held the position of Director of the Department of State’s Office of Israel and Arab-Israeli Affairs from 1996 to 1998.

David Satterfield entered the Foreign Service in 1980, and has served overseas in Jeddah, Tunis, Beirut, and Damascus. In addition to other State Department assignments in the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, he was Director of the Executive Secretariat Staff 1990 to 1993. Ambassador Satterfield is the recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award, Department Senior Performance Awards, and six Department of State Superior Honor Awards, notably for his work on the Middle East peace process.

Ambassador Satterfield was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended the University of Maryland and Georgetown University.

[H2O Man]

4. Quote from "Chain of Command"

by Seymour Hersch: "Clawson said, 'The Israelis disagreed quite vigorously with us last summer. Their concern was very straightforward -- that the Iranians would create social and charity organizations in Iraq and use them to recruit people who would engage in armed attacks against the Americans.'

"A former Administration official who had supported the war completed a discouraging tour of Iraq that fall. He visited Tel Aviv afterward and found that the Israelis he met with were equally discouraged. As they saw it, their warnings and their advice had been ignored, and the American war against the insurgency was continuing to founder. 'I spent hours talking to the senior members of the Israeli political and intelligence community,' the former official recalled. 'Their concern was "You're not going to get it right in Iraq, and shouldn't we be planning for the worst-case scenario and how to deal with it?" '

"Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister, who supported the Bush Administration's invasion of Iraq, took it upon himself at about the same time to privately warn Vice President Dick Cheney that America had lost in Iraq; according to an American close to Barak, he said that Israel 'had learned that there's no way to win an occupaion.' The only issue, Barak told Cheney, 'was choosing the size of your humiliation.' Cheney did not respond to Barak's assessment. (Cheney's office declined to comment.)" (Page 352)

When we consider the dynamics between the USA, Iraq, Iran, and Israel, it is important to keep in mind that the majority recognize the US occupation of Iraq has failed. Bush wants to super-size our humiliation, of course. But his stupidity causes others to prepare for that worst-case scenario. As that happens, and the stakes are raised, those we call the neocons hope to find opportunities to take bolder actions.

[robertpaulsen]

52. Great find and fantastic post.

Thanks the info on Satterfield. I like how you broke down the outstanding suspects:

Official at a "Washington, D.C. think tank

US Government Official 1

US Government Official 2 - David M. Satterfield

DOD employee A

DOD employee B

Foreign Officals 1 - Naor Gilon

Foreign Official 2

Foreign Official 3


Wonder who that other Government Official was?

[seemslikeadream]

2. DoD Statement on Jack Shaw and the Iraq Telecommunications Contract

For several months there have been allegations in the press that activities of John A. Shaw, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for International Technology Security, were under investigation by the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (DoD IG). The allegations were examined by DoD IG criminal investigators in Baghdad and a criminal investigation was never opened.

Furthermore, attempts to discredit Shaw and his report on Iraqi telecommunications contracting matters were brought to the attention of the DoD IG and were accordingly referred to the FBI.

Shaw carried out his duties in the investigation of Iraqi telecommunications matters pursuant to the authorities spelled out in the Memorandum of Understanding between the DoD IG and the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. Shaw provided a copy of his report to the DOD IG and, at the request of the Coalition Provisional Authority, to the Iraqi National Communications and Media Commission.

Shaw is not now, nor has he ever been, under investigation by the DoD IG. Any questions concerning FBI activities should be addressed to the FBI.
http://www.dod.mil/releases/2004/nr20040810-1103.html

Winds of Change:Troubled Waters Ahead For the Neo Cons
by
Wayne Madsen

The neo-con attack on Shaw was predictable considering their previous attacks on Ambassador Joe Wilson, his wife Valerie Plame, former U.S. Central Command chief General Anthony Zinni, former counter-terrorism coordinator Richard Clarke, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, CIA counter-terrorism agent Michael Scheuer (the "anonymous" author of Imperial Hubris who has recently been gagged by the Bush administration), fired FBI translator Sibel Edmonds (who likely discovered a penetration by Israeli and other intelligence assets using the false flag of the Turkish American Council and who also has been gagged by the Bush administration), and all those who took on the global domination cabal. But Shaw showed incredible moxie. When he decided to investigate Pentagon Inspector General Reports that firms tied to Perle and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz were benefiting from windfall profit contracts in Iraq, Shaw decided to go to Iraq himself to find out what was going on. When Shaw was denied entry into Iraq by U.S. military officers (yes, a top level official of the Defense Department was denied access to Iraq by U.S. military personnel!), he decided to sneak into the country disguised as a Halliburton contractor. Using the cover of Cheney's old company to get the goods on Cheney's friends' illegal activities was yet another masterful stroke of genius by Shaw. But it also earned him the wrath of the neo-cons. They soon leaked a story to the Los Angeles Times claiming that Shaw actually snuck into Iraq to ensure that Qualcomm (on whose board sat a friend of Shaw's) was awarded a lucrative cell network contract.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Shaw, who worked for Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, represented the Old Guard Republican entity that in August 2003 set up shop in the Pentagon right under the noses of Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Feith to investigate the neo-con cabal and their illegal contract deals. The entity, known as the International Armament and Technology Trade Directorate, was soon shut down as a result of neo-con pressure. Not to be deterred, Shaw continued his investigation of the neo-cons. Although the neo-cons told the Los Angeles Times that the FBI was investigating Shaw, the reverse was the case: the FBI was investigating the neo-cons, particularly Perle and Wolfowitz, for fraudulent activities involving Iraqi contracts. And in worse news for the neo-cons: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was giving the Inspector General's and Shaw's investigations a "wink and a nod" of approval.

