Probably the most controversial claim in my work with John
Mearsheimer on the Israel lobby is our argument that it played a key role in
the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. Even some readers who were generally sympathetic to our overall position
found that claim hard to accept, and some left-wing critics accused us of
letting Bush and Cheney off the hook or of ignoring the importance of other
interests, especially oil. Of
course, Israel’s defenders in the lobby took issue even more strenuously,
usually by mischaracterizing our arguments and ignoring most (if not all) of
the evidence we presented.
So I hope readers will forgive me if I indulge today in a
bit of self-promotion, or more precisely, self-defense. This week, yet another piece of
evidence surfaced that suggests we were right all along (HT to Mehdi Hasan at
the New Statesman… >>>
