Renegade conservative commentator Paul Craig Roberts
points out today that events in the Middle East are unfolding according to plan.
A plan you say? Bush has a plan????
Well, erm, no. But someone has a plan, and has had it for quite some time:
Ten years ago these architects of American foreign and military policy [the neocons] spelled out how they would use deception to achieve "important Israeli strategic objectives" in the Middle East. First, they would focus "on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq." This would open the door for Israel to provoke attacks from Hezbollah. The attacks would let Israel gain American sympathy and permit Israel to seize the strategic initiative by "engaging Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon."
Today, this neoconservative plan is unfolding before our eyes. Israel has used the capture of two of its soldiers in Lebanon as an excuse for an all-out air and naval bombardment against Lebanese civilian targets. However, a number of commentators have pointed out that such a massive attack requires weeks if not months of preparation that could not be done overnight in response to the capture of the soldiers.
Roberts makes no secret of his sympathies (hint: he mentions 'Nazi,' 'Israeli,' and 'war crimes' all in the same sentence), but his article does point out the tragic conjunction of forces helping to drive the flood of propaganda, including the 3000 evangelicals scheduled to descend on Washington to demand the Bush administration show greater support for Israel.
Roberts asks:
Whose delusion is the greatest - the evangelical "rapture" delusion, the neocon delusion about American power, or the Zionist delusion? The three together mean disaster for America, Israel, and the world.
That ten-year-old plan? Read it here.