The financial stakes for the Pentagon are high - the Iraqi CPA's Inspector General recently revealed that over $1 billion of Iraqi money was missing from the audit books on Iraqi contracts. For Shaw and the FBI, it was a matter of what they suspected for many years - that Perle, Wolfowitz, and their comrades were running entities that ensured favorable treatment for Israeli activities - whether they were business opportunities in a U.S.-occupied Arab country or protecting Israeli spies operating within the U.S. defense and intelligence establishments.

Shaw certainly must have recalled how, during the Reagan administration, an Israeli spy named Jonathan Pollard was able to steal massive amounts of sensitive U.S. intelligence over a long period of time and hand it over to his Israeli control officer, a dangerous and deadly agent provocateur named Rafael "Rafi" Eitan. That had disastrous effects on U.S. intelligence operations throughout the world because some of the documents were handed by the Israelis to the Soviets in return for letting more Soviet Jews emigrate to Israel.

more
http://www.copvcia.com/free/ww3/081104_winds_change.shtml

[H2O Man]

6. This should give Americans

reason to reconsider if the republican administrations have been all about protecting our national security.

[Burried News]

34. What you bold appears in a biography of Robert Maxwell

who is referred to as an Israeli Super Spy. In one source the number of documents stolen by Pollard was in the hundreds of thousands and yes large amounts were traded to the old USSR. It is unfortunate that Putin closed down the access to KGB files that momentarilty were open after the fall of Gorbachev.

To be fair one has to consider how the arms industry and domestic bad guys use Israel for their less than honorable missions. When China receives up to date military technology via Israel, our weapons become obsolete and we have to develop new ones - arms industry windfall - additional sales + money for R&D. And when Raygun wants to trade arms for hostages who moves the goods (and off couse after the goods are moved who knows how it was done and is in a position to blackmail the US politicians involved). And on and on and on ...

Trials for Traitors are long overdue. A nation that makes no serious attempt to control this stuff, ceases to be a Nation. And when the Nation ceases to exist all those rights, liberties and freedoms definded by law die also. Once again the issue isn't money, fair play etc - it is freedom in its broadest sense.

[H2O Man]

37. Valid points.

If I remember correctly, Supreme Court Justice Brandeis wrote a fascinating dissent in the case known as Olmstead .... in it, he warned that government is the teacher of the nation -- perhaps "role model" would be the term used today -- and that when government breaks the laws without consequence, it sets an example that can only lead to an imitation that creates anarchy.

[Just Me]

43. .

[emad]

59. ROBERT MAXWELL WAS A MOSSAD SPY

ROBERT MAXWELL WAS A MOSSAD SPY
New claim on tycoon's mystery death
By Gordon Thomas And Martin Dillon

SNIP:

Our work, supported by documents, including FBI reports and secret intelligence files from behind the Iron Curtain, shows Maxwell had worked as a secret super spy for Mossad for six years.
-------------
The Czech-born millionaire and former Labour MP died the way he had lived - threatening. He had threatened his wife. Threatened his children. Threatened the staff of this newspaper.
But finally he issued one threat too many - he threatened Mossad.
He told them that unless they gave him £400million to save his crumbling empire, he would expose all he had done for them.

In that time, he had free access to Margaret Thatcher's Downing Street, to Ronald Reagan's White House, to the Kremlin and to the corridors of power throughout Europe.

On top of that he had built himself a position of power within the crime families of eastern Europe, teaching them how to funnel their vast wealth from drugs, arms smuggling and prostitution to banks in safe havens around the globe.

Having learned many of the key secrets of the Soviet empire, Maxwell was given his greatest chance to be a super spy.

Mossad had stolen from America the most important piece of software in the US arsenal. Maxwell was given the job of marketing the stolen software, called Promis.

Mossad had reconstructed the software and inserted into it a device which enabled them to track the use any purchaser made of the it.

