In Memoriam:
For the best friend I could ever have hoped for in this lifetime, who recently lost his hope for the future of humanity. Please, dear reader, try to find something you can do to change the world for the better before someone you love dies.
I'm going to start off with a little bit of quoted background material on neocons from a speech given by
Ron Paul. I don't make any claims as to the accuracy of all of the information, I'm just offering it as "for your consideration". The following are a few exerpts from a speech entitled
Congressman Ron Paul addresses the U.S. House of Representatives
July 10, 2003
"Neo-conned"
continued below the fold
More important than the names of people affiliated with neo-conservatism are the views they adhere to. Here is a brief summary of the general understanding of what neocons believe:
1. They agree with Trotsky on permanent revolution, violent as well as intellectual.
2. They are for redrawing the map of the Middle East and are willing to use force to do so.
3. They believe in preemptive war to achieve desired ends.
4. They accept the notion that the ends justify the means--that hard-ball politics is a moral necessity.
5. They express no opposition to the welfare state.
6. They are not bashful about an American empire; instead they strongly endorse it.
7. They believe lying is necessary for the state to survive.
8. They believe a powerful federal government is a benefit.
9. They believe pertinent facts about how a society should be run should be held by the elite and withheld from those who do not have the courage to deal with it.
10. They believe neutrality in foreign affairs is ill-advised.
11. They hold Leo Strauss in high esteem.
12. They believe imperialism, if progressive in nature, is appropriate.
13. Using American might to force American ideals on others is acceptable. Force should not be limited to the defense of our country.
14. 9-11 resulted from the lack of foreign entanglements, not from too many.
15. They dislike and despise libertarians (therefore, the same applies to all strict constitutionalists.)
16. They endorse attacks on civil liberties, such as those found in the Patriot Act, as being necessary."
17. They unconditionally support Israel and have a close alliance with the Likud Party.
In addition to publications, multiple think tanks and projects were created to promote their agenda. A product of the Bradley Foundation, American Enterprise Institute (AEI) led the neocon charge
Not only did Leo Strauss write favorably of Machiavelli, Michael Ledeen, a current leader of the neoconservative movement, did the same. In 1999, Ledeen titled his book, Machiavelli on Modern Leadership, and subtitled: Why Machiavelli's iron rules are as timely and important today as five centuries ago. Ledeen is indeed an influential neocon theorist whose views get lots of attention today in Washington. His book on Machiavelli, interestingly enough, was passed out to Members of Congress attending a political strategy meeting shortly after its publication and at just about the time A Clean Break was issued.
In Ledeen's most recent publication, The War Against the Terror Masters, he reiterates his beliefs outlined in this 1999 Machiavelli book. He specifically praises: "Creative destruction...both within our own society and abroad...(foreigners) seeing America undo traditional societies may fear us, for they do not wish to be undone." Amazingly, Ledeen concludes: "They must attack us in order to survive, just as we must destroy them to advance our historic mission."
Here are a couple of Michael Ledeen quotes in regards to the New York Sun and journalist Eli Lake from two different articles published on the AEI website:
The real story is in today's New York Sun, increasingly our newspaper of record. Eli Lake interviewed one of the organizers of the workshop, who lays it out clearly source
the "no revolution in the works" prediction comes, as Eli Lake of the splendid New York Sun wrote yesterday, from the same people who made the same prediction just before the fall of the Shah source
Financial ties between the New York Sun and The American Enterprise Institute:
From wikipedia we can learn a little bit more about the New York Sun:
Major backers of the paper include Bruce Kovner, a billionaire financier who is also a backer of the conservative Manhattan Institute and American Enterprise Institute, and Roger Hertog, a trustee of the American Enterprise Institute. The newspaper's president and editor-in-chief is Seth Lipsky, formerly editor of The Forward, a Jewish-oriented weekly, and its managing editor is Ira Stoll.
