28-10-2013, 02:49 PM
A very interesting essay with loads of even more interesting connections made.
From the excellent Martin Frost website:
[quote]​
The 'Rothschild Connection'
The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq
By Will Banyan
Copyright © 10 January 2012
Now that the tenth anniversary of 9/11 has been commemorated and Osama bin Laden is officially dead (summarily executed, in Pakistan, by US Navy SEALS to much acclaim), and the last US combat troops have been withdrawn from Iraq; an accounting of the "Global War on Terror" is surely in order. And timely, given that since 9/11, when 2,973 people were killed in the attacks in New York and Washington DC;[SUP]1[/SUP] the US led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have massively increased the death toll. As of December 2011, according to iCasualties, since 2001 a total of 1,858 US, and 981 other foreign troops had been killed in Afghanistan.[SUP]2[/SUP] At least 40,000 Afghan civilians are estimated to have been killed in the same period (including 8,800 since 2008).[SUP]3[/SUP]Though not in anyway responsible for 9/11 or even a safe haven for Al Qaeda - facts confirmed by the 9/11 Commission Report[SUP]4[/SUP] - Iraq bore the brunt of America's "Global War on Terror". Estimates vary, but according to figures complied by the Iraq Body Count project, since March 2003 at least 157,000 Iraqis have been killed by the US-led invasion and the ensuing sectarian violence, including 128,000 civilians.[SUP]5[/SUP] This is a conservative estimate. US military casualties, though not as grim as the Iraqi death toll, are still significant with 4,484 killed and 32,300 wounded as of December 2011, according to iCasualties.[SUP]6[/SUP]For the safely retired architects of this bloody enterprise, there are no regrets. In his self-serving memoir, Decision Points (2010), former US President George W. Bush insists invading Iraq to remove Saddam from power was "the right decision." According to Bush, "America is safer without a homicidal dictator pursuing WMD and supporting terror at the heart of the Middle East."[SUP]7[/SUP] Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is equally unrepentant; arguing in his autobiography A Journey (2010) that: "leaving Saddam in power was a bigger risk to our security than removing him, and that terrible though the aftermath was, the reality of Saddam and his sons in charge of Iraq would at least arguably be much worse."[SUP]8[/SUP]A troubling point for both is the failure to find Saddam's "WMD stockpiles" (Bush) or even an active WMD program, the original rationale for the invasion. The protagonists conveniently blame an "intelligence failure" (Bush) and "intelligence.. .that turned out to be incorrect" (Blair)[SUP]9[/SUP] for this omission. But then invoke new justifications for the war, including Saddam's horrendous human rights record, or claim he could not have be
[SUP]1[/SUP] The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon The United States, W.W. Norton & Co, 2004, p.xv.[SUP]2[/SUP] http://icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx.
[SUP]3[/SUP] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_casualties_caused_by_ISAF_and_US_Forces_in_the_War_in_Af ghanistan_%282001%E2%80%93present%29; and "Parties to Afghan conflict should escalate protection of civilians in 2011", UNAMA Press Release, 9 March 2011.[SUP]4[/SUP] 9/11 Commission Report, p.66.
[SUP]5[/SUP] www.iraqbodycount.org/analysis/numbers/warlogs/ ; www.iraqbodycount.org/analysis/numbers/2011/; &James Hilder, "Iraq war killed 162,000 people, according to final count", The Times, January 3, 2012.[SUP]6[/SUP] http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx.
[SUP]7[/SUP] George W. Bush, Decision Points, Virgin Books, 2010, p.267.
[SUP]8[/SUP] Tony Blair, A Journey, Hutchinson, 2010, p.380.
[SUP]9[/SUP] Bush, Decision Points, pp.262, 268; Blair, A Journey, p.374.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq2
contained indefinitely and would have eventually rebuilt his WMD program.[SUP]10[/SUP] Yet despite being a "threat" to America, the US-led invasion force easily toppled Saddam's regime, taking only twenty days to capture Baghdad. Faced with this litany of transparent falsehoods - including the Iraq-Al Qaeda "link" - many observers have concluded the true reasons for the invasion were kept from the public.[SUP]11[/SUP]Some think the truth will never be known. Richard N. Haass, current President of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) and a senior official in the Bush Administration, reportedly claims he will "go to his grave not knowing the answer."[SUP]12[/SUP]The Rothschild's War?
Outside of this mainstream bewilderment, a small group of researchers claim to have the elusive answer: the invasion of Iraq was actually carried out at the behest of the House of Rothschild. Writing on his website in 2004, for example, Canadian researcher Henry Makow claimed the US invasion of Iraq was actually "advancing the Rothschilds program of world dictatorship.. ,"[SUP]13[/SUP] In a later article, Makow explained:The neo conservative intellectuals are agents of the Illuminati Rothschild banking cartel. Its goal is to integrate the Middle East into the "new world order" at the expense of the U.S. soldier and taxpayer. This is the true nature of "imperialism."
The Rothschild agents pulling Bush's strings included Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, William Kristol, Eliot Abrams and Charles Krauthammer...[SUP]14[/SUP]British researcher Nicholas Hagger, in his book The Syndicate: The Story of the Coming World Government (2004), claimed that a "pro-Israel" US-based "Rothschildite" sub-faction - represented by a pressure group, the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) - supported the invasion "to bring some respite to Israel." A British-based "Rothschildite" faction also played a role, backing the ousting of Saddam Hussein to "secure a new supply of oil" and "improve Israel's position."[SUP]15[/SUP]And in his recent book Human Race Get off Your Knees: The Lion Sleeps No More (2010), David Icke claims "the invasion of Iraq in 2003...was ordered (on behalf of their hidden masters) by the Rothschild assets, George W. Bush and Tony Blair."[SUP]16 [/SUP]According to Icke, the Bush Administration was in fact,...controlled by the so-called 'neo-con' or neoconservative network that included Rothschild Zionist 'think tanks' like the Project for the New American Century and the American Enterprise Institute which, together, orchestrated the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq... At the heart of the Rothschild-controlled neocon cabal were Richard Perle (Rothschild Zionist), Paul Wolfowitz (Rothschild Zionist), Dov Zakheim (Rothschild Zionist), Douglas Feith (Rothschild Zionist), John Bolton (Rothschild Zionist), Lewis Libby (Rothschild Zionist), the list goes on and on.[SUP]17[/SUP][SUP]10[/SUP] Bush, Decision Points, p.270; Blair, A Journey, pp.376-379.
[SUP]11[/SUP] See for example, Christopher Scheer, Robert Scheer, & Lakshimi Chaudhry, The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq, Seven Stories Press, 2003; James Bamford, A Pretext for War, Anchor Books, 2005; Frank Rich, The Greatest Story Ever Sold, Viking, 2006; and Russ Hoyle, Going to War: How Misinformation, Disinformation, and Arrogance Led America into Iraq, Thomas Dunne Books, 2008.
[SUP]12[/SUP] George Packer, The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq, Faber & Faber, 2006, p.46.
[SUP]13[/SUP] Henry Makow, "Americans are Rothschild Proxies in Iraq", www.savethemales.ca, March 14, 2004.
[SUP]14[/SUP] Henry Makow, "Michael Moore Shills for Illuminati Bankers", www.savethemales.ca, July 4, 2004 (emphasis added).
[SUP]15[/SUP] Nicholas Hagger, The Syndicate: The Story of the Coming World Government, O Books, 2004, pp.180, 185, 252-253.
[SUP]16[/SUP] David Icke, Human Race Get Off Your Knees: The Lion Sleeps No More, David Icke Books, 2010, p.131 (emphasis added).
[SUP]17[/SUP] ibid, p.113 (emphasis added); see also ibid, p.136.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq3
Are these claims true? Were the Rothschilds the secret master plotters behind the invasion of Iraq? Given that the claims of Icke, Makow and Hagger seem to be evidence-free, many might well dismiss their allegations as anti-Semitic fabrications. However, as this paper will seek to demonstrate, while their more extravagant claims are unfounded, a review of the evidence suggests some leading members of the House of Rothshild were probably more involved in the push for war than is currently acknowledged in most histories of the invasion. Though silent on the desirability or otherwise of the invasion, a confluence of their historical commitment to Israel's security, and their strong connections to key politicians and the neoconservative network, puts them much closer to this bloody enterprise than is commonly known.The Power of the Rothschilds
These claims of a covert Rothschild role in the invasion of Iraq appear to rest on the assumption they are omnipotent yet shadowy megalomaniacs. David Icke, for example, describes the Rothschilds as a "vicious bunch of interbreeding global criminals and power-crazed genocidal maniacs", and alleges they have "manipulated governments and worked through the Brotherhood network to create wars and revolutions, often lending money to both sides in the ensuing conflicts."[SUP]18[/SUP]Hyperbole aside, Icke's claims reflect an uncontested fact that during the 19th century the Rothschilds were, as one recent study noted, "the most powerful force that had ever been known in the world's money markets."[SUP]19[/SUP] According to British historian Niall Ferguson, author of The House of Rothschild (2000), "for most of the century between 1815 and 1914, [the House of Rothschild] was easily the biggest bank in the world."[SUP]20 [/SUP]In fact, to find a "contemporary equivalent",one has to imagine a merger between Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, J. P. Morgan and probably Goldman Sachs tooas well, perhaps, as the International Monetary Fund, given the nineteenth-century Rothschilds' role in stabilising the finances of numerous governments.[SUP]21[/SUP]The Rothschilds also had a reputation for using their vast wealth, originally accumulated by the dynasty's founder Meyer Amschel Rothschild (1743-1812) and then massively expanded by his five sons - Amschel, Nathan, Salomon, Kalman, and James - to manipulate European politics. Having extended their reach beyond Frankfurt, to establish banking houses in London, Paris, Naples and Vienna, the House of Rothschild managed to be both very powerful yet almost supernaturally discrete. As Derek Wilson observes in his study, Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power (1988):Seldom were [the Rothschilds] to be seen engaging in open public debate on important issues. Never did they seek government office. Even when, in later years, some of them entered parliament, they did not feature prominently in the assembly chambers of London, Paris or Berlin. Yet all the while they were helping to shape the major events of the day: by granting or withholding funds; by providing statesmen with an official diplomatic service; by influencing appointments to high office; and by an almost daily intercourse with the great decision makers.[SUP]22[/SUP]
[SUP]18[/SUP] Icke, Human Race Get Off Your Knees, p. 78; and David Icke, ...And The Truth Will Set You Free, Bridge of Love, 2004, p.39.