Sitting in Israel, Mossad would know exactly what was going on inside all the intelligence services that bought it. In all, Maxwell sold it to 42 countries, including China and Soviet Bloc nations. But his greatest triumph was selling it to Los Alamos, the very heart of the US nuclear defence system.

The more successful Maxwell became the more risks he took and the more dangerous he was to Mossad. At the same time, the very public side of Maxwell, who then owned 400 companies, began to unwind.

He spent lavishly and lost money on deals. The more he lost, the more he tried to claw money from the banks. Then he saw a way out of his problems.

He was approached by Vladimir Kryuchkov, head of the KGB.

Spymaster and tycoon met in the utmost secrecy in the Kremlin.

Kryuchkov had an extraordinary proposal. He wanted Maxwell to help orchestrate the overthrow of Mikhail Gorbachev, the reformist Soviet leader. That would bring to an end a fledgling democracy and a return to the Cold War days.

In return, Maxwell's massive debts would be wiped out by a grateful Kryuchkov, who planned to replace Gorbachev. The KGB chief wanted Maxwell to use the Lady Ghislaine, named after Maxwell's daughter, as a meeting place between the Russian plotters, Mossad chiefs and Israel's top politicians.

The plan was for the Israelis to go to Washington and say that democracy could not work in Russia and that it was better to allow the country to return to a modified form of communism, which America could help to control. In return, Kryuchkov would guarantee to free hundreds of thousands of Jews and dissidents in the Soviet republics.

Kryuchkov told Maxwell that he would be seen as a saviour of all those Jews. It was a proposal he could not refuse. But when he put it to his Mossad controllers they were horrified. They said Israel would have no part in such a madcap plan.

For the first time, Maxwell had failed to get his own way. He started to threaten and bluster. He then demanded that, for past services, he should receive immediately a quick fix of £400million to bale him out of his financial difficulties.

Instead of providing the money, a small group of Mossad officers set about planning his murder. They feared that he was going to publicly expose all Mossad had done in the time he worked for them.

ENDSNIP

From:
Gordon Thomas & Martin Dillon are authors of The Assassination of Robert Maxwell: Israel's Super Spy, published by Robson Books.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12419168&method=full&siteid=50143


A little fact not mentioned in the Thomas/Dillon book:

Robert Maxwell had a daughter with Margaret Thatcher. That offspring's name is DOROTHY FREEMAN - aka Cherie Booth QC/Cherie Blair.

[seemslikeadream]

64. Thanks emad

Gordon Thomas
Gordon has written on intelligence matters for a quarter of a century, and over 45 million copies of his 38 books have been sold worldwide.

Film rights for Gordons's The Assassination of Robert Maxwell are now under option. Albert Finney is considering the lead role, and Harry Towers is to produce.

Among many accolades received by Gordon's work are the Critics' and Jury Prizes at the Monte Carlo Film Festival and the Edgar Allen Poe Award.

[emad]

65. What no Will Ferrell to play the lead role? Mind you after his

disastrous rendition in "Bewitched" I am not surprised. ALWAYS said they should have gottn Jim Carrey....

....wait a minute! Carrey might make an even better Maxwell in the movie!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. Thank you very much for this excellent post. Here is something

that I have rarely seen mentioned.

http://www.israeleconomy.org/strat1.htm
The Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies.
7-8-1996

A Clean Break:
A New Strategy for Securing the Realm


Following is a report prepared by The Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies’ "Study Group on a New Israeli Strategy Toward 2000." The main substantive ideas in this paper emerge from a discussion in which prominent opinion makers, including Richard Perle, James Colbert, Charles Fairbanks, Jr.,
Douglas Feith, Robert Loewenberg, David Wurmser, and Meyrav Wurmser participated. The report, entitled "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm," is the framework for a series of follow-up reports on strategy.



------------snip------------------------


Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq — an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right — as a means of foiling Syria’s regional ambitions. Jordan has challenged Syria's regional ambitions recently by suggesting the restoration of the Hashemites in Iraq. This has triggered a Jordanian-Syrian rivalry to which Asad has responded by stepping up efforts to destabilize the Hashemite Kingdom, including using infiltrations. Syria recently signaled that it and Iran might prefer a weak, but barely surviving Saddam, if only to undermine and humiliate Jordan in its efforts to remove Saddam.

[H2O Man]

7. "A Clean Break"

is the policy that was instituted in January, 2001, when Bush called his first meeting of his senior officials.

[steve2470]

5. great to see you H20Man, let me read this nt

[H2O Man]

8. I look forward

to hearing what you think about it.

[NewJeffCT]

13. one thing has already struck me

only a few paragraphs in:

They should broaden the conflict to strike fatally, not merely disarm, the centers of radicalism in the region -- the regimes of Damascus, Baghdad, Tripoli, Tehran, and Gaza."

umm, isn't Riyadh the real center of 'radicalism'? Seems like a rather glaring omission to me...

