Right Woos Left Over War Issue by Chip Berlet Political Research Associates 122090 As the

Right Woos Left Over War Issue by Chip Berlet Political Research Associates 12/20/90 As the movement against war in the Middle East builds, a handful of far-right groups have begun to seek alliances with liberal, progressive, and left antiwar groups, leading some activists to fear that fragile coalitions could be damaged by the presence of such forces, especially if they press their paranoid conspiracist and sometimes anti-Jewish theories. The issue of anti-Jewish rhetoric over the Gulf crisis first surfaced in September as part of a long simmering feud within the political right in the U.S. Ultra-conservative columnist Pat Buchanan fired the first salvo to reach the mainstream media when he declared on the McLaughlin Group TV roundtable program that the two groups most favoring war in the Middle East were "the Israeli Defense Ministry and its amen chorus in the United States." columnist A.M. Rosenthal charged those comments reflected anti-Semitism, to which Buchanan retorted that Rosenthal had made a "contract hit" on him in collusion with The Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'Rith. ADL is a Jewish human rights group often allied with the neo-conservative movement, and is an ardent supporter of Israeli government policies. Author Sara Diamond, who covered the Buchanan/Rosenthal feud for the progressive monthly "Z Magazine" says "the Buchanan forces have explicitly rejected coalition with the left on the issue of opposing intervention in the Gulf, but a handful of elements of the opportunistic right are seeking these coalitions. One can only speculate that they want to recruit people into their own organizations and then leave the left discredited," Says Diamond. It appears that most persons in the antiwar movement are unaware of the backgrounds and ideology of the several rightist groups seeking alliances, and merely are hoping to build a broad based alliance. Still, the issue of an undercurrent of anti-Jewish bigoty among a handful of pro- Palestinian and Black nationalist groups who work with the left has been under discussion for several years. According to progressive author Russ Bellant who writes investigative critiques of New Right and far right political groups, this is not the first time rightist groups with an anti- Jewish agenda have tried to forge alliances with left activists or researchers. Bellant says he has been sharply critical of other authors who have recommended he seek information from LaRouchian intelligence sources or persons close to the Liberty Lobby or other far right groups. "I think you discredit yourself when you work with these bigoted forces." says Bellant, "and the mere association tends to lend credence to these rightist groups because people figure the group can't be that bad if a respected figure on the left is associated with them." The attempts by the right to work around antiwar issues is varied by both locale and method. At Merrimack college in Massachusetts the ultra-conservative John Birch Society has distributed antiwar flyers. The Birch Society has in recent years tried to avoid anti-Jewish rhetoric, instead basing its theories on the belief that all major world powers are controlled by a covert group of "Insiders," such as members of the Trilateral Commission, who are seen as currently are manufacturing the crisis in the Middle East. Author Holly Sklar, who has written progressive critiques of the Trilateralists, warns antiwar activists that "there is a big difference between understanding the influence of the Trilateral Commission on world affairs and the paranoid right-wing fantasy that the Trilateralists and their allies are an omnipotent cabal controlling the world. It's important for people to base their political decisions on facts, not lazy catch-all conspiracy theories." Persons aligned with Liberty Lobby have circulated antiwar and pro-isolationist literature, including the group's weekly newspaper , at several antiwar rallies. The Spotlight cheers the activities of U.S. neo-nazis and skinheads but masks its anti-Jewish stance behind codes words such as "dual- loyalist." At the recent 35th Anniversary Liberty Lobby convention, there was considerable antiwar sentiment expressed by speakers who tied the U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia to pressure from Israel and its intelligence agency, Mossad. (No matter what actual political involvement forces in Israel may have in shaping the current situation, the history of Liberty Lobby is to circulate lurid anti-Jewish propaganda not principled factual criticisms). At the conference Retired Air Force Colonel and intelligence specialist Fletcher Prouty released a new edition of his book on CIA intrigue, "The Secret Team," and moderated a panel where much-decorated Vietnam veteran "Bo" Gritz wove a paranoid conspiracy theory which explained the U.S. confrontation with Iraq as a product of the same "Secret Team" outlined by Prouty. Gritz's charges have also been featured by Birch Society publications. The