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Neocons Meets Israeli to Gain U.S. Backing |
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"Iraqi Resistance Calling on Jewry For Support in Quest to Depose Saddam
Allies of Chalabi Meet Ambassador Gold, Warn of White House Folly"
By SETH GITELL
FORWARD STAFF
www.forward.com/issues/1998/98.07.31/news.html (Chalabi page.)
WASHINGTON - With Senate Majority Leader Lott pushing for $10 million in new funding for the Iraqi opposition, supporters of the free, democratic Iraqi National Congress are calling upon Israel and members of the American Jewish community to get behind their quest to depose Saddam Hussein.
An adviser to INC chairman Ahmad Chalabi, Francis Brooke, and a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, David Wurmser, met with Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations, Dore Gold, last Friday to begin the process of getting Israel to back the INC. Representatives of the group have also met with a spokesman for Prime Minister Netanyahu, David Bar-Illan.
Domestically, the INC advisers believe that the core of America's organized Jewish community could rally the requisite amount of political support for the Iraqi opposition group to enable it to successfully challenge Saddam Hussein. In international terms, pro-Israel, pro-INC policy analysts envision a Middle East where Turkey, Israel, Jordan and the liberated portion of Iraq confront the dictatorial, anti-Western nations of Iran and Syria.
The Clinton administration, however, is renewing relations with a Kurdish leader, Massoud Barzani, who once allied himself with Saddam Hussein to spite a rival. Congressional sources said Senator Lott was attempting to obtain $10 million in new funding for Iraqi opposition groups; Congress authorized $10 million in anti-Saddam Hussein funding last Spring.
"I went to speak to [Ambassador Gold] just to say that I think it's in Israel's best interest to help the Iraqi people get this thing done," Mr. Brooke [INC] said. "The basic case I made was that we need help here in the U.S. to get this thing going."
For his part, Mr. Gold said Israel had no current plans to ally itself with the INC. "We're always interested in hearing impressions from people around the region, and Middle Easterners from many countries are always willing to share their perspective with us," Mr. Gold said.
A resident fellow at the AEI, Richard Perle, is calling upon both Israel and the American Jewish community to support the INC. "Israel has not devoted the political or rhetorical time or energy to Saddam that they have to the Iranians. The case for the Iraqi opposition in Congress would be a lot more favorable with Israeli support," said Mr. Perle, who was assistant secretary of defense for international security policy during the Reagan administration.
With regard to the American Jewish community, Mr. Perle said: "There's no question that the Jewish community's been at the forefront with the legislation with regard to Iran. One can only speculate what it might accomplish if it decided to focus its attention on Saddam Hussein."
Mr. Wurmser said an INC-controlled region in the north of Iraq is the missing piece to complete an anti-Syria, anti-Iran block. "If Ahmad extends a no-fly, no-drive in northern Iraq, it puts scuds out of the range of Israel and provides the geographic beachhead between Turkey, Jordan and Israel," Mr. Wurmser said. "This should anchor the Middle East pro-Western coalition."
Mr. Perle also cited a July 1997 speech where the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, called for a Syrian-Iraqi alliance to form an anti-Israel "Eastern front."
Mr. Chalabi attended an American Enterprise Institute conference with Messrs. Gold, Wurmser, Perle and Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan in Turkey several months ago. Mr. Chalabi also attended a June AEI event in Beaver Creek, Colorado, where he met President Ford and others.
A spokesman for the National Security Council, P.J. Crowley, defended the administration's desire to work with Mr. Barzani. "We want to prevent repetition of the way Saddam has divided and suppressed the Kurds," Mr. Crowley said. "Bringing them here is the best way to keep them working in ways which support our national interest."
Mr. Wurmser said the administration is "being duped."
"This is a problem. Barzani's working with Saddam. They just cannot engage in these internal Iraqi politics cleverly," Mr. Wurmser said.
Many Jewish groups hesitated to give their public support to the INC. The executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein, said, "It's a very sensitive and serious issue - the internal politics of this are very serious."
An official at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, who declined to be named, would only say, "It is not a matter we have a policy about."
The executive director of the National Jewish Coalition, a group of Jewish Republicans, Matt Brooks, said, "I have not studied that."
The executive director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, Tom Neumann, however, praised the opposition group. "It is a good idea for the American Jewish community to do anything it can to change the government of Iraq," Mr. Neumann said. "We can't dream of military coups, what we can dream of is the INC."
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http://zfacts.com/p/147.html | 01/18/12 07:20 GMT
Modified: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 17:51:20 GMT
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