Nadler: Questions About War in Iraq Cannot ‘Fairly Involve Israel’

WASHINGTON – A New York lawmaker has distanced himself from remarks made by a former CIA analyst at a Democratic-only hearing to examine a set of British documents that suggest members of Prime Minister Blair’s government had reservations about the Bush administration’s case for war.In a press release sent out Friday, Rep. Jerold Nadler, a Democrat from New York, said: “There are serious questions to be answered about the decision to go to war in Iraq – and Congress is right to be asking them – but none of those questions fairly involve Israel. There is no place in this debate for maligning Israel and defaming our support of her ongoing struggle for security and peace.”Mr. Nadler was referring to remarks made by a former CIA agent, Ray McGovern, at Thursday’s hearing at a Capitol Hill basement on what have become known as the “Downing Street Memos.”At the hearing, which purported to delve into the reasons behind President Bush’s toppling of Saddam Hussein, Mr. McGovern said America went to war so that America and Israel could “dominate the Middle East.” When asked what those reasons were, he used the acronym O.I.L.: “O for oil, I for Israel, and L for leveraging our land bases,” he said.Mr. McGovern is a founder of the organization Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. In 2003, the organization drafted an open letter to Mr. Bush that called on him to ask Vice President Cheney to resign and appoint his father’s national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, to oversee an independent investigation into flawed intelligence that led to the war.Mr. Nadler is not the only person who has distanced himself from Mr. McGovern’s remarks.The Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean, posted a statement on the committee’s Web site Friday that said, “As for any inferences that the United States went to war so Israel could ‘dominate’ the Middle East or that Israel was in any way behind the horrific September 11 attacks on America, let me say unequivocally that such statements are nothing but vile, anti-Semitic rhetoric.”The former Vermont governor was referring to literature passed out at his party’s headquarters to supporters watching the Downing Street memo hearings there. Space was limited at the basement hearing.The ranking democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, held the hearings on Thursday to examine whether pre-war intelligence was “fixed” to justify the Iraq war. In September, Mr. Conyers called for hearings to determine whether senior Pentagon officials had a role in funneling information to Israel through analyst Lawrence Franklin.Mr. Franklin was indicted last month by a grand jury in Alexandria, Va., for allegedly conspiring to hand classified information to an Israeli diplomat with whom he was not authorized to meet.In a letter to the Washington Post, Mr. Conyers said he did not associate himself with the anti-Israel remarks associated with Mr. McGovern: “I do not agree with, support, or condone any comments asserting Israeli control over U.S. policy, and I find any allegation that Israel is trying to dominate the world or had anything to do with the September 11 tragedy disgusting and offensive.”

Nadler: Questions About War in Iraq Cannot ‘Fairly Involve Israel’

More from the New York Sun

Airports Promote Food Banks, Gift Cards for Unpaid TSA Workers as Spring Break Begins

Michigan Synagogue Attacker Is Naturalized Citizen Whose Hezbollah-Linked Relatives Died in Lebanon Airstrike

Religious Man Sues Los Angeles County for Not Letting Him Work From Home in June To Avoid ‘Pride’ Flag, Celebrations

Lew Lehrman: Prophet of Honest Money

Jack Schlossberg’s Congressional Hopes Imperiled as Bloomberg Endorses Nadler Protégé, Micah Lasher

Blue States, With Taxes on High Earners, Commit Political and Economic Suicide

Frustrated Fani Willis Denounces GOP ‘Clown Show’ Even as She Suffers Setback in Effort To Avoid Paying Trump’s Legal Bills

Democrats’ Calls To Tax the Rich Overlook Urgent Need To Tame Reckless Government Overspending