far rightists who adhere to the Prouty/Gritz thesis agree with the left analysis that the CIA tolerates or encourages drug smuggling by its operatives and allies, but see the situation controlled by Mossad. The Israeli connection to Iran Contra-gate was major reason the Prouty/Gritz crowd condemned Oliver North's operation, another point of alliance with the left. Other conference speakers and moderators included Dick Gregory, whose anti-government rhetoric finds fertile soil on the far right, and attorney Mark Lane who has drifted toward far-right anti-Jewish conspiracy theories in recent years. The biggest push into antiwar organizing by rightists appears to be from followers of neo-fascist Lyndon LaRouche. The LaRouchians generally organize under their front groups such as Food for Peace, Schiller Institute, and . During December LaRouche's followers held vigils on a number of campuses to build support for a touted "National Teach-In to Stop the War" held December 15-16 in Chicago. The Chicago conference titled "Development is the New Name for Peace," turned out to be the annual LaRouche-sponsored Food for Peace conference which drew over 350 attendees, close to one third of whom were African-Americans. Only three dozen students were sprinkled among the crowd which drew persons from California, Oregon, North & South Dakota, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nebraska, and the Canadian province of Quebec. Many in the audience were farmers. While the number of students was small, the emphasis on the situation in the Middle East was not neglected. LaRouche regulars Mel Klenetsky and Nancy Spannaus moderated the program which included a videotaped message and live phone patch from the cultural attache for the Iraqi embassy, Dr. Mayser Al Mallah. The LaRouche organization has maintained ties with the Iraqis for many years according to several former LaRouchian intelligence gatherers who have left the group. A representative from Minister Louis Farrakahn's Nation of Islam, Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammad, also spoke at the LaRouche conference. Although Farrakahn denies he is a bigot, he has in fact made a number of statements concerning Jews over the past few years that reflect disdain and prejudice. Since early November, the LaRouchians have appeared at antiwar rallies and meetings in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Maryland, and New York and elsewhere. At the University of Ottowa in Canada, LaRouche's Schiller Institute co-sponsored an antiwar event with an organization of middle eastern students. At the October 20 antiwar demonstration in New York City the Schiller Institute had 4 people carrying a large banner and a small group of supporters organized in a contingent. The presence of LaRouchians, as well as other anti-Jewish bigots in a St. Louis antiwar coalition has also caused consternation, especially among members of New Jewish Agenda a group which supports both a democratic Israel and Palestinian rights. According to one flyer issued by the LaRouchians, "If war is to come, it will be the result of deliberate 'geopolitical' plotting by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Lord Carrington, and other London friends of Henry Kissinger." Over the years LaRouchian literature has maintained that British political leadership is really controlled by Jewish banking families such as the Rothschilds, a standard anti-Jewish theory that influenced bigots from Henry Ford to Adolph Hitler, among others. In their book "Dope, Inc: Britain's Opium War against the U.S." first published in 1978, the LaRouchians assert that the British oligarchy is in league with Jewish bankers to control drug smuggling into the U.S. Arch-rightist and former U.S. intelligence operative the late Michell WerBell said the book was of "outstanding importance," because it told "the history of a political strike against the United States in an undeclared war being waged by Great Britain." The LaRouche organization and its various front groups are a fascist political movement. The group's ultimate leader, Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., is currently in jail because his fundraisers sold unsecured securities to the elderly and because LaRouche paid no taxes while living in a Virginia mansion. LaRouche was sentenced in January 1989 to 15 years in prison after a federal court found LaRouche and six codefendants guilty of a mail fraud conspiracy related to fundraising. LaRouche was also convicted of tax evasion. On appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court let the convictions stand without comment. In the early 1970's LaRouche's thugs roamed the streets of New York, Philadelphia and other cities with clubs and chains beating up trade union leaders, activists, socialists and communists. At the time they proclaimed themselves leftists, but by 1977 the organization had swung to the far right. LaRouche's lawyers have repeatedly sued activist critics who describe him as a fascistic anti-Jewish bigot, cult leader, neo- Nazi, racist, sexist, homophobe, crook