Former Bush Administration Official Heads Up Latest Astroturf Group Pushing For Attack on Iran

No sooner did I write about the growth industry in astroturf groups promoting a U.S. or Israeli military attack on Iran than a new one sprung up on CNN.  Surprisingly, the partisan connections behind this group are so thinly veiled that a two-minute examination of their domain name registration uncovered ties to the Republican Party and the George W. Bush administration.

The new group, The Emergency Committee for Israel, appears to have made its public debut on July 6th when Campbell Brown—who ironically is married to Dan Senor, who serves on the four-man board of the neoconservative The Foreign Policy Initiative—hosted Noah Pollak, its “executive director,” to discuss Obama’s recent meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the threat allegedly posed by Iran’s nuclear program.  A transcript of their discussion can be found here.

A look at the group’s website tells us that it’s “coming soon,” but an examination of the domain name’s registration is quite telling.

The domain is registered to:

Hoover, Margaret
Margaret Hoover & Associates, LLC
590 Madison Avenue
2104
New York City, New York 10022
United States
(212) 521-4181 Fax –

Margaret Hoover’s bio at Margaret Hoover & Associates reads:

Ms. Hoover held a White House appointment in the Bush Administration where she served as the Associate Director in the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.  A veteran of two Presidential efforts, Ms. Hoover worked on President Bush’s re-election campaign and for Rudy Giuliani’s presidential bid.  Other political experience includes working in the White House Office of Management and Budget, as a senior adviser to the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and deputy press secretary for Florida Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart on Capitol Hill.

Hoover’s front man, Pollak, who writes for Commentary Magazine and has served as the assistant editor of the Jerusalem-based, Shalem Center’s Azure magazine, made it abundantly clear where his, and presumably Hoover’s, political views on Israel and Iran lie.

Pollak repeated the talking points that the recent meeting  between Obama and Netanyahu represented the end of the White House’s “tough love” toward Israel and suggested that the Palestinian leadership’s “fractiousness and powerlessness [!]” made progress toward any kind of peace process unlikely.

On Iran, Pollak went straight for the recent money quote delivered last week by the UAE ambassador to the US:

BROWN: Noah, Netanyahu did seem pleased with the administration’s efforts to go after Iran’s nuclear program. In his words, he said these efforts have teeth, they bite. But are the U.S. and Israel really, in your view, on the same page when it comes to Iran?

POLLAK: I would suspect not, although this is one of those issues where there is a huge amount of private discussion that goes on, although it was very interesting to see today in a story that just came out the ambassador of to [sic] the UAE came out and openly advocated for military attacks on the Iranian nuclear program.

So, I think there is a developing consensus that something needs to be done and that it would be very, very bad if the Iranians went nuclear.

The UAE foreign minister has said that the ambassador’s comments were taken out of context and didn’t represent the views of his government, but that hasn’t stopped various foreign policy hawks from jumping on the remarks as a green light from the Arab world for a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

It’s pretty clear that Pollak and Hoover, along with the people behind Keep Israel Safe and Stop Iran Now, are part of the extensive neoconservative echo chamber which seeks to create the appearance of a diverse coalition of grassroots groups calling on the US to prevent Iran from going nuclear by any means necessary.

Things as simple as looking at the registration on a domain name reveal that these groups are part of an intensely partisan (both Republican and Likudist) campaign to push the U.S. into a military conflict with Iran. And CNN, which just last week summarily fired a senior editor for a tweet praising the late Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, is amplifying their message. (It’s worth noting that David Schenker, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near Policy, also praised Fadlallah as “the most credible moral, political, and theological alternative to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militia,” arguing that the U.S. will regret his passing. It’s okay when an affiliate of the Israel Lobby says it; but it’s something else for someone in the mainstream media.)

Eli Clifton

Eli Clifton reports on money in politics and US foreign policy. He is a co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Eli previously reported for the American Independent News Network, ThinkProgress, and Inter Press Service.

SHOW 24 COMMENTS

24 Comments

  1. Only a child could believe that Iran doesn’t want a nuclear weapon, or at least the capability to swiftly go nuclear. But so what? Deterrence works. An A-bomb in Tehran’s hands does not mean “a million dead Jews.” That’s ridiculous.

    I still don’t see a US-Iran war in the cards. I see a possible Israeli move in 2011, especially if the Obama is severly weakened by the 2010 elections. But a US war on Iran would be too costly. So long as Gates is SecDef. it won;t happen. And it probably won’t happen after he leaves.

    The Israel Lobby (made up of Jews and non-Jews) has enormous influence over US policy. However, to say that “. . . the USA . . . is under Jewish control” is more than an exaggeration. It’s an invitation to Jew-baiting. This site would be perfectly justified if it chose not to publish such remarks.

  2. Ben Wrote: “Everyone seems to forget about the other mideast “brothers” who are scared !@#$less of Iran getting a nuke.” ONLY other ME countries aren’t worried about Iran, they keep saying this, but the Zionists keep up the self serving lie.

    “Afghanistan has 3 trillion in natural resources. The United State sure could use a shipping route. Hmmmm…….Iran looks like a cozy place since Afg is land locked.” UMMM, did you miss that the US was snubbed throughout Iraq? We were resented and got no oil contracts, save in Kurdistan. Further, I don’t know where you’ve been but shipping routes aren’t exactly open like the Autobahn.

    “But then you have Iran chanting death to America every Friday in rallies for the last 25+ years and wants to wipe Israel off the map and states this publically.” Iran has never threatened to wipe Israel off the map. Again, you might check what Juan Cole says about this over on his informed comment blog. Your interpretation comes from MEMRI, an Israeli (Likud) group.

    I don’t know if you care, are earnest or are just a sophist. But, your facts are poorly chosen and reveal you’re either a fool or taking notes from fools.

  3. R. Berkely: As a fellow marxist, I would like to point out that you are too focused on one facet of the puzzle. There is not one conspiracy, but many many many small ones, each fighting for power. Of course there is a neo-con conspiracy aiming for war, but there are many other conspiracies in the world. Israel just went up against the turkish one, par example. Petraeus and his mil. boys are firmly not controlled by anyone, ironicaly the US armed forces may save democracy through lobbying.

  4. You must read Eric A Brill’s investigative report on Iran’s 2009 election….must….it is shockingly revealing

    Harold Pinter, the Noble Laureate in his historical acceptance message said something like “..how many women and children do you have to kill to earn the label of a war criminal…”

    How many grand significant and decisive LIES the neocons should spread to deserve the label of “enemy of humanity”

    Iraqi WMD, Iraqi mobile chemical labs, uranium ore from niger, ties of Al-Queda and Saddam.. etc etc……..

    Those lies were instrumental for taking US to war with Iraq.

    Who are these ruthless warmongers who never apologized for their lies…..who never show any sign of remorse for grand historic tragedy of war with Iraq.

    Now their biggest lie ever, on Iran, is getting exposed by American researchers.. Read this a 38 page report by Eric A Brill http://iran2009presidentialelection.blogspot.com/ or watch the videos of the statisticians of University of Maryland (WPO) in this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKG-hUyk1_0

    In that video notice how a Washington Post top statistician deceptively tries to belittle the professional assertions of the WPO statisticians when he says “ …in covering the Iranian election results we concluded there are many signs of manipulations and outright fraud in Iran’s disputed election results…” Concluded? Outright fraud? How come he didn’t provide a single evidence of such “distinct” and very “consequential” accusation?

    It is like evil aliens are indoctrinating the sheeple to destroy themselves.

    Iranians (and many others) are doomed ….sanctions are acts of war….can’t you see another “shock and awe” on the near horizons?

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