U.S. Department of Defense Advances to Derail Israeli Palestinian Roadmap

In the top echelon of the American government, a battle is raging over the control of Middle East foreign policy. The U.S. Department of State has locked horns with the Department of Defense. The outcome of this political battle will determine the fate of the Roadmap for Israeli Palestinian peace written by Russia, the United States, Europe and the U.S.

The erosion of power at State has been demonstrated in Iraq. The State Department tried in vain to limit the rise to power of Iraqi exile leader Ahmed Chalabi. Officials at State believed him to be a fraud with no support inside Iraq. The Pentagon's civilian advisors, populated with pro-Israel supporters that see Chalabi as the best person from the Israeli perspective, responded by airlifting Chalabi and hundreds of exile troops into Iraq where he is now trying to establish a political base.

In Congress, former speaker of the House and Pentagon advisory committee member Newt Gingrich (R-GA), a recipient of hundreds of thousands in pro-Israel PAC campaign support wants to ideologically remake the State Department in the Pentagon’s image. Powell’s measured approach to Iraq through U.N. involvement, weapons inspections, and courting an international coalition are viewed by Gingrich as a -ailure of State,- and -six months of diplomatic failure followed by one month of military success now to be returned to diplomatic failure to exploit the victory fully.-

The U.S. Department of State efforts to pursue U.S. interests free of Department of Defense intervention have been foiled in recent months. Veteran diplomats receive policy missives from Rumsfeld’s team that stress the primacy of Israeli in negotiations. Appointment of officials that have demonstrated their support during JINSA (Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs) sponsored trips to Israel, such as James Garner, in post conflict diplomatic posts have effectively neutralized even handed statecraft. Defense establishment advisors and employees such as Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, and Elliot Abrams, who formulate and promote policy within the greater framework of promoting Israel, often directly conflict with policies developed to follow U.S. interests. Now, the same pro-Israel officials in the Defense Department have begun maneuvering to eliminate the Roadmap participation of Russia, Europeans and the UN.

The State Department has balked at the unprecedented military incursion into the diplomatic sphere of influence. -The president is on record for supporting a Palestinian state in three years,- the senior State Department official told the Washington Post. -We're the only one trying to do what he wants to do.- As a Congressional voice for the pro-Israel lobby, Newt Gingrich has stepped up the vitriol against State, saying the -final straw- that caused him to speak out was Powell's plan to visit Syria. -Powell allowed himself to be convinced to go to Damascus- by the department's Near East Bureau, which Gingrich stated -appeases dictators and tries to be nice to corrupt regimes.- according to the Washington Post. Since Syria appears to be cooperating with U.S. entreaties, the pro-Israel lobby is losing a justification for expanded U.S. war.

Douglas Feith and Richard Perle have long promoted an idea that Syria, a long time enemy of Israel, must also be the enemy of the United States. A 1996 thought piece authored by Feith and Perle on behalf of Israel titled A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm calls for the encirclement of Syria via an invasion of Iraq. With Iraq now effectively out of the way, Perle has been heavily lobbying for U.S. intervention in Syria on behalf of Israel from his post on the Defense Policy Board and pulpit at the American Enterprise Institute. Rumsfeld and other top Pentagon officials have dramatically stepped up rhetoric against Syria, accusing the country of providing a haven for former Iraqi officials.

With the Israel Palestinian peace process moving to center stage, the Pentagon’s efforts on behalf of Israel are coming under the spotlight. -A Clean Break-rejects land for peace settlements, while stressing the importance of -transcendence- through covert means. Under this policy, it would be important for the Sharon government in Israel to appear a willing participant in a peace process derailed by outside forces. Perle and Feith stated in A Clean Break that Israel -can now embrace negotiations, but as means, not ends, to pursue those ideals and demonstrate national steadfastness.- The U.S. Department of Defense is now armed and advancing toward derailing that process on behalf of Israel.

One Middle East policy analyst on a weekend politics radio program in Chicago suggested that Americans -think of the legislative and executive branches and defense department as having suffered an attack of Israeli cowbirds. They have pushed the eggs of U.S. interests and policies out of those nests. Now their young have hatched, and they are flying toward State.-

For a full analysis of the Israeli -Clean Break- plan, see the Institute for Research Middle Eastern Policy report at:

http://www.irmep.org/acb.html