Or, is Crawford, Texas the real center of radicalism?

[H2O Man]

16. It is an amazing study

in human nature. These people project their pathologies onto their counterparts around the globe. And although they are a minority, no matter if we look in Iran, Israel, the USA, Great Britain, or any other country, they cause pain and suffering far out of proportion.

[steve2470]

15. It's a great summary/synthesis of information about the Neocon cabal

This plot is immensely complex, moreso to me than Watergate was. We need people like you to tie the disparate strands together to show us the overall pattern. I sure as hell hope the FBI hasn't been totally corrupted. I have no hopes for DOJ.

[H2O Man]

18. There are many

good and decent men and women in the FBI. Actually, there are probably more in the DoJ's mid- and lower levels than in DoD or State. There haven't been the efforts to rid some agencies of independent thinking people, such as we saw in CI with Goss.

In the past 30 years, many of the investigations in this area were "capped." Honest investigators were frustrated by a bureaucracy that was more responsive to the needs of the suspected criminals who have betrayed our nation. But things catch up to people, even if it takes decades.

It has been interesting to see the very real concerns about potential administration efforts to "fire" Fitzgerald, etc. For some time, two people in the administration have been aware of the intense investigation -- Condi Rice and Steve Hadley. In particular, there was interest in what Hadley would do with the information: would he try to warn his buddy-buddies? I think he knew he was being watched very closely.

Funny how these things can turn out, isn't it?

[NewJeffCT]

9. thank you for the "light reading"

I will respond with my usual inane & off the mark comments later.

[H2O Man]

10. Ha!

And I look forward to reading your comments later today.

[NewJeffCT]

33. scary how deep this runs

and, how long these folks have been up to no good - Feith booted out of the Reagan administration for passing secrets to Israel??? You'd think that one time should have barred him from any future government work, at least above the local dog-catcher.

And, Richard Perle's BS goes all the way back to 1970 & J Edgar Hoover days. Wow.

Thank you, as always.

[Stephanie]

23. I know! My head hurts!

What is the status of these investigations? Oh lord wouldn't it be wonderful to see Wolfie, Perle, Feith and the rest jailed as SPIES!

[Just Me]

11. Thanks H2O Man and SLAD.

Now, I completely understand those who have boldly asserted that another nation (Israel) has taken over our battleship. It's mind-boggling! Our national policy has been/is being shaped by a cabal that is exploiting our people, our resources, our national security in order to advance not only illegal profiteering and multi-national corporations; but also, expand the interests and reach of another sovereign nation.

It's like,...mutiny through the back door. The cabal in charge of this nation is a partnership between US multi-national corporations and the Israeli lobby, neither of which represents the economic or security interests of the United States of America. We are witnessing the ultimate betrayal of the American people. Treason in the flesh. Stunning,...absolutely breathtaking.

I hope the net is cast wide enough to get the sharks this time.

[Just Me]

20. Moreover,....

,...the consequences of this cabal's actions arguably increase the danger to the security of Israel, as well. Strict utilization of the rule of force for purposes of hegemony almost always leads to blow-black and a cycle of perpetual discord and violence.

[H2O Man]

27. True.

Very true. In the summer of 2004, as Bamford reports on page 414 of "A Pretext For War," when Israeli officials "were warning that they might even attack Tehran unilaterally, launching strikes against the country's nuclear facilities .... the Iranian military warned, 'If Israel should dare attack our nuclear installations, we will come down on its head like a heavy hammer crushing its skull.' "

Civilized people find this type of discussion chilling.

I consider Israel to be one of our best friends. I think that the tactics of the neocons and their cohorts to put us all at an increased risk for violent confrontation. It is a sad truth that there are times when military actions are required in an often dangerous world. But those who view war as the desired policy are insane.

[Just Me]

29. I consider the Israelis to be our friends, too. These radicals are hurting

,...all of us. They are actually creating greater danger to both our nations in their military activities to INTENTIONALLY destabilize and control certain sections of the world, resulting in global destabilization that naturally creates very dangerous reactions and oppositional forces.

They are ideologically shallow and rigid, completely discounting reality and consequences; and they are amorally dark and dangerous. Their network must be exposed and disabled before they are allowed to escalate already fragile conditions to the point of AGGRESSIVELY INSTIGATING another world war.

[H2O Man]

62. I think that

the agressiveness that marks the Cheney/Bush policy has been shown to be reckless in Iraq. It seems likely that an extension of that policy -- which means simply what they would like to do with Iran -- would result in a level of violence that we can little imagine.

[Me.]