(more on The Forward in a bit)
If you are interested in more details on the original backers of the NY Sun, I suggest taking a look at
the cached info linked as www.nysun.com on this page (sorry it's a bit roundabout, but the cached page link itself didn't go through when I tried a direct link to it)
From an article in the New York Sun written by Eli Lake we can also learn a bit more about other investors in the paper:
ISRAEL IS EYED IN BLAME GAME OVER IRAQ WAR
Rockefeller Sends Demand to Pentagon
A scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Richard Perle, said, "It is pathetic when the Senate intelligence committee relies on a left-wing screed in an ultra-left-wing publication by Robert Dreyfuss as a basis for its inquiries to the executive branch." (Mr. Perle is a member of the board of Hollinger International, which owns a minority stake in the Sun.)
So just to sum up/reiterate what we have so far:
Michael Ledeen and Richard Perle both belong to a think tank called AEI.
A major backer (
Bruce Kovner) of the New York Sun is also a backer of the AEI.
Roger Hertog is also a major backer the NY Sun, a trustee of the AEI and (with Michael Steinhardt) in 2002 bought up 2/3 of
The New Republic(more on the new Republic in just a bit)
Richard Perle was (until 2003) "a member of the board of Hollinger International, which owns a minority stake in the Sun".
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss (The Who- "Won't Get Fooled Again")
The strategic scenario now facing the Jewish state is best summed up in a lyric from rock band "The Who": "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." (Eli Lake in the NY Sun article Meet the New Boss)
Eli Lake had worked under NY Sun president and editor-in-chief Seth Lipsky and managing editor Ira Stoll (both formerly at The Forward) before he began writing columns for the NY Sun, since
he wrote several columns for The Forward in the early part of 2000 and according to
this source:
Backing the new paper, sources said, is a group of nine or 10 investors that includes Mr. Black--chairman and chief executive of Hollinger International Inc.--as well as Michael Steinhardt, a former hedge-fund manager and prominent Democratic Party donor, who up until mid-2000 owned half of The Forward but is still the paper's vice chairman. Since Mr. Lipsky was pushed out as editor in chief at The Forward, he and Mr. Steinhardt have maintained close contact, sources said. In the ideological battle between Mr. Lipsky and The Forward's board of directors--Mr. Lipsky's neoconservative leanings did not sit well with the more liberal board--Mr. Steinhardt offered to buy the other half of the Jewish weekly in order to keep Mr. Lipsky at the helm. Rebuffed by the board, Mr. Lipsky ultimately left the paper in April 2000, and Mr. Stoll, who had been managing editor, followed later that summer.
Eli Lake has also written
several articles for The New Republic since it came under the part ownership of
Roger Hertog in 2002.
Eli Lake NY Sun articles and The American Enterprise Institute scholars and fellows
Still with me? Cool. Bear with me for a minute while I make up a list of a few names from the AEI Scholars & Fellows list:
AEI Scholars and Fellows mentioned (and almost always quoted) by Eli Lake NY Sun articles (I left off one Newt Gingrich reference which didn't seem to contain a quote from what I could see):
Thomas Donnelly (4 different articles)
Nicholas Eberstadt (1 article)
David Frum (4 articles)
Reuel Marc Gerecht (1 article)
Michael Ledeen (6 articles)
Norman Ornstein (1 article)
Richard Perle (12 articles)
Danielle Pletka (13 articles)
Michael Rubin (19 articles)
Gary Schmitt (2 articles)
+ a few articles with quotes from unnamed sources at the AEI and at least one other NY Sun article which I've found only in republished (cached) form on the internet. (quoted below in the Eli - Michael section)
So, given those figures, I wonder why Eli Lake didn't refer to or quote any AEI scholars or fellows in the following article:
DAVID DUKE CLAIMS TO BE VINDICATED BY A HARVARD DEAN
Paper Issued by Kennedy School Blames War on Israel Lobby
A paper recently co-authored by the academic dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government about the allegedly far-reaching influence of an "Israel lobby" is winning praise from white supremacist David Duke.
The Palestine Liberation Organization mission to Washington is distributing the paper, which also is being hailed by a senior member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization.
Another way the authors say the Israel lobby exercises influence is through think tanks. Under the subchapter heading "Think Tanks that Think One Way," the authors say, "Pro Israel forces have established a commanding presence at the American Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institution, the Center for Security Policy, the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Hudson Institute, the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)."