[SUP]19[/SUP] George Ireland, Plutocrats: A Rothschild Inheritance, John Murray, 2007, p.3.
[SUP]20[/SUP] Niall Ferguson, The House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets 1798-1848, Vol. I, Penguin Books, 2000, p.3.[SUP]21[/SUP] Niall Ferguson, The House of Rothschild: The World's Banker, 1849-1998, Vol.II, Penguin Books, 2000, p.479.
[SUP]22[/SUP] Derek Wilson, Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power, Andre Deutsch, 1988, p.99 (emphasis added).
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq4
But what was the basis to their power? Why did they have such good access to the kings, princes and prime ministers of the time? An obvious answer would be their enormous wealth, which rivalled that of Europe's ruling monarchs and princes. The Rothschild fortune rapidly increased from £80,000 in 1810 (equivalent to £2.7 million in 2005) to some £6 million by 1836 (£4.8 billion).[SUP]23[/SUP] When Nathan M. Rothschild died in 1836, his personal fortune amounted to £3.5 million making him "richer, in terms of net wealth, than anyone else in Britain."[SUP]24[/SUP] Or to put it into perspective: his personal wealth was equal to 0.62% of Britain's Gross Domestic Product.[SUP]25[/SUP] While the combined wealth of his four sons, estimated at £8.4 million in 1870s (£4.9 billion), was "a sum that exceeded the worth of any other family in England of the day."[SUP]26[/SUP]Yet, wealth alone does not account for the power of the Rothschilds in the 19th century. Recent academic work suggests their political power was based on four factors:1. Financial leverage: During the 19th century the Rothschilds dominated the international bond market - the buying and selling of government debts - the London house, for example, was responsible for 38 per cent of the value of loans issued for foreign governments over 1818-1832.[SUP]27[/SUP] This enormous financial power enabled the Rothschilds to pressure governments: "if a regime bent on war asked to lend money, they could refuse, and conversely they could give financial support to one that was peacefully inclined."[SUP]28[/SUP] Or vice versa.2. Secret Communications: The Rothschilds gained privileged access to the courts of Europe through their "uniquely fast communications network", which not only gave them an advantage over competitors, but it was used by European statesmen. This was because the Rothschild courier network was "quicker than the official courier systems" and it enabled informal messages to be sent between governments "indirectly through the brothers."[SUP]29[/SUP] The Rothschilds naturally exploited their unique access to influence Europe's political leaders.3. Bribes, Loans & Gifts: The Rothschilds used a range of financial inducements to cultivate relationships with princes, politicians and numerous sundry officials. For example, the Rothschilds provided the famous Austrian chancellor and foreign minister, Prince Klemens von Metternich, with numerous loans, totaling nearly 2 million gulden. The Rothschilds also lent money to Metternich's son, Victor, and provided cash gifts, cheap loans and eventually a retainer to his secretary, Friedrich Gentz.[SUP]30[/SUP] Other recipients included future British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, the Duke of Wellington, and his financier, John Charles-Herries.[SUP]31[/SUP]4. Media Manipulation: The Rothschild brothers also sought to influence the markets through the press. Nathan developed relationships with key journalists at the London Times; Salomon, through Gentz, was able to exert pressure on the German
[SUP]23[/SUP] Amos Elon, The Founder: Meyer Amschel Rothschild and His Time, (HarperCollins, 1996), p.155; and Niall Ferguson, "Metternich and the Rothschilds", The Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook 2001, p.22. Currency conversions through www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency/default0.asp#mid (2005).
[SUP]24[/SUP] Ireland, Plutocrats, p.27.
[SUP]25[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol.I, p.481-482. Ferguson estimates that if measured in 1995 values, Nathan's fortune was equivalent of almost £3.7 billion.
[SUP]26[/SUP] Ireland, Plutocrats, p.354.
[SUP]27[/SUP] Ferguson, "Metternich and the Rothschilds", pp.22, 34.
[SUP]28[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol.I,, p.244.
[SUP]29[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol.I, pp. 232-233, 244; and Ferguson, "Metternich and the Rothschilds", p.34.
[SUP]30[/SUP] Ferguson, "Metternich and the Rothschilds", p.24.
[SUP]31[/SUP] Ireland, Plutocrats, p.176; Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol 1. pp.154-157.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq5
newspaper, the Allegmeine Zeitung; while James, in France, was able to influence the Moniteur Universal and the Journal des Debats. Indeed, as James later told his nephews in 1837, "it is good if one can regulate public opinion."[SUP]32[/SUP]The first half of the 19th century was arguably the pinnacle of Rothschild political and economic power, and the period which established their mystique. A century and a half later the Rothschild name still retains its cachet, but there is little evidence they have preserved anywhere near the same level of power. To be sure, as will be detailed below, the Rothschilds remain very well-connected, but they have lost many of their previous advantages. From its original five branches, only two - the English and French - exist today. These were merged in 2007 to form the Rothschild Group[SUP]33[/SUP], but the House of Rothschild remains fractured with numerous independent offshoots, including: the Rothschild Investment Trust (RIT);[SUP]34[/SUP] the Edmond de Rothschild Group;[SUP]35[/SUP] and Vallares PLC.[SUP]36[/SUP] More importantly, the Rothschilds have exited the international bond market and are now confined to the international financial services business.[SUP]37[/SUP]While it is rumoured the Rothschild fortune, kept in trusts in Switzerland, is worth £40 billion[SUP]38[/SUP] or even "trillions",[SUP]39[/SUP] more conservative estimates suggest a lesser fortune, reflecting the combined impact of heavy financial losses during both world wars onerous death duties in England, and the forced nationalisation of private banks in France in 1981.[SUP]40[/SUP] In 2002, Forbes calculated the wealth of the eight leading members of the Rothschild family at US$1.5 billion.[SUP]41[/SUP] The Sunday Times in 2008 estimated Sir Evelyn de Rothschild to be worth £527 million; while his cousin, RIT Chairman Lord Jacob Rothschild and his son Nat had a combined fortune of £1.4 billion.[SUP]42[/SUP] In 2011, Vallares founder Nat finally made billionaire status in his own right, becoming the 67th richest person in Britain.[SUP]43[/SUP] His Swiss relative, Benjamin de Rothschild, Chairman of the Edmond de Rothschild Group, estimated his own fortune at €3 billion in 2010.[SUP]44[/SUP]The other measures of Rothschild power are also somewhat circumscribed, though they retain some media interests. This includes shares in The Economist newspaper group.[SUP]45 [/SUP]Sir Evelyn was Chairman of The Economist from 1972 to 1989 and his current wife, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild became a non-executive Director in 2002.[SUP]46[/SUP] Sir Evelyn was also a non-executive director for Conrad Black's Telegraph Group; [SUP]47[/SUP] while his cousin Lord Jacob Rothschild, was a member of the international advisory board for
[SUP]32[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol.I, pp.287-288.
[SUP]33[/SUP] http://www.rothschild.com/; "Rothschild banking group unifies", Agence France Presse, July 17, 2007.[SUP]34[/SUP] http://www.ritcap.co.uk/.
[SUP]35[/SUP] http://www.edmond-de-rothschild.com/pres...ation.aspx.
[SUP]36[/SUP] Guy Chazan, "From Klosters to Kurdistan", Wall Street Journal, September 12, 2011.
[SUP]37[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol. II, p.479.
[SUP]38[/SUP] Tim O'Sullivan, "The young elite 1-10", The Observer, March 12, 2008.
[SUP]39[/SUP] Paul Vallely, "The Rothschild story: A golden era ends for a secretive dynasty", The Independent, April 16, 2004.[SUP]40[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol.II, pp.454-456; Frederic Morton, The Rothschilds, Penguin, 1961, pp.209-210; and Wilson, Rothschild, pp.430-431.
[SUP]41[/SUP] "The Dynasties: Rothschild Family", Forbes, February 28, 2002.
[SUP]42[/SUP] "Lord and Nat Rothschild" & "Sir Evelyn and Lady de Rothschild", Sunday Times, April 27, 2008.
[SUP]43[/SUP] "Nat Rothschild tops hedge fund rich list", Reuters, May 6, 2011.
[SUP]44[/SUP] Eyatan Avriel & Guy Rolnik, "Family Values", Ha'aretz, November 5, 2010.
[SUP]45[/SUP] www.economistgroup.com/results_and_governance/ownership.html.
[SUP]46[/SUP] www.economistgroup.com/results_and_governance/board.html.