12. The Ironies Abound

with this nest of vipers! Cheney at Halliburton selling components for WMDs to Iran, and then making a case for war based on the fact that they may have WMDs. Wolfowitz at the World Bank, wonder what nasties he’s doing there?

It has been an endless circle of neocon espionage and treason. They had better be careful. George has never taken responsibilities for his disasters and failures in his life and he won’t want to now. The neos and Israel would be the perfect scapegoats, for their sins, and he is not above playing that card. The Rosenbergs were executed for a lot less. His numbers are plummeting and Americas don’t like eating crow, though, in their arrogance I can’t imagine that they ever thought their wrong headed thinking would be such an abysmal failure.

I think this is the year their betrayals will finally see the full light of day, the cards are stacked against them as they have made too many enemies and the weight of their numerous betrayals is becoming too great.

Who do you like for Man X. Feith or Wolfowitz?

[G_j]

14. this is why simply exiting Iraq does not even touch the root

of our dilemma. "Bring them home now" and they will be off again to more war. :-(

[H2O Man]

28. Correct.

What is needed is to send the weasals home. In many cases, that means a federal prison.

Malcolm X used to tell us that a duck can not lay a chicken egg, and that we are wasting our time if we sit and anxiously await that duck to produce something completely foreign to its nature. The Bush administration lacks the moral capacity to produce peace.

[G_j]

39. right on

perfectly stated! :thumbsup:

[im10ashus]

17. The arrogance of these people goes beyond the pale.

With all of the information that WE have, why are these people not behind bars, having broken many laws or so it seems. Just imagine the information that has NOT been released. We are, and have been for sometime, in bed with Israel.

On edit: Kicked and nominated!

:kick:

[H2O Man]

30. That's right.

The thought of trials being covered with cameras in the courtroom offers one of the most interesting options. It would be eye-opening for the general public.

[Just Me]

35. It would take months to sort through all the motions in limine,...

,...and motions to exclude. I imagine, literally, hundreds if not thousands of those buggars, considering the character of the case. UGH!!! I have my doubts about this kind of trial ever being public. I sure as heck it still receives LOTS of public attention, though.

[bpilgrim]

19. why are they pulling out of gaza?

who's demand was this and why, i wonder?

is this because sharon just had a change of heart over time or is someone applying preassure?

the OSP is never mentioned in the M$M anymore... and i never hear any real analysis about Israel/Palestine Saudi, ME in gen, cept on DU, of course ;->

great read, thanks as always :toast:

peace

[LeftHander]

21. My take on Gaza...

As long as Arafat was alive Sharon would not budge.

I suspect the "death" of Arafat was hastened by someone internal to the PLO. Frustrated at the lack of progress because of the bagage Arafat carried. Sharon has tossed "Palestine" a bone in Gaza...

Notice to that terrorist bombings in Isreal have dropped off significantly since his death.

[bpilgrim]

22. "Sharon has tossed "Palestine" a bone in Gaza..." - ic

the conventional 'wisdom' :shrug:

peace

[K-W]

24. Because gaza is expendable. It helps thier overall goals.

Gaza is densely populated by Palestinians. Israel's government would prefer to remove the conspicous and difficult to defend settlements there, scoring a public relations coup, and focus on more pragmatic goals like securing less densly populated land, building walls, and settling more strategically valuable points.

[Me.]

25. It's All About Numbers

I read somewhere that there is getting to be more Palestinians in Israel than Israelites, and this is a move to contain them.

[Burried News]

36. "who's demand was this and why, i wonder?"

One school of thought is that George uses the current AIPAC 'difficulties' for a dice in the vice strategy. George wants the Roadmap to move along to help quiet Muslem Extremists - so when Sharon doesn't show enough enthusiasm DOJ moves the AIPAC trial forward.

Not that anything Israel does in the ME causes extremist attacks, you understand :sarcasm:

End the CONfusion - the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth

Judy Judy Judy WhatsaMataHari - howyadoin - had any innerestin nibbles lately?

[SlowDownFast]

26. kick.

[H2O Man]

31. Re: This week's court hearings .....

The following involves the court hearings that took place on Tuesday ....

AIPAC arraignments and the handling of top secret evidence
Three men plead not guilty to charges of passing on classified information to a foreign embassy. One man is a former Pentagon analyst; the other two are former employees of AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying group based in Washington, D.C. NPR, All Things Considered, 8/16/05

Jackie Northam's short report today on NPR seems to have many more details on the arraignments in this important case than most news reports from Reuters and elsewhere. Here is is:

The arraignment of Larry Franklin, Steve Rosen, and Keith Weissman is part of a government investigation that stretches back more than five years. The charges against the three men fall just short of espionage.