and demagogue. LaRouche has lost every case. One jury in Virginia found that calling LaRouche a "small-time Hitler" was not defamatory and then awarded damages to the news organization sued by LaRouche. Experienced antiwar activists warn that working with the LaRouchians and other far-right and bigoted forces will only discredit serious work towards peace in the Middle East. Jon Hillson, a seasoned peace activist based in Ohio, reports LaRouche organizers at events sponsored by the Cleveland Committee Against War in the Persian Gulf. At one meeting "Two people went through the crowd handing out LaRouche's ," says Hillson. "I was shocked, but then I realized most students had never heard of LaRouche," says Hillson. "I would urge people to disavow any collaboration with them because of their past ties to government agencies, disruptive past, and their homophobic, racist, sexist, and anti-Semitic agenda." Hillson notes that it will take patience to explain to new activists why a broad-based coalition should exclude anyone, but that the task of educating people about why coalitions with fascists should be rejected is not one to be ignored. Chicago antiwar organizer Alynn Romo in Chicago reports their group has "asked the LaRouchians not to participate when they have appeared at our demonstrations." According to Romo, "The LaRouche people called us several times. They told us Margaret Thatcher was behind the situation in Iraq and that she put George Bush up to it." Romo adds that "they also said they were working with Ramsey Clark as a way to get us to cooperate." A former U.S. attorney general, Mr. Clark has represented the LaRouchians in several court battles and recently began speaking at their conferences. Dropping Clark's name is a tactic frequently used by LaRouche organizers to gain access to student government meetings where they encourage the student leaders join their "coalition." The LaRouchians had already established friendly relations with some left groups over the issue of anti- interventionism, especially around the U.S. invasion of Panama, an issue that Ramsey Clark has stressed. LaRouche organizers were involved in an international anti-interventionist conference held in Panama after the invasion, and have worked in coalitions around the issue ever since. The LaRouchians were early critics of the Oliver North network, and in the early 1980's, LaRouche intelligence operatives such as Jeffrey Steinberg maintained close ties to the National Security Council. Over the past three years, LaRouche intelligence operatives have also supplied and in some cases traded information about government misconduct with researchers and journalists on the left. For more information about the history and politics of the LaRouchians, contact the following groups: Political Research Associates, Suite 205, 678 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139. ($1.50 for 12 page report on LaRouche). Center for Democratic Renewal, P.O. Box 50469, Atlanta, GA, 30302. ($3.00 for packet on LaRouche & Food for Peace). ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== <<<< via P_news >>>> Because Chip Berlet dares to accuse some on the Left of falling into bed with the Right, for using their sources, and thus giving credibility to their causes, he as been accused by that same Left of being a stooge for the New World Order. Makes me wonder at least about those doing the accusing. Chip Berlet, who is published frequently in Z is a credit to the Left and a force for keeping the Left honest and moral. Keep up the good work Chip. Follows are his credentials as enumerated by him on Peacenet as he answered one of those who attempted unsuccessfully to destroy his credibility..... Hank ============================================================ /* Written 5:30 pm Oct 30, 1991 by nlgclc in cdp:christic.news */ /* ---------- "INTRODUCTION TO CAUSES & CURES" ---------- */ Shucks, I'm flattered. My highly visible means of support is a full-time job at Political Research Associates, a non-profit institute. The director is Dr. Jean Hardisty, a political scientist and former member of the Ms. Foundation for Women board of director. She currently serves on the board of the Massachusetts Civil Liberties Union. I have written articles on police and government misconduct and fascism for twenty years. The bibliography I co-produced with Linda Lotz is distributed by Phil Agee on his speaking tours. I am secretary of the National Lawyers Guild Civil Liberties Committee and founding co-editor of Police Misconduct and Civil Rights Law Report, the leading newsletter in the legal community for persons litigating against police abuse and government intelligence abuse. I spent three years as the lead paralegal investigator on the ACLU lawsuit in Chicago against the FBI, CIA, military intelligence, the Chicago police Red Squad, and right-wing paramilitary groups. I am currently writing a book with Holly Sklar on U.S. foreign policy, covert action and foreign elections. I was one of the people who worked with Brian Glick as a commentator on his manuscript "War