Hysteria at Herzliya

When Congress finally decides on just the right
language for

its "non-binding resolution" deploring Bush`s
leadership in this war, it might consider a resolution
to keep us out of the next one.

For America is on a collision course with an Iran of
70 million, and the folks who stampeded us into Iraq are
firing pistols in the air again.

At the annual Herzliya Conference, U.S. presidential
aspirants,

neoconservatives and Israeli hawks were all invoking
the Holocaust and warning of the annihilation of the
Jews.

Israel`s "Bibi" Netanyahu, who compares Iran`s
Ahmadinejad to Hitler, said:

"The world that didn`t
stop the Holocaust last time can stop it this time. …
Who will lead the effort against genocide if not us? The
world will not stand up on behalf of the Jews if the
Jews do not stand up on behalf of the world."

Said former Defense Minister

Shaul Mofaz: "Iran is the heart of the problem in
the Middle East. It is the most urgent threat facing the
world, and needs to be dealt with before it`s too late."
After meeting with the Department of State`s Nicholas
Burns, Mofaz called 2007 "a year of decision."

Richard Perle

assured the conference that Bush will attack Iran
rather than see it acquire nuclear weapons capabilities.
Newt Gingrich also brought

his soothing touch to the proceedings:

"(C)itizens who do not
wake up every morning and think about possible
catastrophic civilian casualties are deluding
themselves.

"Three nuclear weapons
are a second holocaust. … I`ll repeat it. Three
nuclear weapons are a second holocaust. … Our enemies
are fully as determined as Nazi Germany and more
determined than the Soviets. Our enemies will kill us
the first chance they get.

"If we knew that tomorrow
morning we would lose Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem,
what would we do to stop it? If we knew that we would
tomorrow lose Boston, San Francisco or Atlanta, what
would we do?"  

Mitt Romney

agreed. Ahmadinejad`s Iran is more dangerous than
Khrushchev`s Soviet Union, which put
missiles in Cuba. For the Soviets "were never
suicidal. Soviet commitment to national survival was
never in question. That assumption cannot be made to an
irrational regime (Iran) that celebrates martyrdom."

Ehud Olmert,

mired in scandal, his popularity in the tank after
the Lebanon fiasco, was as hawkish as Bibi: "The
Jewish people, with the scars of the Holocaust fresh on
its body, cannot afford to let itself face the threat of
annihilation once again. … We will stand up against
nuclear threats and even prevent them."

Came then U.S. peace

candidate John Edwards. Keeping Iran from nuclear
weapons "is the greatest challenge of our generation.
… To ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons, we
need to keep all options on the table. … Let me
reiterate — all options."

Wrote the Financial Times` Philip Stephens of
Herzliya, "I gave up counting the times I heard the
words `existential threat` to describe Iran`s nuclear
program capability." [The
Middle East adjusts to America`s diminishing power,
Subscriber link]

A

few weeks back, according to UPI`s Arnaud De
Borchgrave, Netanyahu declared that Israel "must
immediately launch an intense, international public
relations front first and foremost on the United States 
— the goal being to encourage President Bush to live up
to specific pledges he would not allow Iran to arm
itself with nuclear weapons. We must make clear to the
(U.S.) government, the Congress and the American public
that a nuclear Iran is a threat to the U.S. and the
entire world, not only Israel." [Analysis:
Never again? By Arnaud De Borchgrave, UPI,
January 2, 2007]

Israel`s war is to be sold as America`s war.

The project is underway. According to Peter Beaumont,
foreign affairs editor of the Guardian, Israeli
media are reporting that the assignment to convince the
world of the need for tough action on Iran has been
given to Meir Dagan, head of Mossad.

Listening to the war talk, Gen. Wesley Clark

exploded to Arianna Huffington: "You just have to
read what`s in the Israeli press. The Jewish community
is divided, but there is so much pressure being
channeled from the New York money people to the
office-seekers."

The former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe was
ordered out of ranks and

dressed down by Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation
League. But Matt Yglesias of American Prospect,
himself Jewish,

says Clark spoke truth: "(I)t`s true that major
Jewish organizations are trying to push the country into
war."

Yet is the hysteria at Herzliya justified? Consider:

Not once since its 1979 revolution has Iran started a
war. In any war with America, or Israel with its
hundreds of nuclear weapons, Iran would not be
annihilating anyone. Iran would be risking annihilation.

Not only has Iran no nukes, the Guardian reported
yesterday, "Iran`s efforts to produce highly enriched
uranium … are in chaos." That centrifuge facility
at Natanz is "archaic, prone to breakdown and lacks
the materials for industrial-scale production."[Nuclear
plans in chaos as Iran leader flounders]

There is no need for war. Yet, Israelis, neocons and
their agents of influence are trying to whip us into
one. Senators who are seeking absolution for having
voted to take us into Iraq ought to be confronted and
asked just what they are doing to keep us out of a war
in Iran.

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Patrick J. Buchanan needs


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