Franklin faces five counts of conspiring to pass on classified information and mishandling government secrets. Rosen and Weissman face charges of repeatedly seeking top secret information from Franklin and other US officials and then passing that information along to journalists and unnamed foreign embassy officials.

http://prairieweather.typepad.com/big_blue_stem/2005/08/aipac_arraignme.html

[Just Me]

32. LMFAO ",...criminalize the public's right to participate in the,...

,...political process." :rofl:

Meanwhile, "state secrets" and "national security" are abused as a means to shield the unlawful activities of the BushCo/neoCON cabal and keep the public in the dark about what their government is really doing.

Wow, this is going to be one very exciting trial. I am looking forward to it IF it is public.

[Burried News]

38. Ahh the trial - if only I could have a Euro for everytime one of the

following is uttered:

loyoil
faithfull
swell intentioned
public serpant
ridiculoUSe
absurd
outragioUS
slanderoUS
scurriloUSe
irreal
fancifull
delhughional
delusional
crazy
awfull
unfoul
unfowl
unfair
way off the mark
smoke and errors

PS Some misspellings intentionall for Freeper edJAMication program hooking with funics.

[Me.]

40. We Need To Get Past The Idea That

The charges against the three men fall just short of espionage. What has been going on is flat out, no holds barred treason. It's time that word was put out there, up and front, for everyone in this country, and the officials of Israel to see.

[Just Me]

41. Well, could be,...

,...the threat of espionage charges (death penalty) are being utilized to provide an incentive to cooperate.

Jus' sayin'. :shrug:

[H2O Man]

42. Actually

espionage is not a capital crime. It is often confused with treason, which in theory is a capital offense.

Espionage is the unauithorized possession of, or distributing classified information to those who do not have the security clearances to receive it.

All three are charged with offenses that are espionage.

[Burried News]

44. Of course with dual citizenship what is Espionage and what is Treason

might get a bit CONfused.

[Just Me]

54. hmmm,....I thought "espionage" within the "ranks",...

,...constituted TREASON. When did the confusion begin? :rofl: When the corporacratic/apocalyptic regime made shit up,...along the way? Or what?

[Karenina]

45. Oy vey es mir...

:Deep SIGH:

[ramblin_dave]

46. Is this article credible?

This article which addresses some of the same themes as the OP here has been posted at various sites I visit. Does anyone know if Michael Carmichael is credible, and what about his analysis?

SEVEN DAYS IN AUGUST
http://malakandsky.blogspot.com/2005/08/seven-days-in-august.html
http://www.thepoliticaljunkies.net/JunkieUp.htm

In the past month, Donald Rumsfeld and flag rank officials under his command have announced a plan to reduce the number of troops in Iraq by early next year. However, military officials loyal to Vice President Dick Cheney oppose moves to reduce the number of troops. Furthermore, the Cheney faction is poised to launch a stunning aerial bombardment of Iran replete with nuclear weapons. The launch of the shock and awe nuclear bombardment of Iran awaits a defining, triggering event, i.e. any potential act of terrorism on American soil. The radical neoconservatives believe that America should swiftly pull the switch to give the planet a shocking trauma, and the new generation of nuclear weapons is precisely the switch that they wish to pull in order to jolt the world into forgetting about peace, trust and understanding and, simultaneously, to numb the global population to their continued onslaught on the world’s rapidly dwindling oil reserves.

[H2O Man]

48. I'm not familiar

with Michael Carmichael. However, there is certainly reason to believe that the neocons in positions of power have come up with plans that could go into effect under a variety of circumstances. This would include plans for air strikes against Iran.

Some of the other parts sound like reasonable interpretations on the part of the author. The worse things go in Iraq, the more desperate some of these characters will become.

[understandinglife]

51. Some background info on Michael Carmichael ...

Since 1968, Michael Carmichael has been a professional political consultant. Beginning as a Student Coordinator for Robert F. Kennedy, he has worked in five US presidential campaigns as well as over 100 major American political campaigns for federal and state offices. In 1985, he founded The Oxford Centre for Public Affairs in the United Kingdom. In 2003, he founded The Planetary Movement Limited, a global public affairs organization based in the United Kingdom. He has appeared as a public affairs expert on the BBC, European Business News, NPR and many European television broadcasts examining American politics and culture. In addition to his column for The Political Junkies, he is a regular contributor to the Moving Planet weblog.

See: www.planetarymovement.org and http://planetmove.blogspot.com/

The article contains interesting comments about General Byrnes -- well worth reading.


Peace.

[Just Me]

56. Peace.

[robertpaulsen]

47. Nominated!

Hmm...Feith, Perle or Wolfowitz? As the plot thickens, you're right, it makes more sense.

It's amazing how this ties in with all the other scandals. Sibel Edmonds verbalized beautifully what we've known all along:

SE: Essentially, there is only one investigation – a very big one, an all-inclusive one. Completely by chance, I, a lowly translator, stumbled over one piece of it.

