No surprise there!

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Foundation_for_the_Defense_of_Democracies#Origins_of_FDD

Daniel McCarthy expressed an enhanced view of FDD's origins in the November 17, 2003, issue of The American Conservative.[1]

In early 2001, a tightly knit group of billionaire philanthropists conceived of a plan to win American sympathy for Israel's response to the Palestinian intifada. They believed that the Palestinian cause was finding too much support within crucial segments of the American public, particularly within the media and on college campuses, so they set up an organization, Emet: An Educational Initiative, Inc., to offer Israel the kind of PR that the Israeli government seemed unable to provide itself.

At first, Emet floundered, without an executive director or a well-defined mission. But that changed after Sept. 11, and Emet changed too, into what is now the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. The name is different, but the goal of influencing America's opinion-forming classes remains.

What makes all of this possible is the support the foundation receives from its billionaire backers. Its nearly $3 million annual budget comes from 27 major donors, most of whom are members of "the Study Group"–also sometimes called the "Mega Group" because of their sizeable contributions–a semi-formal organization of major Jewish philanthropists who meet twice a year to discuss joint projects.
Leonard Abramson was the point man for establishing Emet. He, Michael Steinhardt, and Edgar Bronfman were the foundation's board of directors at the time of its incorporation in the spring of 2001.

'Kagan treats the Iraq war as a great idea that had been "foolishly" waged for the first few years but is now returning benefits.'

Iraq is not the only "great idea" of the neocon saboteurs. Afghanistan is shaping up to be the eff-up of the century, implies Eric Margolis:

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The killing of 11 Pakistani soldiers by US air strikes last week showed that the American-led war in Afghanistan is relentlessly spreading into Pakistan, one of America’s oldest, most faithful allies. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been openly advocating major ground and air attacks by US forces into Pakistan. American neoconservatives have been denouncing Pakistan as a "rogue state" and a "sponsor of international terrorism," and are calling for US air and missile strikes against Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and reactors.

Without the round the clock overhead presence of US airpower, which can respond in minutes, western forces in Afghanistan would risk being isolated, cut off from supplies, and defeated. A sizeable portion of NATO manpower in Afghanistan already goes to defending bases and supply depots. However, NATO’s long supply lines that bring in fuel, food, and ammunition across federally-administered tribal areas from US-run bases in Pakistan are increasingly under attack. Forty giant fuel tankers were recently destroyed at the Torkham border crossing.

Now, the US and its NATO allies are edging ever closer to open warfare against Pakistan at a time when they are unable to defeat Taliban fighters inside Afghanistan due to lack of combat troops. The outgoing commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, US Gen. Dan McNeill, recently admitted he would need 400,000 soldiers to pacify that nation. The US and NATO have a combined force of around 60,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Widening the Afghan War into Pakistan is military stupidity on a grand scale and political madness. It could very well end up a bigger disaster than Iraq. But Washington and its obedient allies seem hell-bent on charging into a wider regional war that no number of heavy bombers will win.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis113.html

————

Barack Obama has maintained some ambiguity on Iraq, but on Pakistan, he has firmly endorsed the neocon push to move into there and root out the terrorists. How many Amerikans are even aware that the U.S. has BASES IN PAKISTAN? Hello, it's five minutes to midnight; where's your KongressKlown?

Does prospective President Obama know about General McNeill's estimate that it would take 400,000 troops to pacify Afghanistan? Isn't that the same thing that happened in the "foolishly fought" Iraq war — not enough troops? Would a million be enough?

Pay attention to the comments of Margolis [a military vet and no fool] about NATO's long supply lines in hostile territory. That's what drove the Russians out. Afghanistan is gonna be Obama's Masada; Obama's Alamo. In fact, Obama spelt backwards IS Alamo, innit? No wait, 'Amabo.' And when NATO gets screwed backwards in America's next military defeat (Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan make three royal fuck-ups in a row), we can ironically call him President Amabo. Like his predecessor Airman Bush, Amabo's no frickin' military genius.

"I stand here today in defense of those who have been stripped of their voices in this occupation, the warriors of this nation…", Chiroux read from a statement as his father Rob, who had travelled to Washington from Alabama to support his son on Father's Day, stood beside him.

Last month, Chiroux rejected an order calling him back to active duty in Iraq, saying he considers the war "illegal and unconstitutional."

Chiroux served five years in the army, with tours in Afghanistan, Japan, Germany and the Philippines.

He was honorably discharged last year and was placed in the Individual Ready Reserves (IRR), a pool of former soldiers who can be "reactivated" in a national emergency or war.

Prior to the Iraq war, IRR members were rarely recalled to active duty, according to the Military Times, an independent newspaper for members of the US armed forces and their families.

"Many believed they never would be called — but when the army found itself stretched by unexpected combat demands in Iraq in the summer of 2004 it began issuing mobilization orders," Military Times wrote in an article published a year ago on Sunday.

According to the paper, hundreds of IRR members "refused to report or simply ignored their mailed mobilization orders."

Matthis' father Rob, a rocket scientist who lives in the army town of Huntsville, Alabama, said mobilizing IRR members was a form of back-door draft.

"If our country is in such a dire emergency that we need to conscript manpower, congress has to vote to reinstate the draft," the elder Chiroux told AFP.

"But they won't do that because if congress said we need to bring back the general draft, the war in Iraq would be resolved very quickly," he said.

"Moms and dads, who represent millions and millions of voters, would say: wait a minute — you want to draft my kid? Iraq's got to stop."

Here is Justin Raimondo, quoting Shmuel Rosner:

"WINEP has just published the final version of a report by the Task Force on the Future of U.S.-Israel relations. The title is appealing: How to Deepen U.S.-Israel Cooperation on the Iranian Nuclear Challenge. But no less appealing is the list of people endorsing this report: Tony Lake and Susan Rice of the Obama campaign, Vin Weber, James Woolsey of the McCain camp."

http://antiwar.com/justin/

I swear, I read the word "appealing" — twice — as "appalling." Then realized it was out of context, coming from Rosner.

Just goes to show how you can see what you want to see, using your onboard realtime editing.

Over 4,000 guys who were honorably discharged after Gulf War I
have been called back to go to Iraq eight years later. Sample:
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2008/06/17/c-spans-book-tv-which-usually-pits-ideological-adversaries-paired-up-clifford-may-president-of-the-foundation-for-defense.html#comment-57815 <p>speaking of volunteers. </p> <p>"Mr (William) Kristol, did you serve in the military?"</p> <p>"No, I did not have that pleasure. I served in other ways. I did have a friend who served."</p> <p>C-span for at least 10 months prior to the second jewish-demanded slaughter of iraq was all jewcon/neopet all the time. and with repeats.</p> <p>viewers calling c-span to give a different take would be cut off or declared(falsely) to have violated the one call/month limit or brian lamb and the other hosts would "hit the wrong button".</p> speaking of volunteers.