The rationales used to take the US to war in Iraq were part of a pre-set agenda, a critical mass of false beliefs characterised by hate, writes Jeff Gates* Hate is a harsh word. As the counterpoint to love, hate reigns supreme among those emotions that the faith traditions seek to expunge from the human heart. Hate, we're told, is the face of evil seen in plumes of smoke and ash on 9/11. Yet, hate also serves a purpose for those adept at catalysing conflicts. In the aftermath of those horrific events, hate, Americans were assured, was a desired emotional state. Yet induced hate led into two unwinnable wars. Hate may yet take the US into Iran or Pakistan. Hate is also bankrupting the US financially and psychologically. As the "how" of hate mongering becomes transparent, its common source will become apparent. With transparency comes accountability. That's when you can watch for hate to emerge yet again to shield those who hide behind the toxic charge of "anti-Semitism". With the shared knowledge of how hate is evoked and sustained, those provoked to hate can say with confidence, "never again" to those complicit in inducing this evil. Hate can be personal or geopolitical. Those who induced the US to war in the Middle East made it personal. The murderous provocation of 9/11 was emotionally wrenching and intensely personal. As a people, Americans' gut reaction ensured that support for the war would become widespread. In the aftermath of that mass murder on US soil, editor of magazine The New Republic Martin Peretz summed up the situation by writing that "we are all Israelis now". So now we can all be persuaded to hate Muslims -- even if we've never met one. The shared mental environment in the US was flooded with what then seemed to be plausible justifications for the invasion of Iraq: Iraqi WMD; Iraqi ties to Al-Qaeda; Iraqi meetings with Al-Qaeda in Prague; Iraqi mobile biological weapons laboratories; Iraqi purchases of yellowcake uranium from Niger. We now know that all those rationales were fixed around a pre-set agenda. Yet a critical mass of false beliefs sufficed to take the US to war. For those skilled at inducing hate, consensus beliefs need not be true, they need only be credible -- and only for a limited time. With a corrupt consensus ruling the day, anyone in the US offering proof that Iraq was not a threat was dismissed as unpatriotic or soft on terrorism. This 9/11-prompted hate-fest started with Iraq, a former ally, as a US-led invasion kicked off "the clash of civilisations". The bravado of "bring 'em on" quickly became "shock and awe" as a vicious invasion was pursued with a relaxed "aw shucks" attitude supported with a media campaign comprised of photo-ops of a commander-in-chief nonchalantly clearing brush at his home in Crawford, Texas. Brand America became "we're still the world's biggest and baddest in the war-waging business. Just you watch." And watch us go broke as America led an Atlantic coalition that, like Israel, alienated much of the Muslim world. Plus there's another strategic problem: the reason for invading Iraq was "invalid". That's the assessment of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He should know. After the invasion, the invalid storyline quickly shifted to "Saddam the evil-doer" as the rationale for war. How can the rationale be invalid? If all Americans are Israelis now, surely that entitles the US to invade lands belonging to Muslims, kill them, transform them into refugees and, with impunity, create widespread outrage among the broader Muslim population. Let's fast-forward to nine years after a high- profile slaughter in Manhattan and survey US success in the stark light of hindsight. Is the US more secure? Is it more prosperous? Are Americans facing a brighter future? Are US children proud of the outcome? Israel has occupied Palestinian land for more than six decades. The 13 September 2010 issue of Time magazine captured Israeli sentiments: "Why Israel Doesn't Care About Peace." Israelis are too busy prospering to care. Outraged Muslims are a nuisance, but they're now largely marginalised and, for the most part, manageable. Is that what has happened to the US? Have Americans become Israelis? Not long ago an internal poll of friendly foreign intelligence agencies ranked the US's best and worst allies--those who behave as friends to the US versus those who are clearly foes. Israel ranked last as a reliable ally. Though Israel's brazen theft of technical and industrial secrets is well known among those in the know, the broader US public remains deceived or is in denial. Most Americans still see Israel as a US ally. The facts confirm that this is a dangerous delusion. Meanwhile, Mossad agents are recruiting Arab-Americans to spy on their neighbours in the US. Though Tel Aviv is called onto the carpet three times as often as other nations, Israel still ranks third in the aggressiveness of its US operations, behind only China and Russia. That ranking may well be out of date, with Israel now being first in foreign operations on US soil. Zionists deployed terror and intimidation to occupy Muslim lands long before former US president Harry Truman was induced in 1948 to recognise an extremist enclave as a legitimate nation state. Disputes over land remain at the heart of the expansionist agenda for Greater Israel. On 7 September, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas asked the US to settle a dispute over the expansion of Israeli settlements that threatens to derail the Middle East peace talks. Those talks have dragged on since 1967. Settling those disputes would disrupt the Zionist agenda. In a telling rebuke, on 12 September, Tel Aviv rejected a proposed visit to Israel by the foreign ministers of France, Spain, Britain, Germany and Italy. Why? These senior diplomats sought a remedy to that dispute in order to achieve a long-sought peace. Therein lies Israel's strategic strength. Take away this sustained provocation (43 years and counting) and hatred might subside and peace become a possibility. That's a danger Tel Aviv works hard to avoid. 12 September also saw the release of a report indicating that 2,066 new Israeli dwellings would be constructed in the West Bank as soon as the temporary freeze expires on 26 September. Meanwhile, back in the US, Americans remain unaware of how many contracts for homeland security have been awarded to Israeli firms or to firms owned by pro-Israelis. Nor do Americans realise how many homeland security outlays have been directed to Jewish community centres. That's all the more reason for Zionists -- both Jewish and Christian -- to create an uproar about an Islamic community centre planned for construction two blocks from the 9/ 11 site in Manhattan. And all the more reason for a Christian-Zionist preacher to designate the ninth anniversary of 9/ 11 as "International Burn a Quran Day" at his 50-member church in Florida. The Quran gambit gained global attention. High-profile political personalities ensured that this hate-mongering stunt was kept in the forefront of international news coverage in the lead- up to the anniversary of modern history's best- known hate-mongering provocation. * The writer served for seven years as counsel to the US Senate Committee on Finance. His latest book is Guilt by Association: How Deception and Self-Deceit took America to War.