The article quotes Herbert London, president of the Hudson Institute in rebuttal of this-
the notion that his institution had a standard line on American policy to Israel "was patently absurd."
and yet fails to mention by name or quote anyone associated with AEI.
Perhaps the AEI phone lines were busy that day?
Richard Cohen of the Washington Post weighed in on the study in question as well, in his column entitled, "
No, It's Not Anti-Semitic"
To associate Mearsheimer and Walt with hate groups is rank guilt by association and does not in any way rebut the argument made in their paper on the Israel lobby.
This may be wrong, but it is not (necessarily) anti-Semitic. In fact, after reading the Mearsheimer-Walt paper, the respected Israeli newspaper Haaretz not only failed to discern anti-Semitism but commended the paper to its readers. "The professors' article does not deserve condemnation," Haaretz stated in an editorial.
Eli Lake and Michael Ledeen mentions of each other (in addition to the above quotes)
Concern over the Iranian nuclear-weapons program is growing, as well it should. As the UPI's Eli Lake has recently reported, even Mr. Al-Baradei of the international nuclear-watchdog organization is concerned, and the CIA has reportedly reduced its estimate of how long it will take before Iran has the bomb, from four-to-five years to two. source
He knew so much about Iran, almost more than Michael Ledeen," she said, referring to the scholar who holds the Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute source
Mr. Ledeen added that the charter "vests authority in the Iraqi people, not in the Koran, not in Allah. That's one revolutionary step." source
A scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a friend of Mr. Franklin, Michael Ledeen, said, "Larry Franklin is a little person,he is not a political player. Think before you destroy a little person.When the FBI has a case against someone, they go to a grand jury, they indict him and arrest and put him away,they don't go to Leslie Stahl." source
There have been many violent acts against regime people and regime symbols like mosques and government buildings largely unreported except by the bloggers," an American Enterprise Institute scholar, Michael Ledeen, said yesterday. source
The freedom chair at the American Enterprise Institute, Michael Ledeen, yesterday said he too was concerned that the deal with Dubai Ports World could end source
The man who holds the freedom chair at the American Enterprise Institute, Michael Ledeen, treated the news of the warming ties between Iraq and Iran wryly. "Free trade? They have got that anyway, except they call it smuggling," he said. "If you want someone to work with you on terrorism, who better than Iran because they run it all anyway?" source
As one of President Reagan's secret envoys to Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran, Michael Ledeen wrote in his book released in September, "The War Against the Terror Masters," "Terrorists represent the long arm of regimes." source
Who Are Our Enemies in the Middle East? (book review- exerpt follows)
In The War against the Terror Masters, Mr. Ledeen takes great pains to diagram exactly how the terrorists and those states that provide them with phony passports, funding, small arms, and the spiritual training to commit mass murder are, and have been for some time, working together to destroy us.
and a comment on a
blog post as follows:
This is why I have concluded there is no hope for the left. Here you have a prolific and insightful author, who for four years has been screaming that the American government should support the democracy movement in Iran against an actual theocracy and not the one imagined by Maureen Dowd here at home, and all you can muster is some lame ass "I don't think the Iranians would like our help." What about your solidarity? Where is Atrios, Kos, the Nation, the Democratic Party etc.. on Iranian freedom? How come they sit on their hands and pretend there is nothing going on there. Ofcourse there are a few exceptions like the young Yglesias and Laura Rozen who seem to be following these developments, but when it comes to endorsing a policy all of you are taken in by this pessimistic hokum from the likes of the council on foreign relations. Bizarre! Ledeen has voiced a little moral clarity and you all regurgitate this half baked history of the Iran Contra affair.
