Representative Press Blog

Chomsky, "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm", Iraq War and Israel

Noam Chomsky mentions that Richard Perle and Douglas Feith were writing position papers for Benyamin Netanyahu (this has to do with the paper, "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" about War on Iraq and Israel)

"The dedicated efforts of the Bush administration to take control of Iraq -- by war, military coup, or some other means -- have elicited various analyses of the guiding motives. Offering one interpretation, Anatol Lieven of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace observes that these plans conform to "the classic modern strategy of an endangered right-wing oligarchy, which is to divert mass discontent into nationalism," inspired by fear of enemies about to destroy us. That strategy is of critical importance if the "radical nationalists" setting policy in Washington hope to advance their announced plan for "unilateral world domination through absolute military superiority," while conducting a major assault against the interests of the large majority of the domestic population.
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As Lieven correctly notes, the "radical nationalists" in Washington have very close links with Israeli ultra-nationalists. In the 1990s, Richard Perle and Douglas Feith were even writing position papers for Benyamin Netanyahu, who outflanks Ariel Sharon on the extremist right. The usually reliable Israel press has been reporting their connections and plans for some time. These include far-reaching plans for reconstructing the Middle East along lines resembling the former Ottoman empire, but now with the US and its offshore military base in Israel in charge, cooperating with Turkey: what the Egyptian press has described as "the axis of evil," US-Israel-Turkey. According to some reported plans, a Hashemite monarchy might extend from Jordan to parts of Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinians could then be "transferred" somewhere else, perhaps Jordan. The war against Iran may well already be underway. A good part of the Israeli air force is based in Turkey, and is reported to be flying along the Iranian border from US bases there. Plans for partition of Iran are being developed, perhaps pursued, according to US specialist sources.
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It is not only much of the world that regards them as a menace. The same is true of highly-regarded strategic analysts and Middle East specialists here, like Anthony Cordesman, who is about as “hardline” as they come within sane sectors. According to Israel’s leading diplomatic correspondent, Akiva Eldar, Cordesman has warned that Washington should “make it clear that its commitment to Israel does not involve a commitment to its sillier armchair strategists and more vocally irresponsible hardliners," referring not so obliquely to Perle and Feith, who are close to power centers in Washington." - A Modest Proposal (This is from an extended version of an article that was carried by the New York Times syndicate. In the version that was carried by the New York Times syndicate, there is no mention of Israel, Richard Perle Douglas Feith or Benyamin Netanyahu)

Question: How do you see military action against Iraq affecting the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? Ariel Sharon's representatives have said that Israel will wait until the U.S. has dealt with Iraq before pursuing a political track with the Palestinians, and Binyamin Netanyahu has said that U.S. assistant secretary of state William Burns' road map for peace "is simply not on the agenda."

Chomsky: We don't know if the road map is on the agenda because we don't know what it is. In fact, we don't even know that it exists. There are plans about the Palestinians. The people near the centre of power, like Richard Pearl, Douglas Feith and, probably, [Donald] Rumsfeld have been talking about reorganising the Middle East for years. They have all kinds of far-reaching plans. - Chomsky cuts to the heart of the matter