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ZIONISM AND JUDAISM:
'Iraq Was Invaded to Secure Israel,' Says
Senator Hollings, and
'Everybody Knows It'
by Mark Weber, Jan 29, 2008
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Ernest Frederick
"Fritz" Hollings
(born January 1,
1922) served as a
Democratic United
States Senator from
South Carolina from
1966 to 2005.
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Ernest Fredrick "Fritz" Hollings |
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hen a prominent American political figure speaks
boldly about Jewish-Zionist power, that's news.
So the recent remarks by
South Carolina's
senior Senator that Iraq was invaded "to secure
Israel," and that "everybody" in Washington
knows it, are indeed remarkable.
Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, a
Democrat
who has represented his state in the US
Senate
since 1966, is now serving his final term in
Washington. That fact may also help explain why
he's now willing to defy the pro-Israel lobby
and speak candidly about its power.
It began with an essay about the Iraq war that
appeared in the May 6 issue of the daily Post
and Courier of Charleston.
"With Iraq no threat, why invade a sovereign
country?," he wrote. "The answer:
President
Bush's
policy to secure Israel. Led by [Paul]
Wolfowitz,
Richard Perle
and
Charles Krauthammer,
for years there had been a domino school of
thought that the way to guarantee Israel's
security
is to spread democracy in the area."
Several Zionist organizations, as well as some
prominent Jewish political figures, quickly
chastised Hollings, and his remarks were
denounced as anti-Semitic.
But he didn't back down. Instead, he rose in the
Senate
on May 20 to defend and explain his essay.
"I don't apologize for this column," he said. "I
want them to apologize to me for talking about
anti-Semitism." President Bush went to war in
Iraq "to secure our friend, Israel" and
"everybody knows it," Hollings declared.
Referring to the cowardly reluctance of his
Congressional
colleagues openly to acknowledge this reality,
he said that "nobody is willing to stand up and
say what is going on." With few exceptions,
members of
Congress
uncritically support Israel and its policies due
to "the pressures that we get politically," he
said. The pro-Israel lobby knows "how to make
you tuck tail and run." But "not the Senator
from South Carolina," he added, referring to
himself. To emphasize the seriousness of his
remarks, Hollings said: "I have thought this out
as thoroughly as I know how, and it worries me
that here we are..."
Bush's motive in going to war for Israeli
interests, Hollings charged, was to get Jewish
support in election campaigns. "President Bush
came to office imbued with one thought:
reelection.
I say that advisedly. I have been up here with
eight Presidents. We have had support of all
eight Presidents. Yes, I supported the President
on this Iraq resolution, but I was misled. There
weren't any weapons, or any terrorism, or al-Qaida.
This is the reason we went to war. He had one
thought in mind, and that was reelection...
"That is not a conspiracy. That is the policy. I
didn't like to keep it a secret, maybe; but I
can tell you now, I will challenge any one of
the other 99 Senators to tell us why we are in
Iraq, other than what this policy is here. It is
an adopted policy, a domino theory of The
[Zionist] Project For The New American Century.
Everybody knows
it [is] because we want to secure our friend,
Israel...
"Let's realize we are in real trouble.
Saudi Arabia
is in trouble. Israel is in trouble. The United
States is in trouble. I am going to state what I
believe to be the fact. In fact, I believe it
very strongly. They just are whistling by on
account of the pressures that we get
politically. Nobody is willing to stand up and
say what is going on."
Hollings cited the role of the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most
important pro-Israel lobby group in Washington,
in determining US policy in the Middle East.
"You can't have an Israel policy other than what
AIPAC gives you around here. I have followed
them mostly in the main, but I have also
resisted signing certain letters from time to
time, to give the poor President a chance.
"I can tell you no President takes office -- I
don't care whether it is a
Republican
or a Democrat — that all of a sudden AIPAC
will tell him exactly what the policy is, and
Senators and members of Congress ought to sign
letters. I read those carefully and I have
joined in most of them. On some I have held
back. I have my own idea and my own policy..."
The Iraq war has been "a bad mistake," said
Hollings. "Getting rid of Saddam was not worth
almost 800 dead
GIs
and over 3,500 maimed for life..." This war is
"a mistake like Vietnam," he added. "We got
misled with the [1964]
Gulf of Tonkin
[incident]. We got misled here, and we are in
that quagmire...
"The entire thing is a mess. Don't give me
'support the troops, support the troops.' I have
been with troops, about three years in combat,
so don't tell me about troops. I have always
supported the troops."
Last
Updated:
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 07:46:06 PM
|| Posted: Tuesday, January 29, 2008,
7:42PM
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Wes Penre is an Investigative Researcher and, the owner of the domain