Posted by: Eli Lake | Dec 23, 2004 1:18:33 PM
(Eli weighs in on Ledeen again later in that thread as well)
Richard Perle quotes reported by Eli Lake-
I've compiled quite a few of these, going back as far as stories which Eli wrote for The Forward in 2000, but rather than taking up additional diary space here with them, I will refer those of you who are interested in them to look here
Other (non AEI) sources
But Eli (and the NY Sun) don't exclusively rely on quoting AEI sources, by any means. Eli has also been known to quote Francis Brooke and Duane Clarridge (to name two others) on occasion- see below for a few examples:
ADL Asking the FBI to Investigate Leak in Pentagon Case - Brooke
At Least 800 Iraqi Pilgrims Perish, as Rumor of Suicide Bomber Leads to Stampede -Brooke
Free Iraqis Seek Meeting With White House, Gore; Form Action Committee
GOP Contenders Also Approached
Ahmad Chalabi: 'We Want To See the President' Forward News 02/18/2000? -Brooke
'Battle for Soul' of Bush Erupts Over Policy Toward Israel, China As Moynihan Backs Bradley on Jerusalem and Dear Disappears
Governor Gets Advice of Richard Haass, Who Has Blamed Israel for Arab Attacks Forward News Jan. 28, 2000? -Brooke
Jockeying Begins for Control of Iraqi Intelligence Agency -Brooke
EX-CHIEF OF CIA KEEPS DATE FOR A POWER LUNCH
His Host in Iraq Once Sat in U.S. Jail -Brooke
Duane Clarridge
Pentagon Is Winner Over CIA By ELI LAKE
- Staff Reporter of the Sun
May 8, 2006
reposted here
The founder of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, Duane Clarridge yesterday said he also predicted his old place of employment would be significantly diminished.
"The CIA as an institution will become the directorate of operations with some ancillary components," he said. "In the end, what you've got, where you're headed, even though these people may not understand it yet, is a directorate of operations writ large, a la M16."
Eli Lake has a nice scoop at the NY Sun. Lake got passed a heap of documents by founding CIA Counter Terrorism Center director Duane Clarridge [and Iran Contra alum], who got them from Ahmad Chalabi, for whom Clarridge has recently been doing some consulting. The documents purport to show that Jordan's King Abdullah, back in 1992 when he was still third in line to the Hashemite throne, attempted to sell arms to Saddam Hussein:
From a blogger's report on an Eli Lake story:
A handwritten letter to Saddam from his late son Uday, dated February 9, 1992, lists prices for old Soviet military equipment and says that then-Prince Abdullah recommended Uday contact an intermediary identified as "Jack al-Khayyat," who could arrange the sale . . . Prince Abdullah sought to import the equipment and then sell it to Iraq for cash payments. . .Saddam declined the sale, saying that his treasury was depleted, in a three-line note written at the end of the document.
So apparently, there was no deal. The Jordan embassy, for its part, says it believes the documents are fake. Clarridge says that Chalabi wouldn't dare pass him fake documents. [hmm...]
But CIA sources tell Lake that in fact the CIA had a plan for any military technology Jordan tried to sell Saddam: to rig it with bugs and back doors to monitor their location and other activities
source
A few more Eli Lake articles with mentions and/or quotes from Clarridge:
Hezbollah Signals It's Open to Talks With United States
Raid on Chalabi Linked to Audit Of Iraqi Oil Cash NO-SHOW JOBS EYED
Amid Talk of Withdrawal, Pentagon Is Taking Steps For Longer Stay in Iraq
U.S. Seizes Spy Who Had Worked in White House
A couple of Sun stories that are currently tough to find on the net
In a recent article entitled A Vote of Thanks Is Expressed By Iranian Jews Eli writes,
A video surfaced over the weekend of the leader of Iran's striking bus drivers, Mansour Osanloo, discussing and showing the results of his torture, including a gash on his chin and a hole in his tongue, at the hands of his jailors earlier this year. The torture of Mr. Osanloo was first reported by The New York Sun in March.
Eli Lake
source
I wanted to find that initial March article for you,
but I couldn't seem to. Either my research skills weren't up to the task or it hasn't made it into Google for whatever reason. Perhaps you will have better luck finding it than I did.
A guy by the name of
Michael Ledeen seems to have been one of the first people
to publicize the existence of that video.
"Two senior members of Iran's revolutionary guard have defected to the American side in Iraq," reports Eli Lake in today's Sun.
Hey! He's scooped the world!
Where could this great intel have come from? Eli will only say "American officials familiar with the intelligence," but I think he's being coy. C'mon 'Li, who was it? Dougie "Fresh" Feith?
