(note#1:--this two part study does not directly belong in I/P, but it mentions 'Israel' on occasion and I think it would thus probably end up here already.. hey, I'm doing the mods a good deed and saving them the perhaps inevitable effort. Maybe it'd last in Editorials, but would perhaps find more discussion here.) :shrug:
(note#2:--I slightly edited this for cosmetic formatting, the original paper is not fond of adding spaces between paragraph breaks and thus sometimes looks awkward or with paragraph breaks being difficult to distinguish.. originally posted in Lebanon's 'Daily Star' newspaper/online webpage, but I prefer Lebanonwire's reproductions of their work as their archives actually exist and links stay active..)2 parts, both segmented here..
Neoconservatives retain US policy momentumAmerican-Israeli steps against Syria aimed at transforming regional power balanceHard-liners in neocon camp target Damascus with same group of claims used to smear Baghdad ahead of invasionEditor’s note: In the wake of last week’s Israeli air strike near Damascus and a US House of Representatives committee vote for the Syrian Accountability Act, this is the first of two articles from Washington exploring the recent legacy of neoconservative efforts in Washington and Israel since the mid-1990s that recommend targeting Syria, among others, in the “war against terror.” Today’s article explores the institutions and individuals behind a 1996 report written for then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, titled A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm. Tomorrow’s article explores a 2000 document titled Ending Syria’s Occupation of Lebanon: The US Role?Jim Lobe
Special to The Daily Star
WASHINGTON: The dramatic intensification of tensions between the right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the administration of US President George W. Bush against Syria demonstrate that, despite their recent setbacks in Iraq, pro-Likud neoconservatives in Washington retain the upper hand in the ongoing power struggle over control of US Mideast policy.
Indeed, Washington’s one-two punch last week against President Bashar Assad first, Bush’s endorsement of Israel’s first attack on Syrian territory in 30 years as “self-defense,” and then the approval by the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives of a long- pending bill to impose diplomatic and economic sanctions against Damascus was precisely what prominent neocon groups have sought since the mid-1990s.
Nor could anyone miss the fact that both steps were justified by many of the same charges that Syria supports terrorism, is developing weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and represses its own people used by the neocons in the run-up to Washington’s war against Iraq, a pattern that, according to some analysts, is designed to prepare military action against Damascus, too.
While most observers agree that war against Syria in the short term is highly unlikely particularly given the fears of Bush’s political handlers that a major new military engagement in the Middle East would only deepen the spectacular plunge since last May in the president’s approval ratings last week’s actions at the very least serve to distract media attention, if only for a little while, from Iraq, and move Washington closer to confrontation with a state that Israel has long considered its most steadfast regional foe.
That Syria has been a prime neocon target has been true for many years, but their rise to dominance over US foreign policy in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks has meant that they are in a position to translate their dreams into policy. Such was clearly the case with Iraq, and now, with Saddam Hussein out and over 120,000 US troops deployed there, they have made little secret of their vision of Syria and Iran as the next dominos in their quest to shift the regional power balance in favor of Israel and the US.
--snip--
http://www.lebanonwire.com/0310/03101422DS.asp---------------
US-Israeli pressure on Syria has neoconservative pedigreeHard-liners have spent years counseling policy of confrontationEditor’s note: This is the second* of two articles exploring the recent legacy of neoconservative studies in Washington and Israel since the mid-1990s that recommend targeting Syria, among others, in the “war against terror.” The first article in Tuesday’s paper explored the 1996 report written for then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, entitled A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm. Today’s article explores the institutions and individuals behind a second document on Syria’s role in Lebanon.Jim Lobe
Special to the Daily Star
WASHINGTON: The second document was published in 2000 by another neocon group, the Likud-oriented Middle East Forum (MEF) and a second, US-based Lebanese group closely tied to right-wing Lebanese groups, the US Committee for a Free Lebanon (USCFL), evidently as part of an effort to affect the public positions of major political parties for the election in the same year.
The report, Ending Syria’s Occupation of Lebanon: the US Role?, was co-authored by MEF president Daniel Pipes, who was named by US President George W. Bush to a position on the board of the US Institute of Peace despite widespread charges that he has promoted Islamaphobia with incendiary statements against Muslims and Arabs, and Ziad Abdelnour, who heads the USCFL.
Among the participants of the Lebanese Study Group, of which the report was a summary, were three of the participants who produced the 1996 report, including Perle, Feith, and David Wurmser. In addition to the last two, other signers who now hold office in the Bush administration included Elliott Abrams, currently the chief Middle East adviser in the National Security Council, the Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky; Michael Rubin, another Perle protege who currently works as a consultant to Feith and Paul Wolfowitz; and New York Representative Eliot Engel, the chief sponsor of the anti-Syrian legislation that was approved by the International Relations Committee last week.
Other prominent neocon signers included former UN ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick who is also at AEI with Perle, Frank Gaffney, director of the Center for Defense Policy, and David Steinmann, chairman of the board of advisers of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, a lobby group specializing in persuading retired senior US military officials of the importance of a strategic alliance between the US and Israel.
--snip--
http://www.lebanonwire.com/0310/03101527DS.asp---------------
Other works by the author:--
http://www.alternet.org/alsoby.html?Author=1795