[SUP]47[/SUP] "Black's Canadian Conundrum", The Sunday Times, March 28, 1993.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq6
Hollinger International, of which Black was CEO.[SUP]48[/SUP] Jacob was Deputy-Chairman of Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB satellite television network from 2003 to 2007.[SUP]49[/SUP]Nevertheless, on a number of measures - specifically their wealth, financial specialisation and connections - the Rothschilds would surely still qualify as members of the global power elite, or that elite group of 5000, the so-called "Superclass."[SUP]50[/SUP] In 1997, for example, Evelyn was among only three Britons in Vanity Fair's list of the 65 "most powerful people in the world."[SUP]51[/SUP] While Jacob has been lauded as "the great Establishment fixer" (Barber), and credited with "tremendous dynamism while staying resolutely behind the scenes" (Wullschlager).[SUP]52[/SUP] The key question is: was their power a critical to the behind-the-scenes effort to oust Saddam Hussein?The Eastern Front
Icke, Makow and Hagger suggest the Rothschilds had a number of motives to initiate the war against Iraq. Three in particular stand-out: (1) to advance the plot to build world government; (2) to exploit Iraq's oil; and (3) to remove a regional strategic threat to Israel. All three warrant further scrutiny, though only the latter two are plausible.(1) World Government: Numerous researchers have argued the invasion of Iraq was a critical step in the establishment of world government.[SUP]53[/SUP] It was, claimed one John Birch Society analyst, "only the first of many planned wars of assimilation en route to a world effectively controlled by the United Nations."[SUP]54[/SUP] But there is little evidence that building world government or empowering the UN was ever a genuine war goal. In fact the neo-conservative architects of the invasion claimed it would actually render global institutions irrelevant and confirm US global dominance. "President Bush has no hopes for world government, or for a world beyond conflict. ."claimed PNAC co-founder William Kristol on the eve of the invasion.[SUP]55[/SUP] "What will die in Iraq is the fantasy of the United Nations as the foundation of a new world order", predicted Richard Perle.[SUP]56[/SUP]Indeed, the invasion occurred in defiance of those international rules overseen by the UN: after initially (and reluctantly) lobbying for a UN Security Council authorisation to oust Saddam Hussein, the Bush Administration was quick to abandon that track when it became clear Russia, France and China would not support such a resolution. Untroubled by a lack of UN authorisation, the US and its allies invaded anyway in an act subsequently declared "illegal" by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.[SUP]57[/SUP] As numerous legal scholars noted, through its invasion of Iraq the US Government had
[SUP]48[/SUP] "Chaim Herzog Joins Hollinger Advisory Board", Jerusalem Post, January 7, 1994.
[SUP]49[/SUP] "Row as BSkyB picks Murdoch Jr", ITNNews, November 4, 2003; and Mark Cobley, "Meet the most popular man at BSkyB", efinancialnews.com, November 11, 2011, www.efinancialnews.com/story/2011-11-11/most-popular-man-at-bskyb?mod=blogheadlines-home.
[SUP]50[/SUP] See David Rothkopf, Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They are Making, Little, Brown, 2008.
[SUP]51[/SUP] "Masters of the World", Mirror, October 10, 1997.
[SUP]52[/SUP] Lynn Barber, "Financial genius Lord Rothschild on modern art", The Sunday Times, April 4, 2010; Jackie Wullschlager, "Lunch with FT: Jacob Rothschild", Financial Times, April 16, 2010.
[SUP]53[/SUP] See for example, Dennis L. Cuddy, "The Iraq War, Oil and World Government", NewsWithViews.com, March 26, 2007; and Alan Stang, "World Government Frenzy: A Century of War", (2002), www.federalobserver.com/archive .php?aid=3946.
[SUP]54[/SUP] William Norman Grigg, "Why We Fight", The New American, April 21, 2003, p.15.
[SUP]55[/SUP] William Kristol, "Morality in Foreign Policy", Weekly Standard, February 10, 2003.
[SUP]56[/SUP] Richard Perle, "United They Fall", The Spectator, March 22, 2003, p.22.
[SUP]57[/SUP] "Iraq war illegal, says Annan", BBC News, August 16, 2004.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq7
"behaved as though international law does not matter..." (Sands) and had "gravely delegitimized both cosmopolitan ideals and international law" (Wolin).[SUP]58[/SUP]Given that the invasion of Iraq appears to have done little to advance the cause of world government, the question of whether or not the Rothschilds supported such an objective seems moot. Yet numerous researchers continue to claim the Rothschilds are key players in the alleged plot to build world government,[SUP]59[/SUP] though the evidence for these allegations is remarkably slim. Hagger, for example, makes some heavily qualified, but poorly sourced and inaccurate claims the Rothschilds not only financed Illuminati-founder Adam Weishaupt, but from "early on" were committed to creating a "Weishauptian world rule."[SUP]60[/SUP] The historical record is less convincing. Despite their support for a number of geopolitical schemes within Europe, including an Anglo-American alliance,[SUP]61[/SUP] the Rothschilds have balked at world government. Cecil Rhodes, for example, removed Lord Nathaniel Rothschild (1840-1915) from his later wills because the banker had proved himself "absolutely incapable" of understanding his vision of creating a secret society to achieve an Anglo-American world government.[SUP]62[/SUP](2) Oil: A more plausible motive would be to share in the spoils gained from wresting control of Iraq's substantial oil resources from Saddam Hussein, replacing his regime with a more compliant one that would privatise the oil industry and be more reluctant to join with OPEC nations to raise oil prices. Although some senior Bush Administration officials denied that Iraq's substantial oil reserves had any bearing on the decision to invade, and Blair dismissed it as a "conspiracy theory"; it was patently obvious to many
[SUP]58[/SUP] Philippe Sands, Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules, Allen Lane, 2005, p.203; and Richard Wolin, "The idea of cosmopolitanism: from Kant to the Iraq war and beyond", Ethics & Global Politics, Vol. 3, No. 2, (2010).
[SUP]59[/SUP] See for example, Dr K. R. Bolton, "A Rothschild Plan for World Government", Foreign Policy Journal, March 24, 2011; David Allen Rivera, The New World Order Exposed [Final Warning: A History of the New World Order], Thinkers Library, 2004, pp.16-21; and Nicholas Hagger, The Secret History of the West, O Books, 2005, p.358-403.
[SUP]60[/SUP] Hagger, Secret History, pp.289, 359. Hagger writes that between 1770 and 1776 Weishaupt "seems" to have received Rothschild funds, and there are "reports" that in 1773 Mayer Amschel Rothschild "appears" to have "met Weishaupt to plan world revolution." Despite his initial caution, Hagger subsequently treats both claims as facts (see pp.362, 397), yet neither claim is credible for a number of reasons. First, throughout the 1770s Rothschild was no master banker, but a modestly wealthy trader of rare coins, medals, coffee, wool, cotton and rabbit skins, and largely confined to the Jewish ghetto in Frankfurt. His banking business did not emerge until the 1780s (Elon, The Founder, p.71). Second, there is no evidence that Rothschild (then only 28 years old) and Weishaupt ever met in 1773 or any other time, let alone plotted "world revolution" together. Terry Melanson suggests the only connection between the Rothschilds and the Illuminati was indirect: through their banking activities with Illuminati members Baron von Dalberg and Prince Karl, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (See Melanson, Perfectibilists: The 18th Century Bavarian Order of the Illuminati, Trine Day LLC, 2009, pp.278-79, 334-36). Finally, Hagger's sourcing for these claims is unreliable (Secret History, pp.561 n11, 567 n2 & 3). His first source, William Guy Carr's Pawns in the Game (1958), is an inherently dubious and brazenly anti-Jewish tract which does not cite any evidence for the Rothschild funding of Weishaupt. Hagger's second source is Neal Wilgus' The Illuminoids: Secret Societies and Political Paranoia (New English Library, 1978), which refers to the "alleged" 1773 Weishaupt-Rothschild meeting (p.119). Wilgus, in turn, cites Carr's book as one of three making claims about the 1773 meeting, but notes that "no mention of the Rothschilds is given in any other account of the Weishaupt organisation" (ibid, p.51). Wilgus also dismisses Carr's book as both "extreme" and "less plausible"; and "lacking any useful documentation and continually leaping to unlikely conclusions" (p.21). Indeed, elsewhere in Pawns, Carr cites only one "document" as a source for the alleged Weishaupt-Rothschild meeting: "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion", an infamous anti-Semitic forgery which, incidentally, mentions neither Rothschild nor Weishaupt. Hagger, though, neglects to mention Wilgus' critical views on Carr or his scepticism about the 1773 meeting.
[SUP]61[/SUP] Ferguson, House of Rothschild, Vol. II, pp.389-394; Morton, The Rothschilds, pp.200-206.
[SUP]62[/SUP] See Will Banyan, A Short History of the Round Table, October 2008, pp.6-7.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq8
observers that improving access to Iraq's oil was driving the invasion.[SUP]63[/SUP] This had long been part of the neo-conservatives plans: PNAC's 1998 letter to Clinton, warned that unless Saddam was removed "a significant portion of the world's supply of oil will be put at hazard."[SUP]64[/SUP] Despite the high-level denials, some Bush Administration officials strayed from the script: in September 2002 White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey declared: "the key issue is oil, and a regime change in Iraq would facilitate an increase in world oil", leading to a drop in prices;[SUP]65[/SUP] and in 2003 Bush's former speechwriter, David Frum, wrote that the Global War on Terror was intended to bring "new prosperity to us all, by securing the world's largest pool of oil."[SUP]66[/SUP]The Rothschilds have had a long interest in the oil business. In the 1880s the French branch invested heavily in the Russian oilfields of Baku, to the extent that for a time "around a third of Russian oil output was Rothschild-controlled." The Rothschilds later became the largest shareholders in Shell and Royal Dutch, facilitating their eventual merger.[SUP]67[/SUP] Current Rothschild oil interests are less substantial. Until recently Jacob Rothschild was the biggest family investor in oil, financing oil development in Central Asia, including purchasing stock in Kazakhstan's largest oil company, through his investment company Tau Capital PLC, established in 2007.[SUP]68[/SUP] Jacob, through RIT, also owns Agora Oil & Gas, which in turn owns 15 per cent of the Catcher oil field in the North Sea.[SUP]69[/SUP] Jacob has also recently invested in shale oil exploration in Israel.[SUP]70[/SUP]Given this background, supporting the invasion of Iraq to open up its oil reserves to international oil companies for the first time since 1974 would presumably have found favour with the Rothschilds. Indeed, in September 2011 Vallares Plc, an investment vehicle or "cash shell" created by Nat Rothschild merged with a Turkish company, Genel Energy International to create Genel Energy PLC, picking up Genel's existing exploration and production operation in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq. Genel is currently producing a very modest 50,000 barrels per day, but it is sitting in a region in Iraq estimated to have up to 40 billion barrels of oil.[SUP]71[/SUP](3) Israel: Protecting Israel is by far the most plausible motive for Rothschild support of the invasion. Indeed, ever since Israel bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981, ousting Saddam Hussein had been an important Israeli strategic objective. This occasionally found expression in the public domain. Back in 1982, for example, Oded Yinon, a journalist and former Israeli diplomat, had publicly advocated Iraq's "dissolution", as it was "Iraqi power which constitutes the greatest threat to Israel."[SUP]72[/SUP] Then in 1996, an all-[SUP]63[/SUP] See for example, Paul Roberts, The End of Oil: The Decline of the Petroleum Economy and the Rise of a New Energy Order, Bloomsbury, 2004, pp.111-113, 304; Michael C. Ruppert, Crossing the Rubicon, New Society, 2004, pp.527-537; William R. Clark, Petrodollar Warfare: Oil, Iraq and the Future of the Dollar, New Society, 2005; (Blair quote) Kevin Philips, "American Petrocracy", The American Conservative, July 17, 2006; and David Strahan, The Last Oil Shock, John Murray, 2007, pp.1-35.