Who the fuck would give an exclusive scoop to a newspaper no one reads? Sounds like the Sunnis have been soaked again.
source
(here's all I was able to find on that story on the internet)
IRAN REVOLUTIONARIES SAID TO DEFECT TO U.S.
Mandato da vette67stinger Mercoledì, 14 gennaio 2004, 02:34.
IRAN REVOLUTIONARIES SAID TO DEFECT TO U.S.
2 GUARD MEMBERS COULD PROVIDE INFORMATION TROVE
By ELI LAKE Staff Reporter of the Sun
WASHINGTON -- Two
senior members of Iran's revolutionary guard have defected to the American side in Iraq, American officials familiar with the intelligence told The New York Sun.
The weekend defection could give coalition forces a treasure trove of critical information on Iran's efforts to infiltrate the Shiite segments of the Iraqi population and plans to target either directly or by proxy American soldiers trying to secure the country.
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source
A man who was born in Iran (and who obviously doesn't read the NY Sun enough)expresses a bit of scepticism about Amir Abbas Fakhravar
I don't really know what's happened to my friend, Eli Lake, who's written this story about this guy and his meeting with Perle. A "leading dissident and author," whom no one knows in or out of Iran. Who are these people kidding?
source
The "leading dissident and author" in question being
Amir Abbas Fakhravar.
But actually, if you've been reading the NY Sun and Eli Lake, you should be quite familiar with
Fakhravar by now:
Some Eli Lake
Fakhravar stories/quotes:
Ganji Is Near Death in Iranian Prison, a Dissident Reports (By ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
July 18, 2005) and
reposted here
Mr. Fakhravar yesterday said he feared that Mr. Ganji would soon be dead. At the end of the interview yesterday, he said: "Never in these past 25 years has the Islamic republic been in so much turmoil. The minute Akbar Ganji dies, you will see what a revolution looks like here."
Iranian Dissident Rushed to Hospital (By ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
July 19, 2005)
reposted here
a href="http://www.nysun.com/article/20865?access=330791">Iran Dissident Plots Escape to Freedom From the Mullahs (By ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
October 3, 2005)
reposted here
"Until now, the idea of leaving the country has never crossed my mind. But we think at this time it is better to leave and live in a neighboring country for a little while. Our hands would be more open to organize others inside the country. The same thing happened for some of the student leaders in Serbia, and that's what we need here," Amir Abbas Fakhravar said yesterday in a telephone interview from Tehran. In the interview, he also made a plea for American financial aid to be given to the Iranian student movement to help "get rid" of the regime in Tehran.
Opposition in Iran Showing Signs of Unity (By ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
December 8, 2005)
reposted here
But, according to Iranian author and former political prisoner, Amir Abbas Fakhravar, the era of Mr. Ahmadinejad has also spurred previously warring factions among the opposition to come together.
"You cannot imagine to what extent the selection not the election of Ahmadinejad has had a hidden benefit," Mr. Fakhravar said in a telephone interview."All the sectors of the student and labor organizations and young people have become much closer than before, and became more united. There has been a hardened unity created."
Wives of Striking Iranian Bus Drivers Appeal for Support (By ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 15, 2006)
reposted here
"Right now, all the striking bus drivers are either in prison are out of jobs," Mr. Fakhravar said. "They have been fired." He said that Tahkim Vahdat, Iran's oldest student opposition group, met with the union in January, but the meetings have stopped since the recent crack down.
Despite the repression, Mr. Fakhravar is optimistic. "Once the U.N. sanctions begin and the embassies begin to close, in a matter of days not weeks the opposition will come together. Even some people that work for the regime and the families who hate the mullahs will come into the streets." He said the wisest course would be for the western world to lend opposition leaders a podium and consider giving them money.
Iranian Dissident to Seek Support For Opposition (By ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
May 9, 2006)
reposted here
"We are not pro-war. But we do believe in getting rid of this rotten government and to keep the costs to the people as low as possible. This is to keep the casualties and cost controls," he said. But he also cautioned, "The Islamic Republic of Iran is going in the direction that heads straight on to war with America."
Mr.Fakhravar yesterday was effusive in his praise of Mr. Perle, who has been a target of anti-war critics who have dubbed him the "prince of darkness" for his part in conceiving the intellectual foundations of the Iraq war.
