http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0326-08.htm

Published on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 by the lndependent/UK

US General with Iraq Role Linked to Hardline Israelis

The retired general named as civilian governor of occupied Iraq has visited
Israel on a trip paid for by a right-wing group that strongly backs an
American military presence in the Middle East.

Lieutenant-General Jay Garner, the co-ordinator for civilian administration
in Iraq, put his name in October 2000 to a statement blaming Palestinians
for the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence and saying that a strong
Israel was an important security asset to the United States.

The statement was sponsored by the Jewish Institute for National Security
Affairs (Jinsa), which pays for retired US military officers to visit Israel
for security briefings by Israeli officials and politicians. Richard Perle,
one of the architects of the US invasion of Iraq, is a member of the
institute's board of advisers, as was Vice-President Dick Cheney before he
took office in 2001.

Lt-Gen Garner went on Jinsa's annual trip to Israel in 1998. Two years
later, he and 42 other senior retired officers said: "We are appalled by the
Palestinian political and military leadership that teaches children the
mechanics of war while filling their heads with hate. The security of the
state of Israel is a matter of great importance to US policy in the Middle
East and eastern Mediterranean, as well as around the world. A strong Israel
is an asset that American military planners and political leaders can rely
on."

c 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd