Letters to the Editor
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Let's face it: The neocons were NOT working for the national interests of the US
As part of the Israel Lobby, the neocons were clearly working for Israeli interests. Their 3-pronged scam (weapons of mass destruction, the link between Saddam and Al-qaeda and spreading democracy in the Middle East) was designed to sell the Iraq war to a super-patriotic and frightened American public by appealing to a combination of American fear of terrorism post 9/11 and American idealism.
"Maintaining US support for Israel’s policies against the Palestinians is essential as far as the Lobby is concerned, but its ambitions do not stop there. It also wants America to help Israel remain the dominant regional power. The Israeli government and pro-Israel groups in the United States have worked together to shape the administration’s policy towards Iraq, Syria and Iran, as well as its grand scheme for reordering the Middle East.
Pressure from Israel and the Lobby was not the only factor behind the decision to attack Iraq in March 2003, but it was critical."
- John Mearsheimer (Wendell Harrison Professor of Political Science at Chicago) and Stephen Walt (Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard), London Review of Books, http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html