at Home" regarding attempts to disrupt the left movement. My articles have appeared in Liberation News Service, WIN magazine, UTNE Reader, the Guardian (NY), In These Times, Greenpeace magazine, the Humanist, and twenty-odd other publications. Your charges are petulant, inaccurate and childish. Anyone with a library card can check my credentials. While I have continuously updated and revised my articles on the subject of fascism wooing the left, I have retracted nothing. The LaRouchians had penetrated the antiwar movement. Instead of whining, several leaders of the recent antiwar efforts, including Ms. Gemma, have given me strong statements warning of attempts by LaRouchians and other fascists to penetrate the left. They have acted in a principled manner. You have not. Your statements are malicious and frankly defamatory. Let's stick to the issue at hand and debate it honestly rather than providing textbook examples of FLAMING! If I am wrong, prove me wrong, don't stick out your tongues and natter. Join us in the soon-to-be-renamed PUBLIC.EYE conference (old pn.publiceye) for a debate on these issues. -Chip Berlet P.S. If you think Peacenet is "Pissnet" then why not log off forever and let us Piss Activists carry on our debate in a less obnoxious manner? ** End of text from cdp:justice.us ** ============================================================ [See also previous postings e.g. Washington Report by Hank Roth, BARF by Hank Roth, and Right Woos Left by Chip Berlet and Right/Left by Chip Berlet] RIGHT WING GROUPS ATTEMPT TO ORGANIZE ANTIWAR SENTIMENT by Chip Berlet Political Research Associates Distributed by Investigative News Features 1/4/91 The attempts by the political right to organize around antiwar issues is varied by both locale and method, but the situation is causing problems across the country, especially attempts by followers of the distinctively distorted neo-Nazi Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. to forge ties with liberal and left antiwar coalitions. For the most part, the political right is trying to build antiwar sentiment without seeking coalition with the left. Such was the case at Merrimack college in Massachusetts and at a downtown Boston antiwar rally where the ultra-conservative John Birch Society distributed antiwar flyers. Another rightist group organizing unilaterally is the Liberty Lobby. Persons associated with Liberty Lobby have circulated antiwar and pro-isolationist literature, including their weekly newspaper , at several antiwar rallies. The Spotlight cheers the activities of U.S. neo-nazis and skinheads but masks its anti-Jewish stance behind codes words such as "dual-loyalist". The most disruptive push, however, is being caused by LaRouchians trying to penetrate grassroots antiwar groups. The LaRouchians generally organize under their front groups such as Food for Peace, Schiller Institute, and . Some local groups have admitted the LaRouchies, while others have not and some experienced antiwar activists warn that working with the LaRouchians and other far-right and bigoted forces will only discredit serious work towards peace in the Middle East. Jon Hillson, a seasoned peace activist based in Ohio, reports LaRouche organizers at events sponsored by the Cleveland Committee Against War in the Persian Gulf. At one meeting "Two people went through the crowd handing out LaRouche's ," says Hillson. "I was shocked, but then I realized most students had never heard of LaRouche," says Hillson. "I would urge people to disavow any collaboration with them because of their past ties to government agencies, disruptive past, and their homophobic, racist, sexist, and anti-Semitic agenda." Hillson notes that it will take patience to explain to new activists why a broad-based coalition should exclude anyone, but that the task of educating people about why coalitions with fascists should be rejected is not one to be ignored. In Los Angeles several LaRouchians were dismayed when the local antiwar coaliton pointed to their principles of unity which included a call for a sensible non-nuclear energy policy. The LaRouchians are vocal supporters of nuclear power. In Richmond, Virginia, local antiwar organizers simply kept shouting at the LaRouchians to "shut up" when they began their bizarre spiels and eventually they stopped coming to meetings. Chicago antiwar organizer Alynne Romo in Chicago reports their group has "asked the LaRouchians not to participate when they have appeared at our demonstrations." According to Romo, "The LaRouche people called us several times. They told us Margaret Thatcher was behind the situation in Iraq and that she put George Bush up to it." Romo adds that "they also said they were working with Ramsey Clark as a way to get us to cooperate." A former U.S. attorney general, Mr. Clark has represented the LaRouchians in several court battles and has spoken on their behalf at press conferences and an international human rights conference in Europe (See sidebar). Dropping Clark's name is a tactic frequently used by LaRouche organizers to gain access to antiwar coalitions. The