http://www.prwatch.org/node/6498 AEI & Freedom's Watch Seek $200 Million to Sell War on Iran Source: New York Times, September 30, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/us/politics/30watch.html
The New York Times reports that Freedom's Watch is working with the American Enterprise Institute to lobby for war with Iran. "'If Hitler's warnings were heeded when he wrote Mein Kampf he could have been stopped,' said Bradley Blakeman, 49, the president of Freedom's Watch and a former deputy assistant to Mr. Bush. ... The idea for Freedom's Watch was hatched in March at the winter meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Manalapan, Fla., where Vice President Dick Cheney was the keynote speaker. ... One benefactor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the group was hoping to raise as much as $200 million by November 2008. Raising big money 'will be easy,' the benefactor said, adding that several of the founders each wrote a check for $1 million. ... Since the group is organized as a tax-exempt organization, it does not have to reveal its donors. ... Among the group's founders are Sheldon G. Adelson ... sixth on the Forbes Magazine list of the world's billionaires; Mel Sembler ... who served as the ambassador to Italy and Australia; John M. Templeton Jr., the conservative philanthropist from Bryn Mawr, Pa.; and Anthony H. Gioia, a former ambassador to Malta. ... Mr. Sembler, who is on the board of directors of the American Enterprise Institute, said the impetus for Freedom's Watch 'came out of A.E.I.' last winter." >Ahmadinejad blames "certain big powers" for the plight >of a large share of humanity, but >his own government's repressive policies have left him >open to criticism [GALLO/GETTY] > >It was quite a week for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the >Iranian president. > >First he faced down the president of Columbia >University and a host of hostile questioners in >Harlem. > >Then he headed down to Midtown Manhattan, where for 45 >minutes he held the world's attention at the United >Nations, before heading farther south, to Caracas, >Venezuela, for talks with his close ally, President >Hugo Chavez. > >Your Views > >"The countries that feel threatened ... should prepare >for defense, and even counterattack" > >Adolfo Talpalar, Stockholm, Sweden > >Send us your views > > >Local papers, such as the Daily News and The New York >Post, featured headlines announcing that "The Evil has >Landed" and lambasting the "Mad Iran Prez" for his >past denials of the Holocaust, refusal to >unequivocally renounce a quest for nuclear weapons, >and call to have Israel "wiped off the map" (an >inaccurate translation of the Persian "bayad az >safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad," which is better - but >less violently and therefore less usefully - rendered >in English as "erased from the page of time" or >"fate"). > >Even Lee Bollinger, the president of Columbia >University, introduced him with an unprecedented - and >to the minds of many academics, not to mention >Iranians, uncouth - verbal attack, accusing him of >being little more than a "petty dictator". > >In its critiques of Ahmadinejad' s speech at Columbia, >the mainstream US press focused most of its attention >on Ahmadinejad' s tendentious claim that "there are no >homosexuals in Iran" (belied by an evening stroll >through Tehran's famous Daneshjoo Park), and his >attempt to redefine his position on the Holocaust (it >happened, but more research is needed to know its true >extent). > >At the UN, his criticism of "widespread human rights >violations" elicited the expected derisive response in >light of his own government's increasingly repressive >policies, while his declaration that the nuclear case >against Iran "is closed" suggested, to most >commentators, continued intransigence by Iran in the >face of supposedly universal opposition to its nuclear >programme. > >Discourteous treatment > >Few commentators considered how Ahmadinejad' s words >were heard outside of the US media circus. > >And those who did, such as Timothy Rutton of the LA >Times, focused purely on the reaction in the Muslim >world, arguing that, as a "totalitarian demagogue", >Ahmadinejad gained legitimacy because of the >discourteous treatment by Columbia's president. > > >Ahmadinejad speaks to a wider audience >than just his western listeners [Reuters] > > >Rutton wrote: "Bollinger's denunciation was icing on >the cake, because the constituency the Iranian leader >cares about is scattered across an Islamic world that >values hospitality and its courtesies as core social >virtues." > >"To that audience, Bollinger looked stunningly >ill-mannered; Ahmadinejad dignified and restrained." > >Underlying Rutton's argument is the still-widespread >belief, whose roots lie deep in Europe and America's >histories as imperial powers, that Muslims and the >other formerly colonised peoples value "honour", >"pride" and "hospitality" far more than they do issues >of substance. > >Indeed, they remain incapable of making well-reasoned >and documented criticisms of a West, and the United >States in particular, that remains by definition >technologically, politically, and morally superior to >the developing world. > >'Poverty and deprivation' > >It's no wonder, then, that almost no one in the >American media focused on the substantive claims of >Ahmadinejad' s speech at the UN. > >Chief among them were his argument regarding the >"alarming situation of poverty and deprivation" . > >"Let me draw your attention to some data issued by the >United Nations," he said, before calling to the >attention of the world's leaders the fact that close >to one billion people live on less than $1-a-day and >that there is a rapidly increasing gap between the >world's rich and poor. > >He mentioned the continued disgraceful figures for >infant mortality, schooling and related human >development indicators in the developing world. > >Perhaps wanting to be courteous, Ahmadinejad blamed >"certain big powers" for the plight of a large share >of humanity - he might have added that according to UN >estimates almost half the world lives on less than $2 >per day. > >But he didn't need to name names; most of the >developing world, including the Muslim world, share >his belief that their plight is linked to a world >economic system whose goal, for more than half a >millennium, has been to exploit the peoples and >resources of the rest of the world for the benefit of >the more advanced countries of