But I can tell you there are a lot of people involved, a lot of ranking officials, and a lot of illegal activities that include multi-billion-dollar drug-smuggling operations, black-market nuclear sales to terrorists and unsavory regimes, you name it. And of course a lot of people from abroad are involved. It's massive. So to do this investigation, to really do it, they will have to look into everything.

CD: But you can start from anywhere –

SE: That's the beauty of it. You can start from the AIPAC angle. You can start from the Plame case. You can start from my case. They all end up going to the same place, and they revolve around the same nucleus of people. There may be a lot of them, but it is one group. And they are very dangerous for all of us.

more...

http://www.antiwar.com/deliso/?articleid=6934

[H2O Man]

49. Sometimes

a "person" ends up being more than one person. Just for example, we could look at Deep Throat. Although there is little or no media attention to this, in recent weeks, it has become clear among many "old-timers" in the Bureau that Felt was actually the head of a four-man "board." Without going into the long and tedious detail that probably only I find fascinating, when one considers the communications system (Woodward's flower pot & newspaper), it is absolutely impossible that Felt worked alone.

Is "Man X" a single, individual "prince of darkness"? Or is it a "board"? Inquiring minds want to know!

[robertpaulsen]

50. H2O Man, you are WHIGing me out.

I think what you are saying is dead accurate. Besides, I believe Armitage correctly depicted Feith as "the dumbest motherfucker on the planet" so he would have needed the help of a "board" to pull off most of the shit he's done.

I don't know about anyone else, but I would be fascinated to read what you think about a four-man "board" cooperating with Felt regarding Watergate. History seems to keep repeating itself, so any examination into the past would only help illuminate the present, IMHO. Tell me more!

[H2O Man]

53. Much of what we read

about concerning Felt has to do with who the Nixon administration thought was leaking information.However, there were internal processes in the Bureau that we really don't hear about. We know that there were leaks even before the Washington Post on some issues that were related. Think of the implications of just those two things.

Two other questions to ponder: Felt knew that Woodward and Bernstein's homes were being monitored. Without any question, someone was watching to see who was coming and going, if not every day, fairly often. Now, someone was also watching to see if Bob moved his flower pot, and someone marked his newspaper if Felt needed to see him. The questions are {1} was the person who was supposed to be watching the Woodward apartment to discover his "connection" also by any chance the same person marking the paper? And {2} were the three senior officials doing the private investigation into possible FBI leaks actually co-leakers with Felt, who recognized that the Nixon-Gray connection discrediting the FBI?

[Me.]

55. An Interesting Article On The Same Subject

also discusses Satterfield.

<<<snip>>>
“It's also amusing to note that the two U.S. officials quoted to back the Times's assertion that passing secret materials to Israel is an old and accepted custom inside the Beltway are former ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, an ex-AIPAC staffer, and Dennis Ross, former lead U.S. negotiator in the Israeli-Palestinian "peace process" and the director of a pro-Israel Washington think tank created by AIPAC.

Nobody here but us chickens.

But there's nothing new about making excuses for Israel's espionage activities in the United States, and nothing partisan about aiding and abetting it. Republican and Democratic administrations alike have been doing it for years, as Stephen Green, a former UN official and a diligent user of the Freedom of Information Act, makes clear in this article, which covers the unauthorized leaks -- and subsequent cover ups -- of many of the usual suspects (Perle, Feith, Wolfowitz, Ledeen, etc.) as well as some players most people have never heard of, like Stephen Bryen, ex-Senate Foreign Affairs Committee staffer, ex-deputy assistant secretary of Defense, and current member of the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which is charged with monitoring the flow of advanced technology to the People's Republic.
Bryen had been overheard in the Madison Hotel Coffee Shop, offering classified documents to an official of the Israeli Embassy in the presence of the director of AIPAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. It was later determined that the Embassy official was Zvi Rafiah, the Mossad station chief in Washington. Bryen refused to be polygraphed by the FBI on the purpose and details of the meeting; whereas the person who'd witnessed it agreed to be polygraphed and passed the test.

A few years later, in his role as director of the Pentagon's Defense Technology Security Administration, Bryen was involved in an attempt to transfer extremely sensitive ballistic missile technology to Israel -- "without the usual consultations with the tech transfer officials of the Army and Air Force."