The Iranian author does not share this view. "In my eyes I saw the prince of light, not the prince of darkness," Mr. Fakhravar said. "I could see in his eyes he is worried for our people as well as the American people and this is very important and this is very special. Of course, Mr. Perle has the interest of the American people at heart. And I have the interest of the Iranian people at heart. But there is a common goal and interest."
Objectivity?
Here's a story/interview about Eli Lake from a Campus newsletter called MOSAIC called Succeeding. From the interview:
Lake says that being a journalist, especially for a newswire, requires learning about things very quickly without getting "spun by someone who has an interest in whatever you're writing about." He says, "The challenge is to avoid the spin of what any particular side wants you to write about something and to try to write about it objectively."
A quote from an Eli Lake NY Sun article entitled
Meet the Egyptian Editor Who, Once Aided by U.S., Denies Holocaust December 21, 2005
When asked his thoughts on President Bush, he said, "He is turning America into the Soviet Union," an odd comment for the foreign editor of a state-funded newspaper that nearly every day features an above-the-fold photo of President Mubarak.
Eli Lake in an editorial entitled
Dear Senator Lieberman... The latest talking points are reviving those canards about a cabal deceiving the public and its representatives to fight an optional war. It must make you nauseous.
Sadly, the party of Truman and Kennedy today looks like a gaggle of spoiled children pandering on about their pre-war gullibility.
As a Democrat you need to make the case again for our war in part because the White House has failed to do. Their ability to remind the country why we went to war is complicated by the blowback for stupidly launching an anonymous campaign against Joseph Wilson when his tall tales could have been refuted on the record.
Are you afraid of the moral midgets atmoveon.com? Are worried what the left wing blogosphere might say?
Now I know Eli and I disagree on a lot of things, but I'm not sure on this... do we also not agree on the meaning of the words
try and/or
objectively or is the standard just that much lower for a Ny Sun editorial than for UPI?
Well, Eli has also recently written an article for The New Republic entitled EGYPT'S NEW POP SENSATION.
Sheik Yo Booty which has site subtext which reads thusly:
Egypt's new pop sensation is da bomb ... da suicide bomb.
Eli's internet journalistic footprint.
Since most of my Eli quotes so far have been references to NY Sun articles, I thought I'd throw in a few UPI story quotes as well, just for variety.
"This is to support their demonstrations and their movement," Zand-Bonazzi said.
Zand-Bonazzi's work could prove a critical link between Washington and Tehran as the National Security Council continues to debate the prudence of the United States providing more direct support to the indigenous democrats fighting the mullahs. Since November, an ambitious policy directive on Iran has been deadlocked in debate as the State Department and members of the NSC staff have attempted to broach a dialogue with the Iranian regime.
The stakes are high. The same day that the activists in the country are planning a general strike, the International Atomic Energy Agency's Director General Mohammed ElBaradei is expected to arrive in Tehran to oversee another round of inspections of the country's nuclear-energy facilities. Last month, his agency issued a report that found numerous questions unanswered regarding whether certain facilities were cover for a weapons program. source
Iran's senior leadership decided last month to send irregular paramilitary units across their border with Iraq to harass American soldiers once Saddam Hussein's regime fell, according to U.S. intelligence reports.
...
This confirmed all of our suspicions that the Iranians are not our friends and not for peace in the region. They are in fact for a piece of the region," one U.S. intelligence official told United Press International. source
the Bush administration shows more robust signs toward remaking the world. Richard Haass, the State Department's director of policy planning, delivered a speech Dec. 4 to the Council on Foreign Relations titled "Towards Greater Democracy in the Muslim World." In his remarks, he said that if many of the world's governments in the Islamic world did not embrace the political freedoms most associated with democracy, they would face revolution.
He spoke of a State Department policy that had created an exception for the region, saying it was in the US interest to push Arab and Muslim states to embrace democratic reform.