use of Clark's name is very effectively at college student government meetings where the LaRouchians then encourage the student leaders to join their "coalition." One faculty member at a New York City campus received a threatening phone call from another LaRouche attorney saying he would be sued penniles unless he stopped describing LaRouche as an anti-Semite and fascist. Several African-Americans in St. Louis objecting to the presence of the Schiller Institute in a local antiwar coalition were also threatened with lawsuits for their characterisation of the LaRouche movement. Over the past few years the LaRouchians had already established tolerant if not friendly relations with some progressive groups (albeit covertly) over the issue of anti- interventionism, especially around the U.S. invasion of Panama, an issue that Ramsey Clark has stressed. LaRouche organizers were involved in an international anti-interventionist conference held in Panama after the invasion, and have worked behind the scenes around the issue ever since. For instance, Cecilio Simon, a Panamanian who is an administrator at the University of Panama, spoke along with Ramsey Clark and others at the April 6, 1990 "Voices from Panama" forum held at New York City's Town Hall auditorium. Simon later spoke at the LaRouchian "Fifth International Martin Luther King Tribunal of the Schiller Institute," on June 2, 1990 in Silver Spring, Maryland. The ties between LaRouche and Panama go back several years to when LaRouche intelligence collectors began trading tidbits of information with Noriega. Journalist William Branigin writing in the of June 18, 1988 noted that following his indictment for conspiracy in drug deals, that among Noriega's "few supporters in the United States is political extremist Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr., who has praised the general as a leader in the war on drugs." According to a January 1990 report, following Noriega's indictment, LaRouche sent him a cable. "I extend to you my apologies for what the government of the United States is doing to the Republic of Panama," wrote LaRouche in February 28, 1988 cable. "I reiterate to you what I have stated publicly. That the Reagan administration current policies towards Panama are absolutely an offense to your nation and all of Latin America." LaRouche wrote. LaRouche also has high praise for other dictators, including Ferdinand Marcos. The LaRouchians believe Marcos actually won his last election. It is easy to see what the LaRouchians see in Saddam Hussein and what their real motive is in opposing any war against Iraq. During December LaRouche's followers held vigils on a number of campuses to build support for a touted "National Teach-In to Stop the War" held December 15-16 in Chicago. The Chicago conference titled "Development is the New Name for Peace," turned out to be the annual LaRouche-sponsored Food for Peace conference which drew over 350 attendees, close to one third of whom were African-Americans. Only three dozen students were sprinkled among the crowd which drew persons from California, Oregon, North & South Dakota, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nebraska, and the Canadian province of Quebec. Many in the audience were farmers. While the number of students was small, the emphasis on the situation in the Middle East was not neglected. LaRouche regulars Mel Klenetsky and Nancy Spannaus moderated the program which included a videotaped message and live phone patch from the cultural attache for the Iraqi embassy, Dr. Mayser Al Mallah. The LaRouche organization has maintained ties with the Iraqi Ba'ath Party for many years according to several former LaRouchian intelligence gatherers who have left the group. A representative from Minister Louis Farrakahn's Nation of Islam, Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammad, also spoke at the LaRouche conference. Although Farrakahn denies he is a bigot, he has in fact made a number of statements concerning Jews over the past few years that reflect disdain and prejudice. Since early November, the LaRouchians have appeared at antiwar rallies and meetings in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Maryland, and New York and elsewhere. At the University of Ottowa in Canada, LaRouche's Schiller Institute co-sponsored an antiwar event with an organization of middle eastern students. At the October 20 antiwar demonstration in New York City the Schiller Institute had 4 people carrying a large banner and a small group of supporters organized in a contingent. In a flyer announcing a rally of the St. Louis African-American Anti-War/Peace Coalition for December 15, 1990, the LaRouchian Schiller Institute was listed as a coalition member. The presence of the LaRouchians, as well as other anti-Jewish bigots in a St. Louis antiwar coalition has also caused consternation, especially among members of New Jewish Agenda a group which which supports both a democratic Israel and Palestinian rights. Recently, there has been increasing political joint work between Farrakhan's Nation of Islam (NOI) and