When
Extremists
Attack
By Joe
Klein
01/08/08 "Time-blog"
-- - I
have now
been called
antisemitic
and
intellectually
unstable
and a whole
bunch of
other silly
things by
the folks
over at the
Commentary
blog. They
want Time
Magazine to
fire or
silence me.
This is
happening
because I
said
something
that is
palpably
true, but
unspoken in
polite
society:
There is a
small
group of
Jewish
neoconservatives
who
unsuccessfully
tried to get
Benjamin
Netanyahu to
attack
Saddam
Hussein in
the 1990s,
and then
successfully
helped
provide the
intellectual
rationale
for George
Bush to do
it in 2003.
Their
motivations
involve a
confused
conflation
of what they
think
are Israel's
best
interests
with those
of the
United
States. They
are now
leading the
charge for
war with
Iran.
Happily, these people represent a very small sliver of the Jewish population in this country. Unhappily, their views have had an impact in the highest reaches of the Bush Administration--and seem to have an influence on John McCain's campaign as well. Happily, the Bush Administration seems more interested in talking to the Iranians than in launching on them--and, according to my Israeli friends, the Israelis are not going to do anything foolish, either. I remain proud of my Jewish heritage, a strong supporter of Israel and a realist about the slim chance of finding some common ground with the Iranians. But I am not willing to grant these ideologues the anonymity they seek.
In early 2003, during my first weeks as a Time Magazine columnist, I wrote a handful of skeptical columns about the coming war in Iraq, including this one about Israel's security as a hidden casus belli. Then, with the troops in place and the war about to begin, I said something stupid on Tim Russert's cable TV show--reluctantly saying ok, we should proceed with the attack. It was the only statement I made in favor of the war and I quickly came to my senses--but that's no excuse. We have lost more than 4000 Americans, tens of thousands have come home grievously injured, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed and wounded, and we are weaker, palpably and morally, as a result.
I am not going to make the same mistake twice. I don't think a war with Iran is coming, thank God, but this time I am not going to pull any punches. My voice isn't very important in the grand scheme of things, but I'm going to do my job--and that means letting you know exactly where I stand and what I believe. I believe there are a small group of Jewish neoconservatives who are pushing for war with Iran because they believe it is in America's long-term interests and because they believe Israel's existence is at stake. They are wrong and recent history tells us they are dangerous. They are also bullies and I'm not going to be intimidated by them.