the West. > > >Few considered how Ahmadinejad' s words were >heard outside of the US media circus [AFP] > > >That is precisely why so many people in the developing >world remain opposed to Western-sponsored >globalisation, which for most critics, including in >the Arab/Muslim world, is little more than imperialism >dressed up in the rhetoric of "free markets" and >"liberal democracy". > >It is this much wider audience, from the favelas of >Rio De Janeiro and the shanty towns of Lagos as much >as the slums of Casablanca, Sadr City or Cairo, to >whom Ahmadinejad was speaking. > >His discourse was strikingly similar to that of his >biggest ally, Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, >who in his speech before the assembly last year had >fewer qualms (perhaps because he's neither Arab nor >Muslim) about pointing fingers at whom he considers >responsible for the sorry shape of so much of the >world. > >Hoisting Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival above his >head, he exclaimed that "the hegemonic pretensions of >US imperialism ... put at risk the very survival of >humankind". > >America, not Iran, Chavez argued, is "the greatest >threat looming over our planet". > >The Ahmadinejad- Chavez axis has been compared by >American politicians such as Florida Republican >Congressman Connie Mack to the relationship between >Fidel Castro and Russia. > >Such analogies are far off the mark. > >A more accurate historical comparison would be to the >relationship between Egypt's Gemal Abdel Nasser and >India's Jawaharlal Nehru, when both came together at >the Bandung conference in 1955 to attempt to build a >coherent bloc of nations that could protect its >interests against those of the two major superpowers, >the US and the Soviet Union. > >'Human underdogs' > >Writing after attending the Bandung Conference, the >American novelist Richard Wright exclaimed that it was >a meeting of "the despised, the insulted, the hurt, >the dispossessed - in short, the underdogs of the >human race". > >It was this shared experience of oppression that >grounded the "Bandung Spirit", which leaders such as >Nasser used to develop the "pan-" ideologies (-Arab, >-African, -American, -Islamic) that proved a thorn in >the side of US policymakers for much of the Cold war. > >The difference between Chavez and Ahmadinejad and >their "Third World" predecessors, is, in a word, oil. > >Iran and Venezuela possess the third- and >seventh-largest oil reserves in the world, totaling >well over 200 billion barrels - that's not much less >than the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia. > > >At the UN General Assembly, Ahmadinejad >spoke for 45 minutes [GALLO/GETTY] > > >The two countries will earn well over $80bn in >revenues this year alone. > >As important, both countries possess non-oil sectors >that are surprisingly robust, according to many >estimates, for the majority of both Iran's and >Venezuela's Gross Domestic Product. > >This provides both countries with billions of dollars >to spend on foreign aid, as demonstrated by >Ahmadinejad' s stopover in Bolivia, where he pledged >$1bn in Iranian aid and development to the poverty >stricken country. > >US policymakers' view of the world through the "you're >either with us or against us" prism divides the globe >into those who support the US and Europe (and the >"West" more broadly), and those who support al-Qaeda >and "Islamofascism" , a term which has been created >precisely to ensure that Americans conflate Osama bin >Laden with Ahmadinejad, and both with Hitler. > >But few people outside of the West buy this >comparison, or the larger black-and-white world-view >it reflects. > >Instead, in Africa and Latin America, Ahmadenijad' s >argument that "humanity has had a deep wound on its >tired body caused by impious powers for centuries" >resonates far more deeply than George Bush's >hollow-sounding calls for democracy and "ending >tyranny". > >Colonial rule > >The West advises Africa to "get over" colonialism, but >the pain of colonial rule is still felt by those >suffering under the policies imposed by the IMF and/or >the World Bank, or from the continued subsidisation of >American and European agribusiness while their >countries are flooded with below-market wheat, soy or >corn. > >It is to those people whom Ahmadinejad promised - in >language that strikingly mirrors US President Bush's >often religiously- hued speeches - that "the era of >darkness will end" with the "dawn of the liberation >of, and freedom for, all humans". > >Americans may not like Ahmadinejad' s or Chavez's >internal politics, ideological orientations, or >foreign policies. > >But for most of the third world, which is tired of >centuries of domination by the West, the two leaders >are a breath of fresh air, who are coming not as >conquerors, but as comrades. > >They are free of the condescending "civilising >mission" that, from Napoleon's invasion of Egypt to >the US invasion of Iraq, always seem to include war, >occupation, and the appropriation of strategic natural >resources under foreign control as part of their >mandate. > >And because of this, most of the citizens of the >developing world, rightly or wrongly, couldn't care >less about Ahmadinejad' s positions on Israel, the >Holocaust, and nuclear weapons, never mind >homosexuals, none of which affect them directly. > >They care only that he is sticking-it- to their old >colonial or Cold war masters, and offering "respect", >"friendship" and billions of dollars in aid with no >strings attached. > >Americans, Europeans and Israelis can fret about it >all they want, but it will not change this reality. > >Only a reorientation of the world economy towards real >sustainability and equality will dampen his appeal, >and that's not likely to happen soon. > >Which means that Americans will be hearing a lot more >of Ahmadinejad and leaders like him in the future. > >The question is, will they be listening? > >Mark LeVine is professor of modern Middle Eastern >history at UC Irvine in California, US, and author and >editor of half-a-dozen books, including Why They Don't >Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil >(Oneworld, 2005) and the forthcoming Heavy Metal >Islam: Rock, Religion and the Struggle for the Soul of >Islam (Random House/Verso) and An Impossible Peace: >Oslo and the Burdens of History (Zed Books). He is a >regular commentator on Al Jazeera's The Listening >Post. www.culturejamming. org > _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
