Failed Irish politician pushes agenda shaped by Israel’s spies

Lucinda Creighton turned to lobbying after she was rejected by Ireland’s voters. 

Brian Lawless ZUMA Press

Every journalist should be jealous of Julian Assange.

We should not envy, of course, how the WikiLeaks founder is undergoing a show trial in London or how the Washington elite wants him to die behind bars.

Rather, we should be jealous of how he and his team have unearthed more facts about US imperialism in the 21st century than any other media organization.

Disgracefully, contributors to supposedly serious publications like The Guardian have mocked Assange and effectively applauded his tormentors. As well as doing a disservice to their profession, those “journalists” have conveniently forgotten recent history.

Not long ago, The Guardian was happy to team up with Assange and publish his scoops. One of the numerous US diplomatic cables which entered the public domain as a result deserves more attention than it has received.

It summarizes a two-hour meeting held on 26 July 2007 between Frances Townsend – at the time the “homeland security” assistant to President George W. Bush – and Meir Dagan, then head of Israel’s spy agency Mossad.

Nuclear-armed hypocrisy

During that chat, Dagan acknowledged that Iran had not yet mastered uranium enrichment. Sanctions imposed on the Iranians with the ostensible aim of thwarting their nuclear program meant “they are paying a heavy political price (sanctions) for something they have yet to achieve,” the cable stated.

The hypocrisy involved here is breath-taking.

The US is the only country to have ever dropped nuclear bombs. Israel introduced nuclear weapons to the Middle East, thereby imperilling world peace.

What right did representatives of these two highly dangerous states have to wage economic warfare against Iran over weapons that – by Mossad’s own assessment – it was a long way from developing?

Dagan – who died in 2016 – kept pushing the US to adopt a belligerent stance toward Tehran.

His stint running Mossad ended at the end of 2010. In 2012, he joined United Against a Nuclear Iran.

Frances Townsend remains on the advisory board of that lobby group alongside another former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo and the notoriously bloodthirsty John Bolton.

Townsend is also a leading member of the Counter Extremism Project – a partner organization of United Against a Nuclear Iran.

These groups may have solicited and obtained funds from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, evidence gathered by the investigative reporter Eli Clifton indicates.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are anti-democratic states allied to the US, which are also being courted by Israel.

Crossing the Atlantic

Like quite a few other outfits with a pro-Israel agenda, the Counter Extremism Project has built up a presence on both sides of the Atlantic. It has tasked Lucinda Creighton, a former minister in the Irish government, with managing its relations with the EU institutions.

Creighton is one of those politicians who became professional lobbyists after experiencing rejection at the ballot box.

Previously a lawmaker for the right-wing Fine Gael, she quit that party in 2013 because she disagreed with how it moved toward legalizing abortion. Creighton subsequently set up her own party, Renua.

It failed to win any seats in a 2016 general election and within a few months of that defeat, Creighton had stepped down as Renua leader.

The Counter Extremism Project has evidently been an important source of revenue for her since then. Together with appointing Creighton as its Brussels representative, the Counter Extremism Project is one of the main clients for her firm Vulcan Consulting.

Creighton has lately been urging the EU to treat Hizballah as a pariah. While the EU has placed Hizballah’s military wing on its terrorist blacklist in 2013, it has not done so for the political wing.

Creighton wants that distinction to be dropped.

In making that case, she has underscored – perhaps inadvertently – that she no longer feels encumbered by the policies of Ireland’s foreign ministry, where she used to work. Ireland is among the EU members that has favored keeping the communication lines to Hizballah open.

Extremist mindset

An opinion piece that Creigton recently signed claimed that Hizballah has “ravaged the region politically, economically and violently for decades.”

That description would be more accurately applied to Israel. Hizballah’s resistance activities are, by contrast, a direct response to Israeli aggression. The article which Creighton signed conveniently ignored how Hizballah was actually formed because Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982.

The Counter Extremism Project has whitewashed Israel’s 2006 attack on Lebanon.

The group’s website suggests that Israel had no option than to commit massacres. All the Lebanese suffering was due to Hizballah’s “use of civilian shields,” it alleges, citing a report by the American Jewish Congress, a pro-Israel organization.

Israel’s destruction of entire neighborhoods – on the pretext that Hizballah fighters were based in them – was deliberate. The thinking behind such destruction has been dubbed the “Dahiya doctrine” after an area near Beirut that Israel flattened.

Israel has resorted to the same kind of tactics when bombarding Gaza and has continuously threatened Lebanon with further offensives. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, even issued one such threat a few hours before the massive explosion in Beirut last month.

Who are the real extremists?

It takes an extremist mindset to try and justify the mass slaughter of civilians. Israel’s political and military establishment is full of people with that mindset.

Just don’t expect them to be condemned by the Counter Extremism Project.

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Comments

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Once more, a fine sounding name for a sleazy organisation. The Israelis are masters at this. Their capacity to manipulate world opinion is stunning. Take the egregious example of Lyndon B Johnson and the USS Liberty. The Israelis succeeded in blackmailing a US president. He rolled over. The news blackout and cover-up were astonishing. Just as alarming is the hold the Israelis now have over the UK Labour Party. And what all this serves is the doctrine of violence which brought Israel into being and keeps the Palestinians held in a condition of underdevelopment and oppression. Extremism is the stock-in-trade of the Israelis. Hence, their attribution of it to everyone who takes them on. It's the ancient trick of accusing your enemies of what you are guilty of. Of course, lucre is always crucial. The Israeli know how to use money to buy loyalty and influence. And democracy veils her face.

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Creighton was always on the far right of FG that incorporated the Irish fascist "Blueshirts" party,so it comes as no surprise.Vile woman.

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Israel via it's operators in the USA and the UK has a strangle hold on the media and is feeding their populations with lies and propaganda. This excellent documentary, 'The Occupation of the American Mind', should be seen more widely https://vimeo.com/277492186