Other Pentagon officials (including one of Mowbray's "character assassins," then-DoD assistant secretary Dick Armitage) intervened and the deal was cancelled. But, according to Green:
Two senior colleague in DOD who wish to remain anonymous have confirmed that this attempt by Bryen to obtain klystrons for his friends was not unusual, and was in fact "standard operating procedure" for him, recalling numerous instances when U.S. companies were denied licenses to export sensitive technology, only to learn later that Israeli companies subsequently exported similar (U.S. derived) weapons and technology to the intended customers/governments.

http://billmon.org/archives/002088.html

[H2O Man]

57. AIPAC has great influence

among both democrats and republicans in Washington, DC. In 2002, their national conference was attended by over 50 senators and 90 representatives, as well as a dozen administration officials. In 2004, in the midst of the federal investigation, Bamford details how President Bush attended their national conference, and thanked AIPAC for "their service to America," and highlighted AIPAC's warning the country about the threat that Iran's nuclear program posed to our national security. (page 410)

Among the weasals who have attempted to derail the FBI's investigation into AIPAC's spying we find Representative Robert Wexler (D-F), who wrote a letter to President Bush demanding that David Szady be removed from this investigation due to his documented anti-Semitism from both his service with the CIA and the FBI. The administration was unabled to find a single instance of "anti-Semitism" in his long employment history. At the time, the only person indicted in the case was Lawrence Franklin, a Catholic. But the idea of this investigator, perhaps the most familiar with "Man X" being involved in this case, has made many uncomfortable.

[Me.]

58. Too Good To Be Buried

kick

[im10ashus]

61. Kick! n/t

:kick:

[Junkdrawer]

60. I'm sure the corp. media and many here will consider this outrageous...

BUT, in fact, "Divide and Conquer" is as old as imperialism itself. For folks that have been following US post-WWII foreign policy, this is no surprise at all.

[H2O Man]

63. Very true.

This administration has reaped many rewards by keeping the public divided. It is a tactic they use at every level.

[Octafish]

66. Great post! Great thread! Great Goodness!

Poppy and Smirko are in the same deep doo-doo. They both have to kowtow to AIPAC. And they both have to kowtow to OPEC. Same for most of Congress and the Judiciary. What they all have in common is deep pockets -- very deep pockets.

What's the deal with perpetual war? It's how they can keep the world's population kowtowing to them. It's what Barbarous called "The Brave New World Order."

Gore Vidal: Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace

By B. John Zavrel

America' undisputed master essayist Gore Vidal is the author of twenty-two novels, five plays, many screenplays, more than two hundred essays, and a memoir. The Times Literary Supplement noted that Vidal's "United States (Essays 1952-1992) is one of the greatest American books of the 20th century. It won the 1993 National Book Award.

His latest book, actually a collection of articles titled "Perpertual War for Perpetual Peace" , published in 2002, caused a sensation, if not a scandal in this country. His sharp intellect and critical view of what the renowned author sees as wrong in America, comes as a shock to the average American reader.

The United States has been engaged in what the great historian Charles A. Beard called "perpetual war for perpetual peace." The Federation of American Scientists has catalogued nearly two hundred military incursions since 1945 in which the United States has been the agressor. In a series of penetrating and alarming essays, whose centerpiece is a commentary on the events of September 11, 2002 (deemed too controversial to be published in America until now), Gore Vidal challendes the comforting consensus following both September 11th and Timothy McVey's bombing of the bederal building in Oklahoma City: these were simply the acts of "evil-doers".

"None of these explanations made much sense, but our rulers for more that half a century have made sure that we are never to be told the truth about anything that our government has done to other people, not to mention our own. That our ruling junta might have seriously provoked McVeigh and Osama was never dealt with. We consumers don't need to be told the why of anything. Certainly those of us who are in the why-business have a difficult time in getting through the corporate-sponsored American media, so I thought it useful to describe here the various provocations on our side that drove both bin Laden and McVeigh to such terrible acts," says Vidal in his book.

And he continues, "the awesome physical damage Osama and company did to us is as nothing compared to the knock-out blow to our vanishing liberties: the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996 combined with the recent request to Congress for additional special powers to wiretap without judicial order, to deport lawful permanent residents, visitors, and undocumented immigrants without due process." Could it be that the greatest victim of the September 11th terror attacks will be American liberty? "Once alienated," Vidal writes, "an unalienable right is apt to be forever lost."

The last article in the book, 'A Letter to Be Delivered' he introduces with these words: 'I am writing this note a dozen days before the inauguration of the loser of the year 2000 presidential election. We are now faced with a Japanese seventeenth-century style arrangement: a powerless Mikado ruled by a shogun vice president and his Pentagon warrior counselors. Do they dream, as did the shoguns of yore, of the conquest of China? We shall know more soon, I should think, than late. Sayonara.

CONTINUED...

http://www.meaus.com/perpetual-war-gore-vidal.htm

Thanks for helping add to what we know, H20 Man! Much obliged to you and the other posters who also added information. As if my eyes weren't tired enough...

[H2O Man]

67. I had just

bought Gore Vidal's book, and it was sitting next to me when I typed the essay. Interesting book, for sure.