various LaRouchian front groups. The NOI's newspaper, ran an article on Panama from the LaRouchian magazine . Another intersection with the African-American community was support for former Washington D.C. mayor Marion Barry. During Barry's trial on drug charges the LaRouchians and NOI helped organize protests on behalf of Barry. The LaRouchians worked through the Rev. Jim Bevel, an African-American minister from Chicago with a reputation as an opportunist. Bevel regularly broke ranks and opposed the wishes of the coalition behind the late Mayor Harold Washington. Bevel frequently speaks at LaRouchian forums and writes a column for . While often described merely as conservative or extremist, the LaRouche organization and its various front groups are a fascist political movement. The group's ultimate leader, Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., is currently in jail because his fundraisers sold unsecured securities to the elderly and because LaRouche paid no taxes while living in a Virginia mansion. LaRouche was sentenced in January 1989 to 15 years in prison after a federal court found LaRouche and six codefendants guilty of a mail fraud conspiracy related to fundraising. LaRouche was also convicted of tax evasion. On appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court let the convictions stand without comment. LaRouche's lawyers have repeatedly sued activist critics who describe him as a fascistic anti-Jewish bigot, cult leader, neo- Nazi, racist, sexist, homophobe, crook and demagogue. LaRouche has lost every case. One jury in Virginia found that calling LaRouche a "small-time Hitler" was not defamatory and then awarded damages to the news organization sued by LaRouche. In the early 1970's LaRouche's thugs roamed the streets of New York, Philadelphia and other cities with clubs and chains beating up trade union leaders, activists, socialists and communists. At the time they proclaimed themselves leftists, but by 1977 the organization had swung to the far right. LaRouche himself has picked up support for his release from retired Air Force Colonel and intelligence specialist Fletcher Prouty, a leading light among ultra-right researchers. Prouty first published "The Secret Team" in 1973 where it was among the first wave of books to take a critical view of the role of the U.S. intelligence establishment in designing the failed counterinsurgency policies in Vietnam. Since writing the book, Prouty has drifted far to the right, as has another CIA critic, Victor Marchetti, and both now support anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. Not all rightist groups adhere to obviously anti-Jewish views. The John Birch Society has in recent years tried to avoid anti-Jewish rhetoric, instead basing its theories on the belief that all major world powers are controlled by a covert group of "Insiders," such as members of the Trilateral Commission, who are seen as currently are manufacturing the crisis in the Middle East. The LaRouchian antiwar theories parallel the themes promoted by Prouty, but in their typically distorted way. According to one flyer issued by the LaRouchians, "If war is to come, it will be the result of deliberate 'geopolitical' plotting by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Lord Carrington, and other London friends of Henry Kissinger." Over the years LaRouchian literature has maintained that British political leadership is really controlled by Jewish banking families such as the Rothschilds, a standard anti-Jewish theory that influenced bigots from Henry Ford to Adolph Hitler, among others. In their book "Dope, Inc: Britain's Opium War against the U.S." first published in 1978, the LaRouchians assert that the British oligarchy is in league with Jewish bankers to control drug smuggling into the U.S. Arch- rightist and former U.S. intelligence operative the late Michell WerBell said the book was of "outstanding importance," because it told "the history of a political strike against the United States in an undeclared war being waged by Great Britain." At the recent 35th Anniversary Liberty Lobby convention, there was considerable antiwar sentiment expressed by speakers who tied the U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia to pressure from Israel and its intelligence agency, Mossad. (No matter what actual political involvement forces in Israel may have in shaping the current situation, the history of Liberty Lobby is to circulate lurid anti-Jewish propaganda not principled factual criticisms). At the conference Fletcher Prouty released a new edition of his book on CIA intrigue, "The Secret Team," and moderated a panel where much-decorated Vietnam veteran "Bo" Gritz wove a paranoid conspiracy theory which explained the U.S. confrontation with Iraq as a product of the same "Secret Team" outlined by Prouty. Gritz's charges have also been featured by Birch Society publications. The far rightists who adhere to the Prouty/Gritz thesis agree with the left analysis that the CIA tolerates or encourages drug smuggling by its operatives and allies, but see the