Article First Published in 2008
John F. Kennedy warned: “The great enemy of the truth is
very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth
-- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic”.
After the attacks of 9/11, refusing to present the truth as authority,
we have been led to believe that the greatest threat to civilization is
Islam. Dominance and ownership of
language enabled the neoconservatives to coin the term ‘Islamofascism’ in order
to wage war against Iraq. Iran is their
next target, while shamelessly and brutally the people of Palestine and Lebanon
are being eradicated in the name of ‘democracy’.
Describing Neo-conservatism as “a Jewish phenomenon” Jacob
Heilbrunn, a professed former neoconservative says: “Neoconservatives are bound
by a "shared commitment to the largest, most important Jewish cause: the
survival of Israel”. Many of the founders of neo-conservatism, including the Public Interest founder Irving Kristol
and coeditor Nathan Glazer, Sidney Hook, and Albert
Wohlstetter, were either members of, or close to the Trotskyist left in the
late 1930s and early 1940s. In 1960, Norman Podhoretz, became
editor of Commentary and it focused
on foreign policy, Israel in
particular, and the threat of the Soviet Union.
The end of the Cold War had left Israel in an awkward place.
According to The Jerusalem Report, in 1991, the idea that radical Islam would
replace communism had taken seed among the Israeli right. The basis of the idea was founded on the
neoconservatives fear that with the demise of the Soviet Union, and the
splintering of the America’s right wing faction, there would no longer be an
unconditional support for a U.S.-Israel alliance. Kristol and Podhoretz did not see the attraction
to Islam as an ideology, but there was a decade of peace and prosperity to implement
the seeds of hostility in the American psyche; As Podhoretz had stated: “But the real world and the world of ideas
aren't always in the direct communication they should be. In the world of ideas
the major media, the universities, the artistic community all of these are
still on the left." (Jerusalem
Report). These would have to be
mastered.
In 1993, Samuel Huntington offered the solution, The Clash of Civilizations based on an
earlier piece by Bernard Lewis. In an
effort to Scapegoat Islam, he underscores that “Muslim societies and states
located at the cultural fault lines of the world have shown to be excessively
violent. He argues that Muslim enthusiasm for war and readiness to use violence
cannot now be denied either by Muslims or non-Muslims. Although his theory was challenged by
numerous reputable scholars, the neoconservatives continued to establish themselves
in positions of power and influence.
Washington think tanks such as the American Enterprise
Institute (AEI) became home to many influential neoconservatives such as
Douglas Feith, David Wurmser, and Richard Perle who came to join the AEI from
the Jerusalem-based think tank, the Institute for Advanced Strategic and
Political Studies (IASPS). A 2003 study by the Institute for Research:
Middle East Policy (IRMEP) indicates a correlation between the Bush war policy
and the funding of these think tanks.
Table Exhibiting Funding
Concentration: Top Three Donors
(Internal Revenue Service and
IRMEP 2003)
In addition to think tanks, much of the media was given over
to the neoconservative ideology. This was made easy by the regulations in the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
in the 1980s allowing mergers and acquisitions. It was
natural for Rupert Murdoch and the neoconservatives to come together in the
1990s who had continued to make his media empire grow, especially in the 90s. Murdoch was recognized by the U.S. for his
support of Israel, and the Jewish Congress of New York had voted him
“Communication Man of the Year” in 1982.
In line with the neoconservative’s
agenda, the mainstream media in the US framed September 11 within the
context of Islam and Islamic terrorists.
Refusing to acknowledge the identity of the perpetrators of
the 9/11 attacks, fifteen of whom were Saudi nationals, the threat of
Islam as designed by Huntington was trumpeted by the media. As religious extremism was emphasized as the
motive for the terrorist plot, all other inquiries were terminated. America’s
response to 9/11 was not an accident.
Samuel Huntington’s ‘Clash of Civilizations’ was to provide new bearings
for U.S. foreign policy.
There seemed to be a deliberate attempt to portray the
motivation of the hijackers as Islamic extremism, thus replacing the threat of
Soviet Union with Islam. But who were
the real hijackers? In that a new U.N.
