
 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." <New York Times> 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 <Spotlight>, 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 <Executive Intelligence
 Review>.

     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 <New
 Federalist>," 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 <NLGCLC> 
 
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 <Spotlight>, 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 <Executive Intelligence 
Review>. 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 <New 
Federalist>," 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 <Washington Post> 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 <Associated Press>
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, <Final Call> ran an article on 
Panama from the LaRouchian magazine <Executive Intelligence 
Review>. 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 <New Solidarity>.

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." <New York Times> 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 <Z 
Magazine>) 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.


  
 
