[Peace-discussion] US Middle East Wars: Social Opposition and Political Impotence

[lazyangels@sbcglobal.net]

  US Middle East Wars: Social Opposition and Political Impotence
<http://petras.lahaine.org/articulo.php?p=3D1704>

July 4, 2007

=93You cannot win the peace unless you know the enemy at home and abroad=94=

US Marine Colonel from Tennessee.

Everywhere I visit from Copenhagen to Istanbul, Patagonia to Mexico=20
City, journalists and academics, trade unionists and businesspeople, as=20
well as ordinary citizens, inevitably ask me why the US public tolerates =

the killing of over a million Iraqis over the last two decades, and=20
thousands of Afghans since 2001? Why, they ask, is a public, which=20
opinion polls reveal as over sixty percent in favor of withdrawing US=20
troops from Iraq, so politically impotent? A journalist from a leading=20
business journal in India asked me what is preventing the US government=20
from ending its aggression against Iran, if almost all of the world=92s=20
major oil companies, including US multinationals are eager to strike oil =

deals with Teheran? Anti-war advocates in Europe, Asia and Latin America =

ask me at large public forums what has happened to the US peace movement =

in the face of the consensus between the Republican White House and the=20
Democratic Party-dominated Congress to continue funding the slaughter of =

Iraqis, supporting Israeli starvation, killing and occupation of=20
Palestine and destruction of Lebanon?

Absence of a Peace Movement?

Just prior to the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003 over one million US=20
citizens demonstrated against the war. Since then there have been few=20
and smaller protests even as the slaughter of Iraqis escalates, US=20
casualties mount and a new war with Iran looms on the horizon. The=20
demise of the peace movement is largely the result of the major peace=20
organizations=92 decision to shift from independent social mobilizations =

to electoral politics, namely channeling activists into working for the=20
election of Democratic candidates =96 most of whom have supported the war=
=2E=20
The rationale offered by these =91peace leaders=92 was that once elected =
the=20
Democrats would respond to the anti-war voters who put them in office.=20
Of course practical experience and history should have taught the peace=20
movement otherwise: The Democrats in Congress voted every military=20
budget since the US invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. The total capitulation =

of the newly elected Democratic majority has had a major demoralizing=20
effect on the disoriented peace activists and has discredited many of=20
its leaders.

Absence of a National Movement

As David Brooks (La Jornada July 2, 2007) correctly reported at the US=20
Social forum there is no coherent national social movement in the US.=20
Instead we have a collection of fragmented =91identity groups=92 each=20
embedded in narrow sets of (identity) interests, and totally incapable=20
of building a national movement against the war. The proliferation of=20
these sectarian =91non-governmental=92 =91identity=92 =91groups=92 is bas=
ed on their=20
structure, financing and leadership. Many depend on private foundations=20
and public agencies for their financing, which precludes them from=20
taking political positions. At best they operate as =91lobbies=92 simply =

pressuring the elite politicians of both parties. Their leaders depend=20
on maintaining a separate existence in order to justify their salaries=20
and secure future advances in government agencies.

The US trade unions are virtually non-existent in more than half of the=20
United States: They represent less than 9% of the private sector and 12% =

of the total labor force. Most national, regional and city-wide trade=20
union officials receive salaries comparable to senior business=20
executives: between $300,000 to $500,000 dollars a year. Almost 90% of=20
the top trade union bureaucrats finance and support pro-war Democrats=20
and have supported Bush and the Congressional war budgets, bought Israel =

Bonds ($25 billion dollars) and the slaughter of Palestinians and the=20
Israeli bombing of Lebanon.

The Unopposed War Lobby

The US is the only country in the world where the peace movement is=20

unwilling to recognize, publically condemn or oppose the major=20
influential political and social institutions consistently supporting=20
and promoting the US wars in the Middle East. The political power of the =

pro-Israel power configuration, led by the American Israel Political=20
Affairs Committee (AIPAC), supported within the government by highly=20
placed pro-Israel Congressional leaders and White House and Pentagon=20
officials has been well documented in books and articles by leading=20
journalists, scholars and former President Jimmy Carter. The Zionist=20
Power Configuration (ZPC) has over two thousand full-time functionaries, =

more than 250,000 activists, over a thousand billionaire and=20
multi-millionaire political donors who contribute funds both political=20
parties. The ZPC secures 20% of the US foreign military aid budget for=20
Israel, over 95% congressional support for Israel=92s boycott and armed=20
incursions in Gaza, invasion of Lebanon and preemptive military option=20
against Iran.

The US invasion and occupation policy in Iraq, including the fabricated=20
evidence justifying the invasion, was deeply influenced by top officials =

with long-standing loyalties and ties to Israel. Wolfowitz and Feith,=20
numbers 2 and 3 in the Pentagon, are life-long Zionists, who lost=20
security clearance early in their careers for handing over documents to=20
Israel. Vice President Cheney=92s chief foreign policy adviser in the=20
planning of the Iraq invasion is Irving Lewis Liebowitz (=91Scooter=20
Libby=92). He is a prot=E9g=E9 and long-time collaborator of Wolfowitz an=
d a=20
convicted felon.