What is remarkable about the speech is not so much the sentiment but who delivered it. Mr. Haass was the national security adviser in 1991 who advised the current president's father not to send his army to Baghdad to end the Iraqi regime. Inside the State Department, he has advocated cooperation with Iran -- the world's leading sponsor of international terrorism, according to the State Department -- in Afghanistan and Iraq. "The fact that Haass, the architect of a policy of Middle East stability would now embrace democracy as the key to that stability is a welcomed and remarkable sea change," Gary Schmitt, director of the Project for A New American Century, said in an interview. source
Eli has been writing and publishing stories which are available on the internet for quite awhile now. He has published several articles in The New Republic Magazine (11 to date. His first one, Intelligence Test, got him the All Things Considered interview.) He has been interviewed on All Things Considered (September 18, 2002) and had an editorial published in the LA Times. A War of Words Against Iran (LA Times Commentary) (08/18/02).
You may have also read some of his pieces when he was writing for UPI, either as the State Department Correspondent ... or others with just the UPI byline.
Eli seems to write primarily about the middle east, from what I've seen. Iran, Iraq, Syria, Israel, 9/11, terrorists, Hamas, Hezbollah, nuclear threats; you know- that sort of thing.
Oh, speaking of nuclear threats:
this article from The Portsmouth Herald (2004), Threat to nuke plant revealed deserves a quote, I think.
The New York Sun newspaper reported on Tuesday that U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., beginning in February 2003, has held a series of secret meetings in Paris with a former high-ranking official in the government of the former shah of Iran. According to Weldon, his source has correctly predicted a number of internal developments in Iran, ranging from the current regime's atomic weapons programs to its support for international terrorist groups, including al-Qaida, the newspaper reported in an article by Eli Lake.
Based on two informants inside the ruling mullahs' inner circle, Weldon's source, whom he code-named "Ali," relayed allegations to the Pennsylvania lawmaker that an Iranian-backed terrorist cell is seeking to hijack Canadian airliners and crash them into an American reactor. The target of the operation was only identified by Ali as "SEA," leading Weldon to believe it was the Seabrook reactor.
"There is always that general possibility (of a terrorist attack on the Seabrook reactor)," said Van Dongen, "but we haven't received any information that it's going to happen tomorrow."
Al Griffith, spokesman for Seabrook Station, said he's not sure why this issue is resurfacing now, nearly two years after he first responded to media inquiries about threats against nuclear power plants.
"This was part of the information that was shared between appropriate law enforcement agencies," said Griffith. "What happens is that whenever we get this type of information we make a determination in conjunction with law enforcement. In this case we felt the information did not warrant any further action on our part."
read the
NY Sun article
here
Once this trust is placed in the hands of a powerful leader, this neocon argues that certain tools are permissible to use. For instance: "lying is central to the survival of nations and to the success of great enterprises, because if our enemies can count on the reliability of everything you say, your vulnerability is enormously increased. source- Ron Paul again
Update: I didn't mention it initially, but there is also the Eli Lake echo chamber- other New Republic and NY Sun articles (not written by him) reference him- here are a few examples from both TNR and NY Sun, though:
TNR-
Iraq'd by Spencer Ackerman
Side Swipe by Spencer Ackerman
Two Tone by Ryan Lizza
A SYRIAN CHALABI? NOT EXACTLY. Compare and Contrast by Joseph Braude
The Plank The Zarqawi Effect by Michael Crowley, Jason Zengerle, and TNR's Staff.
and for NY Sun try
this search for examples.
If you've made through all the way down to these words, thank you for staying with me. Full disclosure- I have a few biases. I have a bias against reporting which does not seem to me to be objective. I have a bias opposing the neoconservative agenda. I have hand picked the above quotes and placed them on this page in a certain order for a reason. I would rather not see the neocon's vision of World War IV come to fruition. I will not at all be surprised if this diary post receives comments which contain any or all of the following:
1.
Ad Hominem arguments
2.
Anti-semitism and/or
Anti-Zionism charges
3.
conflation
4.
Straw man arguments
5.
Conspiracy theory contentions
6. general, concern, etc. trolling comments
7. accusations of false implications
8. who knows, you may surprise me and come up with something else not on this list
My reply- go ahead, knock yourself out. Oh, and if you have constructive criticism, feedback, etc. please don't hesitate to add that as well.