[SUP]64[/SUP] PNAC letter to President Bill Clinton, January 26, 1998.
[SUP]65[/SUP] Lindsey quoted in Philips, "American Petrocracy".
[SUP]66[/SUP] David Frum, The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2003, p.282.
[SUP]67[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol.II, pp.355,
[SUP]68[/SUP] Guy Norton, "How now, Tau?", Euromoney, September 24, 2007; "Jacob Rothschild", Vanity Fair, 2008, www.vanityfair.com/online/newestablishment/2008/09/jacob-rothschild.html.
[SUP]69[/SUP] Mike Foster, "Rothschild's RIT on a roll", efinancial news, July 11, 2011; Michael Kavanagh, "Premier to buy North Sea explorer EnCore", Financial Times, October 5, 2011.[SUP]70[/SUP] "Genie targets Israeli oil-shale potential", Petroleum Economist, December 2, 2010.
[SUP]71[/SUP] Chazan, "From Klosters to Kurdistan"; Matt Aitkins, "Vallares Kurdish Excursion", January 2012, www.financierworldwide.com/article.php?id=8915.
[SUP]72[/SUP] See Oded Yinon, "A Strategy for Israel for the Nineteen Eighties", KIVUNIM (Directions), (February 1982) at http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/articles/article0005345.html.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq9
American study group, lead by Perle for an Israeli think-tank, produced the paper, A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm, to advise Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A Clean Break recommended "removing Saddam Hussein from power", which, it acknowledged, was "an important Israeli objective in its own right." Perle, and two other members of the Clean Break study group, David Wurmser and Douglas Feith, later became member of the Bush Administration.[SUP]73[/SUP] More blatant were former Israeli Prime Ministers Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, who in September 2002 publicly advocated a "pre-emptive strike" against Iraq (Netanyahu) and "putting an end to Saddam Hussein's regime" (Barak), due to the potential danger Iraq posed to Israel.[SUP]74[/SUP]A number of senior Bush Administration officials also revealed that Israel's security needs had driven the invasion plans. In September 2002, for instance, Philip Zelikow, then on Bush's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, told an audience at the University of Virginia the "unstated threat" was not against the US, it was Iraq's "threat against Israel"; however the US Government did not "lean too hard on it rhetorically, because it is not a popular sell."[SUP]75[/SUP] In May 2003 Deputy Secretary for Defense Paul Wolfowitz told a US Senate Committee that regime-change in Iraq would have a "positive impact on the Arab-Israeli peace process" as Saddam had been "deeply opposed to progress" and was guilty of "financing and supporting terrorism among the Palestinians."[SUP]76[/SUP]Once Saddam was gone, it has not been difficult to tally how Israel had benefitted. This included, as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted in 2007, the "removal of an eastern front threat for Israel."[SUP]77[/SUP] Other observers credited the invasion with compelling Libya to abandon its WMD program, thus removing another potential strategic threat to Israel. Saddam's demise also ended Iraqi support "for one of the Israeli people's most threatening foes": Palestinian suicide bombers, the families of whom had been receiving payments from Iraq.[SUP]78[/SUP] Moreover, by 2008-10 it became abundantly clear that US troops in Iraq served Israel's security needs - as a bulwark against Iran - judging by the panicked response from Israel and its US supporters as the US withdrawal loomed.[SUP]79[/SUP]Given its long history of support for the Jewish state protecting Israel's security would obviously find favour with the Rothschild dynasty. Rothschild support for Israel can be traced back to 1882 when a young Baron Edmund de Rothschild (1845-1934) embraced the Zionist cause, and began funding Jewish settlements in Palestine.[SUP]80[/SUP] Perhaps the most significant milestone was in November 1917, when Baron Walter Rothschild received the so-called Balfour Declaration, in which the British Government confirmed its support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."
[SUP]73[/SUP] See "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm", at www.iasps.org.stra1.htm; and Bamford, A Pretext for War, pp.261-265, 281.
[SUP]74[/SUP] Ehud Barak, "Taking Apart Iraq's Nuclear Threat", New York Times, September 4, 2002; and Benjamin Netanyahu, "The Case for Toppling Saddam", Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2002.[SUP]75[/SUP] Zelikow, quoted in "Letters: The Israel Lobby", London Review of Books, May 25, 2006.
[SUP]76[/SUP] "US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Holds Hearing on Iraq Stabilization and Reconstruction", Federal Document Clearing House, 22 May 2003.[SUP]77[/SUP] Secretary Condoleezza Rice, "Roundtable with Travelling Press", Berlin, Germany, January 18, 2007, http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/B69B10922E9E004C852572680052A414.
[SUP]78[/SUP] Amatzia Baram, "Israel", Foreign Policy, March/April 2007, p.51.
[SUP]79[/SUP] See "McCain: Israel would suffer in Iraq pullout", Jewish Telegraph Agency, March 26, 2008, www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/107735.html;Yitzhak Benhorin, "Netanyahu, Gates discuss eastern front against Israel", Ynet News, July 7, 2010, www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3916691,00.html; and "Netanyahu spells out Israeli security concerns to Gates", Agence France Press, July 7, 2010.
[SUP]80[/SUP] See Simon Schama, Two Rothschilds and the Land of Israel, Alfred A. Knopf, 1978.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq10
Since then Rothschild support for Israel has been manifest on a number of levels. Most prominent has been Yad Hanadiv, or the Benefactors Foundation, chaired by Jacob, which has over the past few decades funded construction of Israel's Parliament, Supreme Court and in 2011 the National Library buildings.[SUP]81[/SUP] Visiting Israel in 1992 for the opening of the Supreme Court, Jacob told the Jerusalem Post:"I consider myself a Zionist. I have been and always will be. I passionately believe in the State of Israel, as we have as a family.. ,"[SUP]82[/SUP]
There has also been less obvious strategic support. This includes the Jacob's emergency donation of £1 million to Israel during the Six Day War in 1967.[SUP]83[/SUP] Also in the 1960s, Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1926-1997) had been a "major contributor" to Israel's nuclear weapons program, funding the start up costs for the nuclear reactor at Dimona.[SUP]84 [/SUP]Recent research has also identified the "British and French branches of the Rothschild family" as secret financial supporters of Israel's nuclear weapons program.[SUP]85[/SUP]
[SUP]81[/SUP] Melanie Lidman, "$200 million renewal project launched at N'tl Library", Jerusalem Post, March 28, 2011.
[SUP]82[/SUP] Quoted in Bill Hutman, "A Magnificent Present From the Rothschilds", Jerusalem Post, November 11, 1992.[SUP]83[/SUP] Calv BenDavid, Joseph Finklestone & Nicholas Simon, "The Immortal Rothschilds", The Jerusalem Report, April 18, 1996, p.36. Equivalent to £13.7 million in 2009 (conversion through www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/).
[SUP]84[/SUP] Seymour M. Hersh, The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy, Random House, 1991, pp.66-67.
[SUP]85[/SUP] Michael Karpin, The Bomb in the Basement: How Israel Went Nuclear and What That Means for the World, Simon & Schuster, 2006, p.137.
[SUP]86[/SUP] Bush, Decision Points, p.253.
[SUP]87[/SUP] George Bush & Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed, Vintage Books, 1998, p.463; and Bob Woodward, Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate, Simon & Schuster, 1999, pp.184-185.