Libby-Liebowitz committed perjury, defending the White House=92s=20
complicity in punishing officials critical of its Iraq war propaganda.=20
Libby-Liebowitz received powerful political and financial support from=20
the pro-Israel lobby during his trial. No sooner did he lose his appeal=20
on his conviction on five counts of perjury, obstructing justice and=20
lying, than the ZPC convinced President Bush to =91commute=92 his prison =

sentence, in effect freeing him from a 30 month prison sentence before=20
he had served a day. While Democratic politicians and some peace leaders =

criticized President Bush, none dared hold responsible the pro-Israel=20
lobby which pressured the White House.

The Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations (PMAJO) =96=20
numbering 52 =96 and their regional and local affiliates are the leading =

force transmitting Israel=92s war agenda against Iran. The PMAJO, working=
=20
closely with US-Israeli Congressman Rahm Emmanuel and leading Zionist=20
Senators Charles Schumer and Joseph Lieberman, succeeded in eliminating=20
a clause in the budget appropriation setting a date for the withdrawal=20
for US troops from Iraq.

In contrast to the successful vast propaganda, congressional and media=20
campaigns, organized and funded by the pro-Israel lobbies for the war=20
policies, there is no public record of the big oil companies supporting=20
the Iraq war, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon or the military threats of =

preemptive attacks on Iran. Interviews with investment bankers, oil=20
company executives and a thorough review of the major Petroleum=20
Institute publications over the past seven years provide conclusive=20
evidence that =91Big Oil=92 was deeply interested in negotiating oil=20
agreements with Saddam Hussein and the Iranian Islamic government. =91Big=
=20
Oil=92 perceives US Middle East wars as a threat to their long-standing=20
profitable relations with all the conservative Arab oil states in the=20
Gulf. Despite the strategic position in the US economy and their great=20
wealth '=91Big Oil' was totally incapable of countering their political=20
power and organized influence of the pro-Israel lobby. In fact Big Oil=20
was totally marginalized by the White House National Security Advisor=20
for the Middle East, Elliot Abrams, a fanatical Zionist and militarist.

Despite the massive and sustained pro-war activity of the leading=20
Zionist organizations inside and outside of the government and despite=20
the absence of any overt or covert pro-war campaign by =91Big Oil=92, the=
=20
leaders of the US peace movement have refused to attack the pro-Israel=20
war lobby and continue to mouth unfounded clich=E9s about the role of =91=
Big=20
Oil=92 in the Middle East conflicts.

The apparently =91radical=92 slogans against the oil industry by some=20
leading intellectual critics of the war has served as a =91cover=92 to av=
oid=20
the much more challenging task of taking on the powerful, Zionist lobby. =

There are several reasons for the failure of the leaders of the peace=20
movement to confront the militant Zionist lobby. One is fear of the=20
powerful propaganda and smear campaign which the pro-Israel lobby is=20
expert at mounting, with its aggressive accusations of =91anti-Semitism=92=
=20
and its capacity to blacklist critics, leading to job loss, career=20
destruction, public abuse and death threats.

The second reason that peace leaders fail to criticize the leading=20
pro-war lobby is because of the influence of pro-Israel =91progressives=92=
=20
in the movement. These progressives condition their support of =91peace i=
n=20
Iraq=92 only if the movement does not criticize the pro-war Israel lobby =

in and outside the US government, the role of Israel as a belligerent=20
partner to the US in Lebanon, Palestine and Kurdish Northern Iraq. A=20
movement claiming to be in favor of peace, which refuses to attack the=20
main proponents of war, is pursuing irrelevance: it deflects attention=20
from the pro-Israel high officials in the government and the lobbyists=20
in Congress who back the war and set the White House=92s Middle East=20
agenda. By focusing attention exclusively on President Bush, the peace=20
leaders failed to confront the majority pro-Israel Democratic congress=20
people who fund Bush=92s war, back his escalation of troops and give=20
unconditional support to Israel=92s military option for Iran.

The collapse of the US peace movement, the lack of credibility of most=20
of its leaders and the demoralization of many activists can be traced to =

strategic political failures: the unwillingness to identify and confront =

the real pro-war movements and the inability to create a political=20
alternative to the bellicose Democratic Party. The political failure of=20
the leaders of the peace movement is all the more dramatic in the face=20
of the large majority of passive Americans who oppose the war, most of=20
whom did not display their flags this Fourth of July and are not led in=20
tow by either the pro-Israel lobby or their intellectual apologists=20
within progressive circles.

The word to anti-war critics of the world is that over sixty percent of=20
the US public opposes the war but our streets are empty because our=20
peace movement leaders are spineless and politically impotent.

July 4 2007