Human Rights Council assigned to monitor Israel is calling for an official
commission to study the role neoconservatives may have played in the September
11, 2001 terrorist attacks, is indicative that this group’s role is believed to
be influencing U.S. policies, if not determining it (New York Sun). What is
irrefutable is that on September 20, 2001, a large group of neoconservatives
outside the government sent an open letter to the White House outlining how the
war on terror should be conducted. The
target was to be Iraq even if evidence did not link Iraq directly to September
11. Among them were Norman Podhoretz,
Defense and Policy Board members Eliot Cohen and Richard Perle, William
Kristol, and Charles Krauthammer.
Two short months after the invasion of Iraq, William Kristol,
Editor of Murdoch’s Weekly Standard
and recently appointed New York Times
columnist opined: “[T]he war in which we are presently engaged is a fundamental
challenge for the United States and the civilized world ….The liberation of
Iraq was the first great battle for the future of the Middle East. The creation of a free Iraq is now of
fundamental importance…But the next battle....will be for Iran.” (Weekly Standard) The threat of Islam
has been driven home to the American people by the neoconservatives and the
controlled media so that nations in the Middle East can be annihilated – wiped
out. The leaders no longer serve the
American people but the interest of Israel.
The 2008 presidential campaign was a clear indication of the influence
of the neoconservatives, the mass media, and the priorities in this country.
Former New York mayor, Rudy
Giuliani, made the threat of Islamic terrorism the centerpiece of his campaign.
He brought two neoconservatives on board with
him as advisors;
Daniel Pipes, the man who
headed ‘Campus Watch’ to ensure that all education in this country is
pro-Zionist, and Peter King, senior Republican Congressman on the House
Homeland Security Committee who is of the opinion that there are “too many
mosques in this country”.
Podhoretz also
joined Giuliani (now with McCain), as did John Deady who resigned after it came
out that he said the following of Giuliani: "He's got, I believe, the
knowledge and the judgment to attack one of the most difficult problems in
current history and that is the rise of the Muslims. Make no mistake about it,
this hasn't happened for a thousand years, these people are very dedicated and
they're also very, very smart in their own way. We need to keep the feet to the
fire and keep pressing these people until we defeat or chase them back to their
caves or, in other words, get rid of them."
[i] Renowned Evangelical Pat Robertson gave
Giuliani his endorsement.
Mitt Romney raised eyebrows when he suggested that mosques
be wire-tapped. Tony Perkins, head of
the Family Research Council, allegedly dissuaded Mike Huckabee from “reaching
out” to the Muslim world. Jim Backlin, a blogger for the Christian Coalition of
America wrote: "Comments like 'America was founded on Christian
principles' by Senator John McCain just might make him President" who
sings ‘bomb Iran’. Mrs. Clinton has
pledged to “obliterate Iran” should Iran attack nuclear-armed Israel with
nuclear weapons [it does not have].
Where does America go from here? Wave our flags and destroy another country because
we allow our congress and officials, including the president to be influenced
by neoconservatives and in so doing tell us that they are saving our
civilization?
An army is a strange
composite masterpiece, which strength results from an enormous sum total of
utter weaknesses. Thus only can we explain a war waged by humanity against
humanity in spite of humanity – Victor Hugo
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich is an Iranian-American studying at
the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. She is a member of World Association of
International Studies society, Stanford.
Her research focus is U.S. foreign policy towards Iran, Iran’s nuclear
program, and the influence of lobby groups.
She is a peace activist, essayist, radio commentator and public speaker.
[i] “The Religion Card; GOP Candidates Play on
anti-Muslim Sentiments” The Progressive, Biography Resource Center, USC Feb
2008“The Religion Card; GOP Candidates Play on anti-Muslim Sentiments”The
Progressive, Biography Resource Center, USC Feb 2008
Sources: JJ Goldberg, “The Rest is Commentary”. The Jerusalem Report. Jerusalem:Sep 26, 1991
Eli Lake, The New York Sun, 10 April 2008
William Kristol, Weekly Standard, May 12, 2003
Tony Smith, “A Pact with the Devil”
Halper and Clarke, “America Alone: The
Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order”.
Cambridge University Press: 2004
