IN RETALIATION FOR THE ISRAELI ATTACK ON
THE GAZA AID FLOTILLA
The silly season just got positively bizarre. In the aftermath of the Israeli armed assault on a Turkish-flagged aid ship, bound for the Gaza Strip, some of the more rabid American neocons have demanded, in no uncertain terms, that Turkey must be punished by being kicked out of NATO. Yes, you heard me correctly. Israel carried out an act of international piracy, and cold-blooded murder in international waters, and Turkey must be punished. Has someone dumped a shot of LSD-25 into the water cooler at the American Enterprise Institute?
It is pretty obvious that a talking points memo went out from the Israeli embassy or some other locale, because in a matter of days, many of the usual suspects—Daniel Pipes, Stephen Schwartz, Michael Rubin, and Victor Davis Hanson, not to mention the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)—all came out with the identical, preposterous notion that Turkey is the perp and Israel the victim.
On June 8th JINSA issued Report #995, claiming, “Turkish government support for the IHH ship in the Gaza flotilla is now well understood and the anti-Semitic ravings of both official Turks and the Turkish media have made Turkey’s intention to split from Israel clear… The Hamas-Turkey relationship has grown as the Turkey-Palestinian Authority relationship, the relationship supported by the United States and the EU, has declined. Rapproachment with Russia, Syria and Iran, and the Iran-Brazil-Turkey enriched uranium deal are more of the same.”
The JINSA screed ends with a threat and a demand: “Turkey, as a member of NATO, is privy to intelligence information having to do with terrorism and with Iran. If Turkey finds its best friends to be Iran, Hamas, Syria and Brazil (look for Venezuela in the future) the security of that information (and Western technology in weapons in Turkey’s arsenal) is suspect. The United States should seriously consider suspending military cooperation with Turkey as a prelude to removing it from the organization.”
JINSA,
of course, includes such neocon icons as John Bolton, Dr. Stephen D. Bryen,
Michael Ledeen, Joshua Muravchik, Richard Perle, Stephen Solarz, Kenneth
Timmerman and R. James Woolsey.
The
same day that JINSA issued their pronouncement, Daniel Pipes delivered his
rant, proclaiming that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a more
dangerous radical Islamist than Osama bin-Laden. “If once only a small band of analysts
recognized Erdogan’s Islamist outlook, this fact has now become obvious for the
whole world to see. Erdogan has
gratuitously discarded his carefully crafted image of a pro-Western `Muslim
democrat,’ making it far easier to treat him as the Tehran-Damascus ally that
he is.”
And
what might be Pipes’ remedy? “Turkey has
returned to the center of the Middle East and the umma. But it no longer deserves full NATO
membership, and its opposition parties deserve support.”
Victor
Davis Hanson took an extra few days to come out both barrels blazing against
Turkey’s NATO membership. He penned a
June 10th National Review Online assault, “The New Wannabe
Ottomans,” blaming Turkey for allowing the flotilla of aid ships, bound for Gaza,
to leave from a Turkish port, thus forcing Israel to attack. But the diatribe was nothing new. He observed:
“Lately, Turkey has reached out to Iran and Syria. Both habitually sponsor Mideast terrorist
groups and have aided anti-American insurgents in Iraq. Turkey and Brazil recently offered to monitor
Iran’s nuclear program, sidestepping American and European efforts to step up
sanctions to stop Teheran’s plans for a bomb.
Erdogan’s anti-Israel attacks often match those of his newfound friends,
Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah’s Hasan Nasrallah… What is behind Turkey’s metamorphosis from a
staunch U.S. ally, NATO member, and quasi-European state into a sponsor of
Hamas, ally of theocratic Iran, and fellow traveler with terrorist-sponsoring Syria?”
Hanson’s
answer: “Turkey senses a growing
distance between Tel Aviv and Washington, and thus an opportunity to step into
the gulf to unite Muslims against Israel and win influence in the Arab world.”
And
guess what Hanson poses as the solution:
“Turkey’s new ambitions and ethnic and religious chauvinism are
antithetical to its NATO membership. The
U.S. should not be treaty-bound to defend a de facto ally of Iran or Syria,
which are both eager to obtain nuclear weapons… In response, the U.S. should
make contingency plans to relocate from its huge Air Force base at Incirlik… If
Erdogan is intent on a suicidal reinvention of Turkey into a pale imitation of
Ottoman hegemony, we can at least take steps to ensure that it will be his
mess—and none of our own.”
If
I didn’t know something about the neoconservatives, and their worship of the
late Leo Strauss, I would be a bit more stunned by the sheer chutzpah of their
deceptions and sophistic defenses of Israel’s baffling and indefensible
actions. But I am not shocked, having
lived through the neocon’s golden age during Bush and Cheney. We are still paying the price for their
“Clean Break” with reality. Let us just
hope that between Bob Gates, Jim Jones, and Hillary Clinton, they have enough
of a sense of humor, and enough of an appreciation of the Israeli
disinformation machinery, that they won’t be lured into buying these tall tales
and doing something foolish.
NS72,
As a Turk, why do you want Incirlik closed and Turkey kicked out of NATO?
Posted by: J | 17 June 2010 at 12:43 PM
NEOCONS preparing the political offensive against Turkey, phase 2:
http://weeklystandard.com/articles/turkey-policy
Posted by: clifford kiracofe | 19 June 2010 at 06:54 AM
If it were possible for the majority of the commenters here to step back and view the posts objectively, they would see a clear, disturbing and sometimes poorly hidden under-current of Jew Hatred. I'm not surprised, coming from the craven left.
I look forward to hearing your deafening silence as Turkey falls to the califate, and all the horrors that come with that.
Posted by: Neil | 13 September 2014 at 02:55 PM
All
Neil writes from a DHS mail account. So, either this is yet another case of unauthorized use or we maybe are under surveillance. Harper would be amused to know that he is a "Jew Hater." pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 13 September 2014 at 03:21 PM
I am authorized a lunch.
Posted by: Neil | 13 September 2014 at 04:17 PM
Neil,
So disagreement with the policies of the government of Israel is Jew hatred? When did that get legislated into being?
Posted by: Fred | 13 September 2014 at 04:22 PM
Neil
At our expense, so that you can attack us for using
our Bill of Rights? who the hell are you, you bureaucrat bastard? You dare to call me craven" Let us compare records in defense of the republic. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 13 September 2014 at 04:23 PM
Fred
He must be one of those dual nationals , making his money off Uncle Sam but is an Israel firster. G-d knows where lies his loyalty :-)
Nice Anglicized first name: Neil
Posted by: The Beaver | 13 September 2014 at 05:20 PM