Only questions are -- who is he working for and what is he getting paid?
Posted on 01/11/2007 7:27:05 AM PST by West Coast Conservative
After suggesting that Israel is pushing the United States into a war with Iran, Wesley Clark, the retired general and contender for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, moved quickly this week to snuff out a fast-moving controversy that threatened to set back his rumored 2008 campaign before it formally started.
On Tuesday Clark, responding to an angry call from Anti-Defamation League Director Abraham Foxman, issued a statement expressing his opposition to “conspiracy theories” about the war in Iraq.
Still, the controversy was already providing fresh ammunition for Jewish Republicans —and worrying Jewish leaders who fear that the war in Iraq and the confrontation with Iran are resulting in the spread of conspiracy theories about Jewish influence beyond a radical fringe.
In her online column last week, blogger Arianna Huffington reported on an encounter with Clark at a brunch preceding the swearing in of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as House speaker.
Clark, she reported, was “really angry” about a column suggesting that former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “leading the charge” in lobbying for U.S. air strikes against Iran in 2007.
Clark, who advocates negotiations with Iran, expressed concern about what he believes is an administration plan to take military action against that country’s nuclear facilities.
When asked how he knew the administration was planning an attack, he said this: “You just have to read what’s in the Israeli press. The Jewish community is divided but there is so much pressure being channeled from the New York money people to the office seekers.”
That set off alarms in Jewish groups across the country.
Foxman, after a conversation with Clark this week, said the retired general “didn’t deny that he said it, but said it wasn’t what he meant.”
The ADL leader told Clark that he had “bought into conspiratorial bigotry” that increasingly sees Israel, Jews and American Jewish organizations as the driving force behind U.S. involvement in Iraq and Iran.
Foxman said Clark’s comments are particularly worrisome because of the context, coming in the wake of charges by former President Jimmy Carter that Jewish groups are stifling debate over U.S. Mideast policy and a book by former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who accused Israel of pushing for war with Iran.
And they come as the critique of the pro-Israel lobby by two respected foreign policy scholars, who claim that the lobby pressed for war with Iraq, gains traction in academic circles.
“While we know [Clark] is a good friend of Israel and is not an anti-Semite, he still engaged in inappropriate language by talking about how Israel and Jewish money will move this country to war on Iran,” Foxman said. “At a time when Jews are being accused of bringing about the war in Iraq, that’s very disturbing. We know this is not the real Clark — but he said it. We’re worried because these ideas seem to be moving into the mainstream. It’s not just David Duke anymore.”
The Republican Jewish Coalition — which ran ads during last year’s congressional contests arguing that the Democrats, influenced by the likes of Carter, are increasingly hostile to Israel — quickly put a partisan spin on the controversy.
“This is another sign that the veiled and not so veiled anti-Semitic sentiments that are rampant in the left-wing blogosphere are seeping into the ‘mainstream’ of Democrats’ political discourse,” said Matthew Brooks, the group’s director.
Jewish Democrats rejected the charge as partisan overkill.
“There is no evidence whatsoever that anti-Semitism has crept into any part of the Democratic Party,” said Matt Dorf, a leading Democratic consultant. “Instead of making such unsubstantiated charges, the Republican Jewish Coalition should be working with us to ensure that Iran does not succeed in becoming a nuclear power.”
On Tuesday Clark, writing to Foxman, restated his belief that there is “still time for direct dialogue (with Iran), and the United States should take the lead. There are no guarantees that such a dialogue would be successful; and the option to use force should not be taken off the table. It has been my experience that diplomacy has always been America’s most effective tool and that force should be used only as a last resort.”
But he also said that “my position on Iran should not be misinterpreted, defined out of context or used to create conspiracy theories about one group’s influence on U.S. foreign policy. There is no place in these critical policy debates for Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that blame the Jewish community for the war in Iraq and for action against Iran.”
Only questions are -- who is he working for and what is he getting paid?
Obviously Clark was asleep during American History class.
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Just like Jimmy, scratch a liberal and you get an anti-semite.
I am considered a heretic by over 1/2 my family, but around liberals, I become very Orthodox Jewish, just to annoy them.
The 'Republican Jewish Coalition' ran ads accusing Demoquacks of being hostile to Israel.
Excuse me but wgaff!
It's hostility to the US of A that concerns me.
Sometimes I think the left in this country wants to offer up Israel to the Arabs as an appeasement deal.
"Hello. I'm Wes Clark, and 'I'm forever blowing bubbles!'"
Does General Clark hear voices telling him to run for president?
My goodness, I'll be elected before he is.
At ease, General Clark. At ease.
Q: General, is it appropriate for Americans to donate to causes (ie. through action committees, lobbyists, etc) that they consider important?
Q: General, are some causes then more equal than others?
Q: Mr. Foxman, is it appropriate to only point out one interest group's actions over others?
Q: General, do you raise the same concerns in regards to say Kurdish lobbying paid for by Americans or Arab lobbying paid for by Americans and Saudi Arabia as it impacts US foreign policy? Q:
Wesley Clark???? Anyone who would listen to this RAT is on kool-aid....
We know what Iran is asking for. What are you ready to concede, Wesley?
Wesley Clark isn't he that guy who got fired from his supreme NATO commander assignment?
Clark probably is an anti-Semite, he's a Democrat....even the Jewish Democrats are anti-Semites. Abe Foxman is a bad joke.
How is it inappropriate to discuss what Clark believes is happening? I'm not trying to be controversial, but why is it that people may only discuss jewish material success but not theorize how some use that success? If Clark is not an anti-semite, then why not have this discussion? For the record, I have no way of knowing if any "force" is pushing the government's foreign policy. But this uproar every time "jewish influence" comes up reminds me of the liberal spin that blacks can't be racist, so don't even question a poor, black person's credibility when it comes to motive.
Clark is half Jewish by birth. He converted to Catholicism while serving in Vietnam.
FOXnews lost value in my book after hiring this Weasly as a commentator.
I don't care...a LOT of Jews are anti-Israel/Semites.
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