[SUP]88[/SUP] Russ Baker, Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, The Powerful Forces That Put It In The White House, And What Their Influence Means for America, Bloomsbury Press, 2009, pp.423-425
[SUP]89[/SUP] Barton Gellman, Angler: The Shadow Presidency of Dick Cheney, Allen Lane, 2008, p.231.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq11
The Silence of the Rothschilds
According to Lord Jacob Rothschild, the 9/11 attacks were "cataclysmic",[SUP]90[/SUP] but other than the cancellation of Sir Evelyn's 70th birthday party,[SUP]91[/SUP] there are few clues as to what actions the Rothschilds took or advocated in response. Moreover, unlike David Rockefeller, for example, who controversially suggested that US support for Israel may have prompted the attack;[SUP]92[/SUP] the Rothschilds have not publicly speculated on its causes. Indeed, despite having plausible motives to support the forcible ouster of Saddam Hussein - an integral part of the US strategic response to 9/11 - the leading members of the Rothschild family have maintained a conspicuous silence on the issue.This has been the case, even when opportunities have arisen to make their position clear. In September 2002, for example, Jacob hosted a two-day conference of notables, led by billionaire Warren Buffett, at Waddesdon Manor, the Buckinghamshire ancestral home of the Rothschild dynasty. The reported purpose of the "private gathering" was to discuss, among other issues, "the implications of the expected war in Iraq."[SUP]93[/SUP] The conference speakers included two "well-placed Washington officials" who reportedly informed the select group that "war was now inevitable"; and that "regime change" would not stop with Iraq, but would be extended to Iran, Saudia Arabia, Syria and Pakistan.[SUP]94[/SUP] Despite being present, there is no record of Jacob's reaction.The only exception to this silence has been Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, the current wife of Sir Evelyn. In a letter to the Financial Times in 2007, she wrote:One can understand the world's dismay about the US's decision to elect George W. Bush and allow him to lead the US and Britain to war in Iraq. These two acts will godown in history as two of the US's worst decisions and are fair objects of criticism.[SUP]95[/SUP]
Whether her husband and his extended family shared this view is unknown. Her sincerity on this matter is also questionable given that during the 2008 US presidential race her political preferences seemed to be firmly aligned with those contenders who had supported the invasion. Forester had supported Senator Hilary Clinton, but when Barack Obama had won the Democrat nomination; she had switched parties, to back the neo-conservative favourite Senator John McCain.[SUP]96[/SUP] Forester had justified her rejection of Obama, who had opposed the invasion, with the bizarre argument he was an "elitist".[SUP]97[/SUP] What is clear, though, is that neither her husband, nor her many in-laws have found it necessary to comment on one of the biggest controversies of the past decade.The Rothshilds and the Neo-Conservative Network
Between them, Icke and Makow name at least nine prominent neo-conservatives as "Rothschild agents", but curiously provide no proof of any actual Rothschild connections. In fact there is no evidence of the English Rothschilds directly funding any of the US-based neo-conservative organisations, despite donating to other leading US
[SUP]90[/SUP] "Chairman's Statement", in RIT Capital Partners plc, Annual Report and Accounts 31 March 2002, p.4.[SUP]91[/SUP] "Rothschilds hit hard", The Evening Standard, September 24, 2001.
[SUP]92[/SUP] See Bill Marvel, "9-11 attack shook Rockefeller's world of certainty", Dallas Morning News, November 8, 2003.
[SUP]93[/SUP] Damian Reece, "Buffett to be leading light at elite forum", Telegraph, September 14, 2002.
[SUP]94[/SUP] Anatole Kaletsky, "So much money but, I still hope, so little sense", The Times, September 26, 2002.
[SUP]95[/SUP] Financial Times, July 6, 2007 (emphasis added).
[SUP]96[/SUP] Michael Falcone, "A Democratic Baroness Endorses McCain-Palin Ticket", New York Times, September 17, 2008, http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/a-democratic-baroness-endorses-mccain-palin-ticket/.
[SUP]97[/SUP] Lynn Forester de Rothschild, "Democrats Need to Shake the 'Elitist' Tag", Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2008.
[FONT=Times]...
From the excellent Martin Frost website:
[quote]​
The 'Rothschild Connection'
The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq
By Will Banyan
Copyright © 10 January 2012
Now that the tenth anniversary of 9/11 has been commemorated and Osama bin Laden is officially dead (summarily executed, in Pakistan, by US Navy SEALS to much acclaim), and the last US combat troops have been withdrawn from Iraq; an accounting of the "Global War on Terror" is surely in order. And timely, given that since 9/11, when 2,973 people were killed in the attacks in New York and Washington DC;[SUP]1[/SUP] the US led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have massively increased the death toll. As of December 2011, according to iCasualties, since 2001 a total of 1,858 US, and 981 other foreign troops had been killed in Afghanistan.[SUP]2[/SUP] At least 40,000 Afghan civilians are estimated to have been killed in the same period (including 8,800 since 2008).[SUP]3[/SUP]Though not in anyway responsible for 9/11 or even a safe haven for Al Qaeda - facts confirmed by the 9/11 Commission Report[SUP]4[/SUP] - Iraq bore the brunt of America's "Global War on Terror". Estimates vary, but according to figures complied by the Iraq Body Count project, since March 2003 at least 157,000 Iraqis have been killed by the US-led invasion and the ensuing sectarian violence, including 128,000 civilians.[SUP]5[/SUP] This is a conservative estimate. US military casualties, though not as grim as the Iraqi death toll, are still significant with 4,484 killed and 32,300 wounded as of December 2011, according to iCasualties.[SUP]6[/SUP]For the safely retired architects of this bloody enterprise, there are no regrets. In his self-serving memoir, Decision Points (2010), former US President George W. Bush insists invading Iraq to remove Saddam from power was "the right decision." According to Bush, "America is safer without a homicidal dictator pursuing WMD and supporting terror at the heart of the Middle East."[SUP]7[/SUP] Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is equally unrepentant; arguing in his autobiography A Journey (2010) that: "leaving Saddam in power was a bigger risk to our security than removing him, and that terrible though the aftermath was, the reality of Saddam and his sons in charge of Iraq would at least arguably be much worse."[SUP]8[/SUP]A troubling point for both is the failure to find Saddam's "WMD stockpiles" (Bush) or even an active WMD program, the original rationale for the invasion. The protagonists conveniently blame an "intelligence failure" (Bush) and "intelligence.. .that turned out to be incorrect" (Blair)[SUP]9[/SUP] for this omission. But then invoke new justifications for the war, including Saddam's horrendous human rights record, or claim he could not have be
[SUP]1[/SUP] The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon The United States, W.W. Norton & Co, 2004, p.xv.[SUP]2[/SUP] http://icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx.
[SUP]3[/SUP] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_casualties_caused_by_ISAF_and_US_Forces_in_the_War_in_Af ghanistan_%282001%E2%80%93present%29; and "Parties to Afghan conflict should escalate protection of civilians in 2011", UNAMA Press Release, 9 March 2011.[SUP]4[/SUP] 9/11 Commission Report, p.66.
[SUP]5[/SUP] www.iraqbodycount.org/analysis/numbers/warlogs/ ; www.iraqbodycount.org/analysis/numbers/2011/; &James Hilder, "Iraq war killed 162,000 people, according to final count", The Times, January 3, 2012.[SUP]6[/SUP] http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx.
[SUP]7[/SUP] George W. Bush, Decision Points, Virgin Books, 2010, p.267.
[SUP]8[/SUP] Tony Blair, A Journey, Hutchinson, 2010, p.380.
[SUP]9[/SUP] Bush, Decision Points, pp.262, 268; Blair, A Journey, p.374.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq2
contained indefinitely and would have eventually rebuilt his WMD program.[SUP]10[/SUP] Yet despite being a "threat" to America, the US-led invasion force easily toppled Saddam's regime, taking only twenty days to capture Baghdad. Faced with this litany of transparent falsehoods - including the Iraq-Al Qaeda "link" - many observers have concluded the true reasons for the invasion were kept from the public.[SUP]11[/SUP]Some think the truth will never be known. Richard N. Haass, current President of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) and a senior official in the Bush Administration, reportedly claims he will "go to his grave not knowing the answer."[SUP]12[/SUP]The Rothschild's War?
Outside of this mainstream bewilderment, a small group of researchers claim to have the elusive answer: the invasion of Iraq was actually carried out at the behest of the House of Rothschild. Writing on his website in 2004, for example, Canadian researcher Henry Makow claimed the US invasion of Iraq was actually "advancing the Rothschilds program of world dictatorship.. ,"[SUP]13[/SUP] In a later article, Makow explained:The neo conservative intellectuals are agents of the Illuminati Rothschild banking cartel. Its goal is to integrate the Middle East into the "new world order" at the expense of the U.S. soldier and taxpayer. This is the true nature of "imperialism."
The Rothschild agents pulling Bush's strings included Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, William Kristol, Eliot Abrams and Charles Krauthammer...[SUP]14[/SUP]British researcher Nicholas Hagger, in his book The Syndicate: The Story of the Coming World Government (2004), claimed that a "pro-Israel" US-based "Rothschildite" sub-faction - represented by a pressure group, the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) - supported the invasion "to bring some respite to Israel." A British-based "Rothschildite" faction also played a role, backing the ousting of Saddam Hussein to "secure a new supply of oil" and "improve Israel's position."[SUP]15[/SUP]And in his recent book Human Race Get off Your Knees: The Lion Sleeps No More (2010), David Icke claims "the invasion of Iraq in 2003...was ordered (on behalf of their hidden masters) by the Rothschild assets, George W. Bush and Tony Blair."[SUP]16 [/SUP]According to Icke, the Bush Administration was in fact,...controlled by the so-called 'neo-con' or neoconservative network that included Rothschild Zionist 'think tanks' like the Project for the New American Century and the American Enterprise Institute which, together, orchestrated the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq... At the heart of the Rothschild-controlled neocon cabal were Richard Perle (Rothschild Zionist), Paul Wolfowitz (Rothschild Zionist), Dov Zakheim (Rothschild Zionist), Douglas Feith (Rothschild Zionist), John Bolton (Rothschild Zionist), Lewis Libby (Rothschild Zionist), the list goes on and on.[SUP]17[/SUP][SUP]10[/SUP] Bush, Decision Points, p.270; Blair, A Journey, pp.376-379.
[SUP]11[/SUP] See for example, Christopher Scheer, Robert Scheer, & Lakshimi Chaudhry, The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq, Seven Stories Press, 2003; James Bamford, A Pretext for War, Anchor Books, 2005; Frank Rich, The Greatest Story Ever Sold, Viking, 2006; and Russ Hoyle, Going to War: How Misinformation, Disinformation, and Arrogance Led America into Iraq, Thomas Dunne Books, 2008.
[SUP]12[/SUP] George Packer, The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq, Faber & Faber, 2006, p.46.
[SUP]13[/SUP] Henry Makow, "Americans are Rothschild Proxies in Iraq", www.savethemales.ca, March 14, 2004.
[SUP]14[/SUP] Henry Makow, "Michael Moore Shills for Illuminati Bankers", www.savethemales.ca, July 4, 2004 (emphasis added).
