The Bush administration, in what it unethically called an

“off-the-record” session, strongly implied that the United States would

invade Iran once the fighting ends in Iraq.

A three-day session of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,

which ended April 1 in Washington, was attended by about 5,000

advocates of Israel-first policies, including half the Senate and one-third

of the House.

After the Iraq War, the United States will place an “extremely high

priority” on halting a secret nuclear weapons program in Iran, said John

Bolton, under secretary of state for disarmament. He stopped short of

saying this country would invade Iran, knowing the absurd

“off-the-record” demand wouldn’t hold when speaking before thousands

of people.

Along with Bolton, a parade of top Bush administration officials

attended the confab, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, National

Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Political Director Kenneth Mehlman

and Assistant Secretary of State William Burns. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.)

and Leon S. Fuerth, the former foreign policy adviser to Al Gore, also

were in attendance.

The off-the-record nonsense caused “discomfort for the lobbying group,”

reported The Chicago Tribune, because of “the perception among some

political commentators that Jewish groups unduly influenced the Bush

administration’s decision to wage war against Iraq.”

Some commentators say “prominent Jews within the administration

conspired to persuade the president to target Iraq because of the threat

Saddam Hussein poses to Israel,” the Tribune reported.

However, the fact that officials at the highest level of government took

time off from war-related efforts to speak at an event sponsored by a

lobbying firm indicates the sway this group holds in Washington, noted

some observers.

While, for tactical reasons, the Israeli lobby took no position on whether

the United States should invade Iraq, participants celebrated the war

with one voice.

“We have followed with great admiration your efforts to mobilize the

international community to disarm Iraq and bring democracy and peace

to the region, to the Middle East and to the rest of the world,” Israeli

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said in a tribute to Powell.

The Washington Post explained the lobby’s “sensitivity” about publicly

supporting the war:

“Anything that links Israel to the current war could alienate friendly

Arab states by suggesting the war is driven by Israel’s interests. At

home, the embrace of the war by an organization of influential Jews

could fuel anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.”

Analysis of the First Ten Days of the Purim War of 2003

Deconstructing US Government War Propaganda

by Paul de Rooij

http://www.hoffman-info.com/news.html

US, UK Created Iraqi ‘Hitler’; Now They Want Saddam Dead

by Christopher Bollyn

The United States and Britain made the “monster” they now seek

to destroy by secretly providing Iraq with the necessary

equipment and components to create weapons of mass

destruction during the 1980s, while ignoring Baghdad’s criminal

use of chemical weapons.

http://www.americanfreepress.net/04_04_03/US_UK_Created_/us_uk_created_.html