More debunking: David Bernstein of The Volokh Conspiracy refutes Senator Fritz Holling's position that the Jewish community is somehow responsible for the Iraq war.



Holling's premise:

"President Clinton responded to Saddam's attempt on the life of President George H.W. Bush by putting a missile down on Saddam's intelligence headquarters in Baghdad. Not a big kill, but Saddam got the message -- monkey around with the United States and a missile lands on his head. Of course there were no weapons of mass destruction. Israel's intelligence, Mossad, knows what's going on in Iraq. They are the best. They have to know.



Israel's survival depends on knowing. Israel long since would have taken us to the weapons of mass destruction if there were any or if they had been removed. With Iraq no threat, why invade a sovereign country? The answer: President Bush's policy to secure Israel. . . .



Bush felt tax cuts would hold his crowd together and spreading democracy in the Mideast to secure Israel would take the Jewish vote from the Democrats. You don't come to town and announce your Israel policy is to invade Iraq. But George W. Bush, as stated by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and others, started laying the groundwork to invade Iraq days after inauguration."



So Bush came into office intending to invade Iraq in order to sway the Jewish vote? Read the response, it's thorough and devastating.



I don't agree with how we started the Iraq war, but a Jewish conspiracy?



My question:



I recall reading about the pre-WWII rhetoric regarding vast Jewish conspiracies being behind the depression, moral depravity, etc. The proponents formed the bedrock of the Nazi party. History class traced these theories back through the pogroms, the massacres in middle ages, etc., but I always maintained a sense of incredulity: how could anyone be so insanely prejudiced? How could this type of fanatic paranoia possibly reach a national or international level?



When I read editorials like Senator Hollings', I can't help but wonder if I'm seeing the very beginning phases of history repeating itself. Why is it perfectly acceptable for him to blame the Jewish people, both at home and in Israel, for our war? Are the "the Jews own the world" ideas still bubbling under the surface somewhere, just waiting for the right vent to burst through?



Just wondering.