Sounds like the latest spy novel title? Unfortunately, it is a nonfiction work describing perhaps the most important and mostly missed story relating to the disastrous U.S. war against Iraq. As the President, Congress, and the American people search for answers as to what went wrong, where the WMDs were, and why we invaded Iraq, perhaps they should look back to mid-2004.
In August 2004, the FBI arrested Pentagon Analyst Larry Franklin for illegally providing classified information (a highly classified report on White House policy towards Iran and Iran’s nuclear ambitions) to a pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington. The pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Council, is funded by the Israeli government. While allegedly spying for Israel illegally, Franklin’s day job was a Pentagon specialist on the Middle East, specifically Iraq. Franklin was assigned to the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans, in charge of finding evidence of WMDs in Iraq. As we all know post-invasion, no WMDs were ever found.
It is quite scary to think that Franklin’s input was likely key in convincing top Pentagon and White House officials to invade Iraq, as he was allegedly spying for and being heavily influenced by Israel at the time. (Israel has strongly supported the idea of the U.S. invading Iraq for various reasons since the first Iraq war, including the fact that an invasion would provide Israel more stability in the region and eliminate a threat to Israel.)
However, the real story here is when you look at who the alleged spy Franklin reported to: head of the Office of Special Plans, Mr. Doug Feith. Feith was a senior Pentagon official who reported directly to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Glancing at Feith’s resume on Wikipedia is beyond troubling. Feith is a former lawyer for the same pro-Israel group his aide is accused of spying for. Feith himself made policy for former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyaku, is a member or founder of numerous pro-Israeli groups, and openly supports military alliances between Israel and the U.S. as well as Israel and Turkey. In fact, almost all entries in Feith’s resume concern advancing the political goals of Israel. It should TERRIFY the reader that this man was one of Rumsfeld’s closest advisors at the time the decision was made to invade Iraq. For me, the smoking gun was seeing that one of Feith’s research works was a paper stating the advantages for Israel if the United States was to invade Iraq. To question that Feith may have at least had a MASSIVE conflict of interest is an understatement.
Am I saying, definitively, that Israel used spies and pro-Israeli insiders to influence the United States to invade Iraq? No. Am I saying this connection should have received FAR, FAR more attention and still should, especially given the disastrous results of the war? Yes, absolutely.
(Note: ALL of the preceding was put together from Associated Press news clips and Wikipedia.)
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