[SUP]15[/SUP] Nicholas Hagger, The Syndicate: The Story of the Coming World Government, O Books, 2004, pp.180, 185, 252-253.
[SUP]16[/SUP] David Icke, Human Race Get Off Your Knees: The Lion Sleeps No More, David Icke Books, 2010, p.131 (emphasis added).
[SUP]17[/SUP] ibid, p.113 (emphasis added); see also ibid, p.136.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq3
Are these claims true? Were the Rothschilds the secret master plotters behind the invasion of Iraq? Given that the claims of Icke, Makow and Hagger seem to be evidence-free, many might well dismiss their allegations as anti-Semitic fabrications. However, as this paper will seek to demonstrate, while their more extravagant claims are unfounded, a review of the evidence suggests some leading members of the House of Rothshild were probably more involved in the push for war than is currently acknowledged in most histories of the invasion. Though silent on the desirability or otherwise of the invasion, a confluence of their historical commitment to Israel's security, and their strong connections to key politicians and the neoconservative network, puts them much closer to this bloody enterprise than is commonly known.The Power of the Rothschilds
These claims of a covert Rothschild role in the invasion of Iraq appear to rest on the assumption they are omnipotent yet shadowy megalomaniacs. David Icke, for example, describes the Rothschilds as a "vicious bunch of interbreeding global criminals and power-crazed genocidal maniacs", and alleges they have "manipulated governments and worked through the Brotherhood network to create wars and revolutions, often lending money to both sides in the ensuing conflicts."[SUP]18[/SUP]Hyperbole aside, Icke's claims reflect an uncontested fact that during the 19th century the Rothschilds were, as one recent study noted, "the most powerful force that had ever been known in the world's money markets."[SUP]19[/SUP] According to British historian Niall Ferguson, author of The House of Rothschild (2000), "for most of the century between 1815 and 1914, [the House of Rothschild] was easily the biggest bank in the world."[SUP]20 [/SUP]In fact, to find a "contemporary equivalent",one has to imagine a merger between Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, J. P. Morgan and probably Goldman Sachs tooas well, perhaps, as the International Monetary Fund, given the nineteenth-century Rothschilds' role in stabilising the finances of numerous governments.[SUP]21[/SUP]The Rothschilds also had a reputation for using their vast wealth, originally accumulated by the dynasty's founder Meyer Amschel Rothschild (1743-1812) and then massively expanded by his five sons - Amschel, Nathan, Salomon, Kalman, and James - to manipulate European politics. Having extended their reach beyond Frankfurt, to establish banking houses in London, Paris, Naples and Vienna, the House of Rothschild managed to be both very powerful yet almost supernaturally discrete. As Derek Wilson observes in his study, Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power (1988):Seldom were [the Rothschilds] to be seen engaging in open public debate on important issues. Never did they seek government office. Even when, in later years, some of them entered parliament, they did not feature prominently in the assembly chambers of London, Paris or Berlin. Yet all the while they were helping to shape the major events of the day: by granting or withholding funds; by providing statesmen with an official diplomatic service; by influencing appointments to high office; and by an almost daily intercourse with the great decision makers.[SUP]22[/SUP]
[SUP]18[/SUP] Icke, Human Race Get Off Your Knees, p. 78; and David Icke, ...And The Truth Will Set You Free, Bridge of Love, 2004, p.39.
[SUP]19[/SUP] George Ireland, Plutocrats: A Rothschild Inheritance, John Murray, 2007, p.3.
[SUP]20[/SUP] Niall Ferguson, The House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets 1798-1848, Vol. I, Penguin Books, 2000, p.3.[SUP]21[/SUP] Niall Ferguson, The House of Rothschild: The World's Banker, 1849-1998, Vol.II, Penguin Books, 2000, p.479.
[SUP]22[/SUP] Derek Wilson, Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power, Andre Deutsch, 1988, p.99 (emphasis added).
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq4
But what was the basis to their power? Why did they have such good access to the kings, princes and prime ministers of the time? An obvious answer would be their enormous wealth, which rivalled that of Europe's ruling monarchs and princes. The Rothschild fortune rapidly increased from £80,000 in 1810 (equivalent to £2.7 million in 2005) to some £6 million by 1836 (£4.8 billion).[SUP]23[/SUP] When Nathan M. Rothschild died in 1836, his personal fortune amounted to £3.5 million making him "richer, in terms of net wealth, than anyone else in Britain."[SUP]24[/SUP] Or to put it into perspective: his personal wealth was equal to 0.62% of Britain's Gross Domestic Product.[SUP]25[/SUP] While the combined wealth of his four sons, estimated at £8.4 million in 1870s (£4.9 billion), was "a sum that exceeded the worth of any other family in England of the day."[SUP]26[/SUP]Yet, wealth alone does not account for the power of the Rothschilds in the 19th century. Recent academic work suggests their political power was based on four factors:1. Financial leverage: During the 19th century the Rothschilds dominated the international bond market - the buying and selling of government debts - the London house, for example, was responsible for 38 per cent of the value of loans issued for foreign governments over 1818-1832.[SUP]27[/SUP] This enormous financial power enabled the Rothschilds to pressure governments: "if a regime bent on war asked to lend money, they could refuse, and conversely they could give financial support to one that was peacefully inclined."[SUP]28[/SUP] Or vice versa.2. Secret Communications: The Rothschilds gained privileged access to the courts of Europe through their "uniquely fast communications network", which not only gave them an advantage over competitors, but it was used by European statesmen. This was because the Rothschild courier network was "quicker than the official courier systems" and it enabled informal messages to be sent between governments "indirectly through the brothers."[SUP]29[/SUP] The Rothschilds naturally exploited their unique access to influence Europe's political leaders.3. Bribes, Loans & Gifts: The Rothschilds used a range of financial inducements to cultivate relationships with princes, politicians and numerous sundry officials. For example, the Rothschilds provided the famous Austrian chancellor and foreign minister, Prince Klemens von Metternich, with numerous loans, totaling nearly 2 million gulden. The Rothschilds also lent money to Metternich's son, Victor, and provided cash gifts, cheap loans and eventually a retainer to his secretary, Friedrich Gentz.[SUP]30[/SUP] Other recipients included future British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, the Duke of Wellington, and his financier, John Charles-Herries.[SUP]31[/SUP]4. Media Manipulation: The Rothschild brothers also sought to influence the markets through the press. Nathan developed relationships with key journalists at the London Times; Salomon, through Gentz, was able to exert pressure on the German
[SUP]23[/SUP] Amos Elon, The Founder: Meyer Amschel Rothschild and His Time, (HarperCollins, 1996), p.155; and Niall Ferguson, "Metternich and the Rothschilds", The Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook 2001, p.22. Currency conversions through www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency/default0.asp#mid (2005).
[SUP]24[/SUP] Ireland, Plutocrats, p.27.
[SUP]25[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol.I, p.481-482. Ferguson estimates that if measured in 1995 values, Nathan's fortune was equivalent of almost £3.7 billion.
[SUP]26[/SUP] Ireland, Plutocrats, p.354.
[SUP]27[/SUP] Ferguson, "Metternich and the Rothschilds", pp.22, 34.
[SUP]28[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol.I,, p.244.
[SUP]29[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol.I, pp. 232-233, 244; and Ferguson, "Metternich and the Rothschilds", p.34.
[SUP]30[/SUP] Ferguson, "Metternich and the Rothschilds", p.24.
[SUP]31[/SUP] Ireland, Plutocrats, p.176; Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol 1. pp.154-157.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq5
newspaper, the Allegmeine Zeitung; while James, in France, was able to influence the Moniteur Universal and the Journal des Debats. Indeed, as James later told his nephews in 1837, "it is good if one can regulate public opinion."[SUP]32[/SUP]The first half of the 19th century was arguably the pinnacle of Rothschild political and economic power, and the period which established their mystique. A century and a half later the Rothschild name still retains its cachet, but there is little evidence they have preserved anywhere near the same level of power. To be sure, as will be detailed below, the Rothschilds remain very well-connected, but they have lost many of their previous advantages. From its original five branches, only two - the English and French - exist today. These were merged in 2007 to form the Rothschild Group[SUP]33[/SUP], but the House of Rothschild remains fractured with numerous independent offshoots, including: the Rothschild Investment Trust (RIT);[SUP]34[/SUP] the Edmond de Rothschild Group;[SUP]35[/SUP] and Vallares PLC.[SUP]36[/SUP] More importantly, the Rothschilds have exited the international bond market and are now confined to the international financial services business.[SUP]37[/SUP]While it is rumoured the Rothschild fortune, kept in trusts in Switzerland, is worth £40 billion[SUP]38[/SUP] or even "trillions",[SUP]39[/SUP] more conservative estimates suggest a lesser fortune, reflecting the combined impact of heavy financial losses during both world wars onerous death duties in England, and the forced nationalisation of private banks in France in 1981.[SUP]40[/SUP] In 2002, Forbes calculated the wealth of the eight leading members of the Rothschild family at US$1.5 billion.[SUP]41[/SUP] The Sunday Times in 2008 estimated Sir Evelyn de Rothschild to be worth £527 million; while his cousin, RIT Chairman Lord Jacob Rothschild and his son Nat had a combined fortune of £1.4 billion.[SUP]42[/SUP] In 2011, Vallares founder Nat finally made billionaire status in his own right, becoming the 67th richest person in Britain.[SUP]43[/SUP] His Swiss relative, Benjamin de Rothschild, Chairman of the Edmond de Rothschild Group, estimated his own fortune at €3 billion in 2010.[SUP]44[/SUP]The other measures of Rothschild power are also somewhat circumscribed, though they retain some media interests. This includes shares in The Economist newspaper group.[SUP]45 [/SUP]Sir Evelyn was Chairman of The Economist from 1972 to 1989 and his current wife, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild became a non-executive Director in 2002.[SUP]46[/SUP] Sir Evelyn was also a non-executive director for Conrad Black's Telegraph Group; [SUP]47[/SUP] while his cousin Lord Jacob Rothschild, was a member of the international advisory board for
[SUP]32[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol.I, pp.287-288.
