Joe Klein, an A-list journalist who has written for The New Republic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, LIFE and Rolling Stone, and authored the novel Primary Colors, writing at Time magazine's 'Swampland' blog (boldface emphasis added):The notion that we could just waltz in and inject democracy into an extremely complicated, devout and ancient culture smacked--still smacks--of neocolonialist legerdemain. The fact that a great many Jewish neoconservatives--people like Joe Lieberman and the crowd over at Commentary--plumped for this war, and now for an even more foolish assault on Iran, raised the question of divided loyalties: using U.S. military power, U.S. lives and money, to make the world safe for Israel. And then there is the question--made manifest by the no-bid contracts offered U.S. oil companies by the Iraqis--of two oil executives, Bush and Cheney, securing a new source of business for their Texas buddies.
Please note: this is not some career 'activist' over at DU with a screen name like 'DeathToAllRepubs' or 'Ih8neoKKKons' who's earned a '10,000 posts' star by his name--this is a mainstream, A-list, top-of-the-heap journalist working for a major news outlet. Time-fargin'-magazine!
I confidently predict he will not be fired, disciplined, or even seriously critiqued by anyone at Time or one of the other A-list publications. He is at no risk of being named a Kieth Olbermann 'World's Worst Person.'
If that's not enough to make you nervous, scroll down into the comments. The descendants of Julius Streicher are alive and well:
Good on you and your guts for being the first big-time MSM pundit that I've seen to actually say something like this out loud. It just makes one seethe. All this warmongering and sacrifice to 'promote democracy' for the benefit of what's essentially one of the world's few remaining apartheid states, and one that's had a long, sordid, and unanswered history of assassinations and oppression. And if there is any red flag that global corporatism is the real next big threat to liberty worldwide (NOT terrorism), the Iraq War was it.
You got it right, Joe. . . . And I'm very glad that people (particularly Jewish commentators) are starting to speak openly about the fact that the neocons' loyalties might be a bit conflicted.
To be fair, there's also some pushback in the comboxes:
Your comment about 'Jewish neoconservatives' is simple anti-semitism. It's like saying that white Americans who support NATO have divided loyalties, because they favor policies that defend Europe, at the exepnse of America. Not surprising that isolationism and anti-semtisim go hand in hand, a la Pat ('the Nazis weren't the problem') Buchanan. Straighten up.
Excuse me, I am against the surge, as it happens, against the war, as it happens, and, as it happens, I agree with your criticism. I hold these opinions as a citizen of this country, not as a Jew. I am going to repeat what other people have said, that your posting is anti-semitic by implying that the Jewishness of certain pro-war people is sufficient evidence to call into question their allegiance to our country. But I don't think you realize the gravity of your problem. Yours is an idea that can most easily be traced to German right-wing propaganda starting in the 1840s (see Bruno Bauer, and Marx 'On the Jewish Question' and continuing through the 1940s with Nazi propaganda. You find yourself in a great tradition. I strongly urge you to apologize and to retract your bigoted statement.
The problem is there's too much junior-trainee Julius Streicher, and not enough pushback, in our so-called mainstream press.