situation controlled by Mossad. The Israeli connection to Iran Contra-gate was major reason the Prouty/Gritz crowd condemned Oliver North's operation, another point of alliance with the left. Other conference speakers and moderators included Dick Gregory, whose anti-government rhetoric finds fertile soil on the far right, and attorney Mark Lane who has drifted toward far-right anti-Jewish conspiracy theories in recent years. The issue of anti-Jewish rhetoric over the Gulf crisis first surfaced in September as part of a long simmering feud within the political right in the U.S. Ultra-conservative columnist Pat Buchanan fired the first salvo to reach the mainstream media when he declared on the McLaughlin Group TV roundtable program that the two groups most favoring war in the Middle East were "the Israeli Defense Ministry and its amen chorus in the United States." columnist A.M. Rosenthal charged those comments reflected anti-Semitism, to which Buchanan retorted that Rosenthal had made a "contract hit" on him in collusion with The Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'Rith. ADL is a Jewish human rights group often allied with the neo-conservative movement, and is an ardent and uncritical supporter of Israeli government policies. Sara Diamond (who covered the Buchanan/Rosenthal feud in ) says "the Buchanan forces have explicitly rejected coalition with the left on the issue of opposing intervention in the Gulf," but it is elements of the opportunistic right that are seeking such coalitions. According to Diamond, "one can only speculate that they want to recruit people into their own organizations and then leave the left discredited," Says Diamond. It appears that most persons in the antiwar movement are unaware of the backgrounds and ideology of the several rightist groups seeking alliances, and merely are hoping to build a broad based alliance. Still, the issue of an undercurrent of anti-Jewish bigoty among a handful of pro-Palestinian and Black nationalist groups who work with the left has been under discussion for several years. Less well known are the attempts by rightist groups to forge ties with the left around acommon agenda of smashing the powerful center. One danger of such an alliance is that the widespread conspiracism of the right can easily find fertile ground among the naive or uncritical forces on the left. Author Holly Sklar, who has written progressive critiques of the Trilateralists, warns antiwar activists that "there is a big difference between understanding the influence of the Trilateral Commission on world affairs and the paranoid right-wing fantasy that the Trilateralists and their allies are are an omnipotent cabal controlling the world. It's important for people to base their political decisions on facts, not lazy catch-all conspiracy theories." The first area where the LaRouchians appear to have penetrated the left is the area of covert action and CIA misconduct. The LaRouchians were early critics of the Oliver North network, and in the early 1980's, LaRouche intelligence operatives such as Jeffrey Steinberg maintained close ties to a faction in the National Security Council which opposed Oliver North's activities, while at the same time passing information to mainstream and progressive reporters. According to progressive author Russ Bellant who writes investigative critiques of New Right and far right political groups, this is not the first time rightist groups with an anti- Jewish agenda have tried to forge alliances with left activists or researchers. Bellant says he has been sharply critical of other authors who have recommended he seek information from LaRouchian intelligence sources or persons close to the Liberty Lobby or other far right groups. "I think you discredit yourself when you work with these bigoted forces." says Bellant, "and the mere association tends to lend credence to these rightist groups because people figure the group can't be that bad if a respected figure on the left is associated with them." While the concept of broad-based anti-war coalitions remains desirable, seasoned activists continue to warn that coalitions should be very careful to examine the background of groups with which they become affiliated. ====================================================== For more information about the history and politics of the LaRouchians, contact the following groups: Political Research Associates, Suite 205, 678 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139. ($1.50 for 12 page report on LaRouche). Center for Democratic Renewal, P.O. Box 50469, Atlanta, GA, 30302. ($3.00 for packet on LaRouche & Food for Peace). See also Dennis King's "Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism." Doubleday Books, New York, 1989. ====================================================== ***A paralegal investigator, Chip Berlet is employed as an analyst for Political Research Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and serves as secretary of the National Lawyers Guild Civil Liberties Committee. LaRouche has sued him twice for defamation...and lost both cases.