[SUP]33[/SUP] http://www.rothschild.com/; "Rothschild banking group unifies", Agence France Presse, July 17, 2007.[SUP]34[/SUP] http://www.ritcap.co.uk/.
[SUP]35[/SUP] http://www.edmond-de-rothschild.com/pres...ation.aspx.
[SUP]36[/SUP] Guy Chazan, "From Klosters to Kurdistan", Wall Street Journal, September 12, 2011.
[SUP]37[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol. II, p.479.
[SUP]38[/SUP] Tim O'Sullivan, "The young elite 1-10", The Observer, March 12, 2008.
[SUP]39[/SUP] Paul Vallely, "The Rothschild story: A golden era ends for a secretive dynasty", The Independent, April 16, 2004.[SUP]40[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol.II, pp.454-456; Frederic Morton, The Rothschilds, Penguin, 1961, pp.209-210; and Wilson, Rothschild, pp.430-431.
[SUP]41[/SUP] "The Dynasties: Rothschild Family", Forbes, February 28, 2002.
[SUP]42[/SUP] "Lord and Nat Rothschild" & "Sir Evelyn and Lady de Rothschild", Sunday Times, April 27, 2008.
[SUP]43[/SUP] "Nat Rothschild tops hedge fund rich list", Reuters, May 6, 2011.
[SUP]44[/SUP] Eyatan Avriel & Guy Rolnik, "Family Values", Ha'aretz, November 5, 2010.
[SUP]45[/SUP] www.economistgroup.com/results_and_governance/ownership.html.
[SUP]46[/SUP] www.economistgroup.com/results_and_governance/board.html.
[SUP]47[/SUP] "Black's Canadian Conundrum", The Sunday Times, March 28, 1993.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq6
Hollinger International, of which Black was CEO.[SUP]48[/SUP] Jacob was Deputy-Chairman of Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB satellite television network from 2003 to 2007.[SUP]49[/SUP]Nevertheless, on a number of measures - specifically their wealth, financial specialisation and connections - the Rothschilds would surely still qualify as members of the global power elite, or that elite group of 5000, the so-called "Superclass."[SUP]50[/SUP] In 1997, for example, Evelyn was among only three Britons in Vanity Fair's list of the 65 "most powerful people in the world."[SUP]51[/SUP] While Jacob has been lauded as "the great Establishment fixer" (Barber), and credited with "tremendous dynamism while staying resolutely behind the scenes" (Wullschlager).[SUP]52[/SUP] The key question is: was their power a critical to the behind-the-scenes effort to oust Saddam Hussein?The Eastern Front
Icke, Makow and Hagger suggest the Rothschilds had a number of motives to initiate the war against Iraq. Three in particular stand-out: (1) to advance the plot to build world government; (2) to exploit Iraq's oil; and (3) to remove a regional strategic threat to Israel. All three warrant further scrutiny, though only the latter two are plausible.(1) World Government: Numerous researchers have argued the invasion of Iraq was a critical step in the establishment of world government.[SUP]53[/SUP] It was, claimed one John Birch Society analyst, "only the first of many planned wars of assimilation en route to a world effectively controlled by the United Nations."[SUP]54[/SUP] But there is little evidence that building world government or empowering the UN was ever a genuine war goal. In fact the neo-conservative architects of the invasion claimed it would actually render global institutions irrelevant and confirm US global dominance. "President Bush has no hopes for world government, or for a world beyond conflict. ."claimed PNAC co-founder William Kristol on the eve of the invasion.[SUP]55[/SUP] "What will die in Iraq is the fantasy of the United Nations as the foundation of a new world order", predicted Richard Perle.[SUP]56[/SUP]Indeed, the invasion occurred in defiance of those international rules overseen by the UN: after initially (and reluctantly) lobbying for a UN Security Council authorisation to oust Saddam Hussein, the Bush Administration was quick to abandon that track when it became clear Russia, France and China would not support such a resolution. Untroubled by a lack of UN authorisation, the US and its allies invaded anyway in an act subsequently declared "illegal" by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.[SUP]57[/SUP] As numerous legal scholars noted, through its invasion of Iraq the US Government had
[SUP]48[/SUP] "Chaim Herzog Joins Hollinger Advisory Board", Jerusalem Post, January 7, 1994.
[SUP]49[/SUP] "Row as BSkyB picks Murdoch Jr", ITNNews, November 4, 2003; and Mark Cobley, "Meet the most popular man at BSkyB", efinancialnews.com, November 11, 2011, www.efinancialnews.com/story/2011-11-11/most-popular-man-at-bskyb?mod=blogheadlines-home.
[SUP]50[/SUP] See David Rothkopf, Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They are Making, Little, Brown, 2008.
[SUP]51[/SUP] "Masters of the World", Mirror, October 10, 1997.
[SUP]52[/SUP] Lynn Barber, "Financial genius Lord Rothschild on modern art", The Sunday Times, April 4, 2010; Jackie Wullschlager, "Lunch with FT: Jacob Rothschild", Financial Times, April 16, 2010.
[SUP]53[/SUP] See for example, Dennis L. Cuddy, "The Iraq War, Oil and World Government", NewsWithViews.com, March 26, 2007; and Alan Stang, "World Government Frenzy: A Century of War", (2002), www.federalobserver.com/archive .php?aid=3946.
[SUP]54[/SUP] William Norman Grigg, "Why We Fight", The New American, April 21, 2003, p.15.
[SUP]55[/SUP] William Kristol, "Morality in Foreign Policy", Weekly Standard, February 10, 2003.
[SUP]56[/SUP] Richard Perle, "United They Fall", The Spectator, March 22, 2003, p.22.
[SUP]57[/SUP] "Iraq war illegal, says Annan", BBC News, August 16, 2004.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq7
"behaved as though international law does not matter..." (Sands) and had "gravely delegitimized both cosmopolitan ideals and international law" (Wolin).[SUP]58[/SUP]Given that the invasion of Iraq appears to have done little to advance the cause of world government, the question of whether or not the Rothschilds supported such an objective seems moot. Yet numerous researchers continue to claim the Rothschilds are key players in the alleged plot to build world government,[SUP]59[/SUP] though the evidence for these allegations is remarkably slim. Hagger, for example, makes some heavily qualified, but poorly sourced and inaccurate claims the Rothschilds not only financed Illuminati-founder Adam Weishaupt, but from "early on" were committed to creating a "Weishauptian world rule."[SUP]60[/SUP] The historical record is less convincing. Despite their support for a number of geopolitical schemes within Europe, including an Anglo-American alliance,[SUP]61[/SUP] the Rothschilds have balked at world government. Cecil Rhodes, for example, removed Lord Nathaniel Rothschild (1840-1915) from his later wills because the banker had proved himself "absolutely incapable" of understanding his vision of creating a secret society to achieve an Anglo-American world government.[SUP]62[/SUP](2) Oil: A more plausible motive would be to share in the spoils gained from wresting control of Iraq's substantial oil resources from Saddam Hussein, replacing his regime with a more compliant one that would privatise the oil industry and be more reluctant to join with OPEC nations to raise oil prices. Although some senior Bush Administration officials denied that Iraq's substantial oil reserves had any bearing on the decision to invade, and Blair dismissed it as a "conspiracy theory"; it was patently obvious to many
[SUP]58[/SUP] Philippe Sands, Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules, Allen Lane, 2005, p.203; and Richard Wolin, "The idea of cosmopolitanism: from Kant to the Iraq war and beyond", Ethics & Global Politics, Vol. 3, No. 2, (2010).
[SUP]59[/SUP] See for example, Dr K. R. Bolton, "A Rothschild Plan for World Government", Foreign Policy Journal, March 24, 2011; David Allen Rivera, The New World Order Exposed [Final Warning: A History of the New World Order], Thinkers Library, 2004, pp.16-21; and Nicholas Hagger, The Secret History of the West, O Books, 2005, p.358-403.
[SUP]60[/SUP] Hagger, Secret History, pp.289, 359. Hagger writes that between 1770 and 1776 Weishaupt "seems" to have received Rothschild funds, and there are "reports" that in 1773 Mayer Amschel Rothschild "appears" to have "met Weishaupt to plan world revolution." Despite his initial caution, Hagger subsequently treats both claims as facts (see pp.362, 397), yet neither claim is credible for a number of reasons. First, throughout the 1770s Rothschild was no master banker, but a modestly wealthy trader of rare coins, medals, coffee, wool, cotton and rabbit skins, and largely confined to the Jewish ghetto in Frankfurt. His banking business did not emerge until the 1780s (Elon, The Founder, p.71). Second, there is no evidence that Rothschild (then only 28 years old) and Weishaupt ever met in 1773 or any other time, let alone plotted "world revolution" together. Terry Melanson suggests the only connection between the Rothschilds and the Illuminati was indirect: through their banking activities with Illuminati members Baron von Dalberg and Prince Karl, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (See Melanson, Perfectibilists: The 18th Century Bavarian Order of the Illuminati, Trine Day LLC, 2009, pp.278-79, 334-36). Finally, Hagger's sourcing for these claims is unreliable (Secret History, pp.561 n11, 567 n2 & 3). His first source, William Guy Carr's Pawns in the Game (1958), is an inherently dubious and brazenly anti-Jewish tract which does not cite any evidence for the Rothschild funding of Weishaupt. Hagger's second source is Neal Wilgus' The Illuminoids: Secret Societies and Political Paranoia (New English Library, 1978), which refers to the "alleged" 1773 Weishaupt-Rothschild meeting (p.119). Wilgus, in turn, cites Carr's book as one of three making claims about the 1773 meeting, but notes that "no mention of the Rothschilds is given in any other account of the Weishaupt organisation" (ibid, p.51). Wilgus also dismisses Carr's book as both "extreme" and "less plausible"; and "lacking any useful documentation and continually leaping to unlikely conclusions" (p.21). Indeed, elsewhere in Pawns, Carr cites only one "document" as a source for the alleged Weishaupt-Rothschild meeting: "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion", an infamous anti-Semitic forgery which, incidentally, mentions neither Rothschild nor Weishaupt. Hagger, though, neglects to mention Wilgus' critical views on Carr or his scepticism about the 1773 meeting.
