Israel not to blame for Iraq mess

[bemildred]

By Stephen Zunes

As the official rationales for the US invasion of Iraq - that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that threatened the national security of the United States and that the Iraqi government had operational ties to al-Qaeda - are now widely acknowledged to have been fabricated, and the backup rationalization - of bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq - is also losing credibility, increasing attention is being given to why the US government, with broad bipartisan support, made such a fateful decision.

There are a number of plausible explanations, ranging from control of the country's oil resources to strategic interests to ideological motivations. One explanation that should not be taken seriously, however, is the assertion that the right-wing government of Israel and its American supporters played a major role in leading the US to invade Iraq.

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and its supporters in the United States deserve blame for many tragic policies in recent years that have led to needless human suffering, increased extremism in the Islamic world, decreased security, and rampant violations of the United Nations Charter, international humanitarian law, and other international legal principles. The US invasion of Iraq, however, is not one of them.

Arguments supporting claims of a major Israeli role
There are four major arguments made by those who allege a key role by Israel and its American supporters in leading the United States to war in Iraq:

Asia Times(more)

[Coastie for Truth]

1. The Liberal Democratic and progressive Arguments for avoiding the Iraq War

(which I follow since I am in the alternative, renewble and green energy industry and think engineering already buried in the archives of the Big Three's Tech Centers and Big Oil's Tech Centers - and GE's tech center - could have avoided any argument - no matter how frivolous - for this war)

1. Start here - they are DUers - Progressives - many are technoid geeks. and

2. Try .

OK- Now you are ready to see how the PNACers solve these problems -- , it's called WAR - "Projecting Military Power To Assert Military Hegemony Over Strategic Natural Resources."

Compare the PNACer solution (Michael Klare calls it a "Resource War" scenario) to techno-geek solutions at and

If you want to blame somebody - here are the villains:

1. America's fat butt soccer moms driving their little pre-diabetic chubby kids around exurbia in Hummers.

2. The oil industry that treats "conservation" as a "virtue" instead of a business plan and necessity.

3. The auto industry that laughed at efficient cars and kept pushing SUV's.