| Alpha | | Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 8:51 am Post subject: Review: Neocons and the Corruption of the American Republic |
| Review: Neocons and the Corruption of the American Republic
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
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Review of Deadly Dogma: How Neoconservatives Broke the Law to Deceive America by Grant F. Smith: (Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, 2006)
By Terry Walz, CNI Staff
A new book on the "neoconservatives" in power calls for criminal indictments and shows how its leading members, including Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and Frank Gaffney, have engaged in corrupt and illegal actions that have resulted in the deaths of upward a hundred thousand people and the pilfering of the American treasury. In place of policy, the American government has been subjected to racketeering, fraud, con games, and deception, and American soldiers have been deliberately put in harm's way.
Deadly Dogma, written by Grant S. Smith, director of research at the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, reviews the specific violations of the U.S. criminal law code that the Neocons have practiced since coming to power of George W. Bush in 2000. Some of the violations date earlier, to articulations made during Ronald Reagan's presidency and then publicized once again during the late years of the second Clinton administration. "Dogma," states Smith following Webster, is a statement of principle that is authoritative without adequate grounds.
The Neocon dogmas are summarized as follows: (1) the use of the pre-emptive as a way of perpetuating America First (i.e. Neocon) power; (2) a deep belief in unlimited military spending, even for weaponry that make no sense, since it often results in fat donations to Neocon pockets; (3) the elevation of frauds to policy lies, as in the case of the case for weapons of mass destruction that allowed Americans to agree to go to war in Iraq; (4) the willingness to plunder and saturate the media with pundits promoting their goals (and thereby violating U.S. laws safeguarding the public against fraud); (5) the placing of Israeli interests above even those of the United States; and (6) the belittling of international law so that is becomes non-binding and neutered.
The scope of the fraud, racketeering, and con games embraced by the Neocons is reviewed in absorbing detail in Smith's book. Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and Frank Gaffney's promotion of Boeing's tanker leasing deal of 2003, which would have cost $27 billion and was considered outdated and of limited use, shows the brazenness of the Neocon frauds, which to date have not been prosecuted. Though Neocons may not have directly benefited themselves from their efforts, their think-tanks and journals have enjoyed enormous (if undisclosed in some cases) support. The difficulty of prosecuting the Neocons has been shown in the collapse of the case brought by Hollinger Shareholders against Richard Perle over the payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars in unscrupulously earned fees. The Neocons are as tricky to catch as the Mafia is.
In the chapter "Nobility of Lies", Smith takes Condoleezza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz to task for promoting fear among the American people that Iraqi-made nuclear bombs would soon be raining down on American cities. Neither bombs nor the ability to deliver such weaponry was ever discovered, but only after American troops were dispatched to invade Iraq and begin a hugely costly occupation that shows no sign of waning. Now these statements are said to be based on false intelligence, but they were part of a carefully staged conspiracy to defraud the American people and are punishable by law.
Smith's early chapter discusses the evolution of the principle of the "preemptive strike," which is a cardinal tenet of Neoconservatism. He traces it to Israel's use of the preemptive strike against Egypt, Syria and Jordan in the 1967 Middle East War that resulted in a great victory for Israeli armed forces. Using newly released State Department documents, Smith shows how the Israeli "preemptive strike" was a strategic choice, not the result of real aggression, and that Egypt was actively seeking to mediate the dispute between them and the Israelis when the Israeli air force demolished the Egyptian air capability. Preemptive strike, Smith argues, seems clever, but in fact it is a costly and uncontrollable strategic tool. The occupation of Palestine by Israel in 1967 and the occupation of Iraq by the US, both based on the use of the preemptive strike, have resulted in huge costs and liabilities for both countries.
As for Israel, "a priori devotion to Israel is a common denominator for all neoconservatives," Smith writes. Many of the neoconservatives were strongly pro-Likud Party and worked to restrategize Middle East policy on behalf of Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud, shortly before he became Israeli prime minister. Support for Israel is the only explanation of why so many neoconservatives have risked violating US criminal law by passing on secret information to Israel.
Smith concludes, “This [deadly] dogma’s influence on the United States can be rolled back so that common sense, historical evidence, reason, and uncorrupted thinking may against navigate the ship of state.” Deadly Dogma is highly provocative: it provokes thought and outrage, and should be read by any citizen concerned by in the current wayward and malodorous drift of American policy and government.
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