- President George W. Bush's fervent support for Israel
and its hardline premier is well known. He reaffirmed it, for example,
in June 2002 in a major speech on the Middle East. In the view of "leading
Israeli commentators," the London Times reported, the address was
"so pro-Israel that it might have been written by Ariel Sharon."
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- Indeed, concern for Israel's security was an important
factor in Bush's decision to invade Iraq. This is so widely understood
by Washington insiders that US Senator Ernest Hollings was moved in May
to declare that Iraq was invaded "to secure Israel," and that
"everybody" knows it. Referring to the cowardly reluctance of
his Congressional colleagues to openly acknowledge this reality, Hollings
said that "nobody is willing to stand up and say what is going on."
Due to "the pressures we get politically," he added, members
of Congress uncritically support Israel and its policies.
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- In August 2002, some months before the invasion of Iraq,
General Wesley Clark, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, said in
an interview: "Those who favor this attack now will tell you candidly,
and privately, that it is probably true that Saddam Hussein is no threat
to the United States. But they are afraid at some point he might decide
if he had a nuclear weapon to use it against Israel."
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- In an address to pro-Israel activists at this year's
convention of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Bush
said: "The United States is strongly committed, and I am strongly
committed, to the security of Israel as a vibrant Jewish state." He
also told the gathering: "By defending the freedom and prosperity
and security of Israel, you're also serving the cause of America."
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- Condoleeza Rice, Bush's National Security Advisor, echoed
the president's outlook in a May 2003 interview, saying that the "security
of Israel is the key to the security of the world."
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- In light of all this, it's no wonder that millions of
people - across the United States and around the world - look with hope
to Bush's challenger in this year's presidential election campaign.
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- But is John Kerry really an alternative? Although he
is more polished and articulate than Bush, Kerry's record of emphatic commitment
to Jewish and Zionist interests offers little reason to believe that, as
president, he would chart a fundamentally different policy in the strife-torn
Middle East.
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- In an advertisement issued by their campaign and published
in the Jewish community weekly Forward (Sept. 17), Kerry and his vice-presidential
running mate, John Edwards, proclaim that "Israel's cause must be
America's cause." They also renew their "commitment to a safe
and secure Jewish state of Israel," and pledge to "strengthen
our special relationship with Israel." In another ad by their campaign
(Forward, Sept. 24), Kerry and Edwards proclaim that they "have always
stood firmly with Israel," and that "they stand with American
Jews on every issue."
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- Kerry has named Mel Levine, an ardent Zionist, as his
top advisor on Middle East affairs. Levine, a former US Congressman, has
been a board member of AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby organization.
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- During the presidential campaign debate on Sept. 30,
which focused on US foreign policy, neither Bush nor Kerry made a single
reference to the Israel-Palestine conflict. To be sure, each did mention
Israel, but only to reaffirm his commitment to the Zionist state.
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- "A free Iraq," said Bush, "will be an
ally in the war on terror, and that's essential. A free Iraq will set a
powerful example in the part of the world that is desperate for freedom.
A free Iraq will help secure Israel. A free Iraq will enforce the hopes
and aspirations of the reformers in places like Iran. A free Iraq is essential
for the security of this country."
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- Kerry was no less fervent in his expression of concern
for Israel: "Soldiers know over there [in Iraq] that this isn't being
done right yet. I'm going to get it right for those soldiers, because it's
important to Israel, it's important to America, it's important to the world,
it's important to the fight on terror."
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- Two decades ago, Admiral Thomas Moorer, one-time Chairman
of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with blunt exasperation about the
Zionist hold on Washington: "I've never seen a President - I don't
care who he is - stand up to them [the Israelis]. It just boggles the mind.
They always get what they want... If the American people understood what
a grip those people have got on our government, they would rise up in arms.
Our citizens certainly don't have any idea what goes on."
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- Most Americans are still clueless.
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- Bush and Kerry, like most US politicians, are so beholden
to Jewish-Zionist power, and so committed to Israel and its interests,
that regardless of who wins the presidential election on November 2, there
will be no real change in US foreign policy, and certainly not in the Middle
East.
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- http://www.ihr.org/news/041026_weber.shtml
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