[SUP]61[/SUP] Ferguson, House of Rothschild, Vol. II, pp.389-394; Morton, The Rothschilds, pp.200-206.
[SUP]62[/SUP] See Will Banyan, A Short History of the Round Table, October 2008, pp.6-7.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq8
observers that improving access to Iraq's oil was driving the invasion.[SUP]63[/SUP] This had long been part of the neo-conservatives plans: PNAC's 1998 letter to Clinton, warned that unless Saddam was removed "a significant portion of the world's supply of oil will be put at hazard."[SUP]64[/SUP] Despite the high-level denials, some Bush Administration officials strayed from the script: in September 2002 White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey declared: "the key issue is oil, and a regime change in Iraq would facilitate an increase in world oil", leading to a drop in prices;[SUP]65[/SUP] and in 2003 Bush's former speechwriter, David Frum, wrote that the Global War on Terror was intended to bring "new prosperity to us all, by securing the world's largest pool of oil."[SUP]66[/SUP]The Rothschilds have had a long interest in the oil business. In the 1880s the French branch invested heavily in the Russian oilfields of Baku, to the extent that for a time "around a third of Russian oil output was Rothschild-controlled." The Rothschilds later became the largest shareholders in Shell and Royal Dutch, facilitating their eventual merger.[SUP]67[/SUP] Current Rothschild oil interests are less substantial. Until recently Jacob Rothschild was the biggest family investor in oil, financing oil development in Central Asia, including purchasing stock in Kazakhstan's largest oil company, through his investment company Tau Capital PLC, established in 2007.[SUP]68[/SUP] Jacob, through RIT, also owns Agora Oil & Gas, which in turn owns 15 per cent of the Catcher oil field in the North Sea.[SUP]69[/SUP] Jacob has also recently invested in shale oil exploration in Israel.[SUP]70[/SUP]Given this background, supporting the invasion of Iraq to open up its oil reserves to international oil companies for the first time since 1974 would presumably have found favour with the Rothschilds. Indeed, in September 2011 Vallares Plc, an investment vehicle or "cash shell" created by Nat Rothschild merged with a Turkish company, Genel Energy International to create Genel Energy PLC, picking up Genel's existing exploration and production operation in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq. Genel is currently producing a very modest 50,000 barrels per day, but it is sitting in a region in Iraq estimated to have up to 40 billion barrels of oil.[SUP]71[/SUP](3) Israel: Protecting Israel is by far the most plausible motive for Rothschild support of the invasion. Indeed, ever since Israel bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981, ousting Saddam Hussein had been an important Israeli strategic objective. This occasionally found expression in the public domain. Back in 1982, for example, Oded Yinon, a journalist and former Israeli diplomat, had publicly advocated Iraq's "dissolution", as it was "Iraqi power which constitutes the greatest threat to Israel."[SUP]72[/SUP] Then in 1996, an all-[SUP]63[/SUP] See for example, Paul Roberts, The End of Oil: The Decline of the Petroleum Economy and the Rise of a New Energy Order, Bloomsbury, 2004, pp.111-113, 304; Michael C. Ruppert, Crossing the Rubicon, New Society, 2004, pp.527-537; William R. Clark, Petrodollar Warfare: Oil, Iraq and the Future of the Dollar, New Society, 2005; (Blair quote) Kevin Philips, "American Petrocracy", The American Conservative, July 17, 2006; and David Strahan, The Last Oil Shock, John Murray, 2007, pp.1-35.
[SUP]64[/SUP] PNAC letter to President Bill Clinton, January 26, 1998.
[SUP]65[/SUP] Lindsey quoted in Philips, "American Petrocracy".
[SUP]66[/SUP] David Frum, The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2003, p.282.
[SUP]67[/SUP] Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol.II, pp.355,
[SUP]68[/SUP] Guy Norton, "How now, Tau?", Euromoney, September 24, 2007; "Jacob Rothschild", Vanity Fair, 2008, www.vanityfair.com/online/newestablishment/2008/09/jacob-rothschild.html.
[SUP]69[/SUP] Mike Foster, "Rothschild's RIT on a roll", efinancial news, July 11, 2011; Michael Kavanagh, "Premier to buy North Sea explorer EnCore", Financial Times, October 5, 2011.[SUP]70[/SUP] "Genie targets Israeli oil-shale potential", Petroleum Economist, December 2, 2010.
[SUP]71[/SUP] Chazan, "From Klosters to Kurdistan"; Matt Aitkins, "Vallares Kurdish Excursion", January 2012, www.financierworldwide.com/article.php?id=8915.
[SUP]72[/SUP] See Oded Yinon, "A Strategy for Israel for the Nineteen Eighties", KIVUNIM (Directions), (February 1982) at http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/articles/article0005345.html.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq9
American study group, lead by Perle for an Israeli think-tank, produced the paper, A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm, to advise Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A Clean Break recommended "removing Saddam Hussein from power", which, it acknowledged, was "an important Israeli objective in its own right." Perle, and two other members of the Clean Break study group, David Wurmser and Douglas Feith, later became member of the Bush Administration.[SUP]73[/SUP] More blatant were former Israeli Prime Ministers Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, who in September 2002 publicly advocated a "pre-emptive strike" against Iraq (Netanyahu) and "putting an end to Saddam Hussein's regime" (Barak), due to the potential danger Iraq posed to Israel.[SUP]74[/SUP]A number of senior Bush Administration officials also revealed that Israel's security needs had driven the invasion plans. In September 2002, for instance, Philip Zelikow, then on Bush's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, told an audience at the University of Virginia the "unstated threat" was not against the US, it was Iraq's "threat against Israel"; however the US Government did not "lean too hard on it rhetorically, because it is not a popular sell."[SUP]75[/SUP] In May 2003 Deputy Secretary for Defense Paul Wolfowitz told a US Senate Committee that regime-change in Iraq would have a "positive impact on the Arab-Israeli peace process" as Saddam had been "deeply opposed to progress" and was guilty of "financing and supporting terrorism among the Palestinians."[SUP]76[/SUP]Once Saddam was gone, it has not been difficult to tally how Israel had benefitted. This included, as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted in 2007, the "removal of an eastern front threat for Israel."[SUP]77[/SUP] Other observers credited the invasion with compelling Libya to abandon its WMD program, thus removing another potential strategic threat to Israel. Saddam's demise also ended Iraqi support "for one of the Israeli people's most threatening foes": Palestinian suicide bombers, the families of whom had been receiving payments from Iraq.[SUP]78[/SUP] Moreover, by 2008-10 it became abundantly clear that US troops in Iraq served Israel's security needs - as a bulwark against Iran - judging by the panicked response from Israel and its US supporters as the US withdrawal loomed.[SUP]79[/SUP]Given its long history of support for the Jewish state protecting Israel's security would obviously find favour with the Rothschild dynasty. Rothschild support for Israel can be traced back to 1882 when a young Baron Edmund de Rothschild (1845-1934) embraced the Zionist cause, and began funding Jewish settlements in Palestine.[SUP]80[/SUP] Perhaps the most significant milestone was in November 1917, when Baron Walter Rothschild received the so-called Balfour Declaration, in which the British Government confirmed its support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."
[SUP]73[/SUP] See "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm", at www.iasps.org.stra1.htm; and Bamford, A Pretext for War, pp.261-265, 281.
[SUP]74[/SUP] Ehud Barak, "Taking Apart Iraq's Nuclear Threat", New York Times, September 4, 2002; and Benjamin Netanyahu, "The Case for Toppling Saddam", Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2002.[SUP]75[/SUP] Zelikow, quoted in "Letters: The Israel Lobby", London Review of Books, May 25, 2006.
[SUP]76[/SUP] "US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Holds Hearing on Iraq Stabilization and Reconstruction", Federal Document Clearing House, 22 May 2003.[SUP]77[/SUP] Secretary Condoleezza Rice, "Roundtable with Travelling Press", Berlin, Germany, January 18, 2007, http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/B69B10922E9E004C852572680052A414.
[SUP]78[/SUP] Amatzia Baram, "Israel", Foreign Policy, March/April 2007, p.51.
[SUP]79[/SUP] See "McCain: Israel would suffer in Iraq pullout", Jewish Telegraph Agency, March 26, 2008, www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/107735.html;Yitzhak Benhorin, "Netanyahu, Gates discuss eastern front against Israel", Ynet News, July 7, 2010, www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3916691,00.html; and "Netanyahu spells out Israeli security concerns to Gates", Agence France Press, July 7, 2010.
[SUP]80[/SUP] See Simon Schama, Two Rothschilds and the Land of Israel, Alfred A. Knopf, 1978.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq10
Since then Rothschild support for Israel has been manifest on a number of levels. Most prominent has been Yad Hanadiv, or the Benefactors Foundation, chaired by Jacob, which has over the past few decades funded construction of Israel's Parliament, Supreme Court and in 2011 the National Library buildings.[SUP]81[/SUP] Visiting Israel in 1992 for the opening of the Supreme Court, Jacob told the Jerusalem Post:"I consider myself a Zionist. I have been and always will be. I passionately believe in the State of Israel, as we have as a family.. ,"[SUP]82[/SUP]
There has also been less obvious strategic support. This includes the Jacob's emergency donation of £1 million to Israel during the Six Day War in 1967.[SUP]83[/SUP] Also in the 1960s, Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1926-1997) had been a "major contributor" to Israel's nuclear weapons program, funding the start up costs for the nuclear reactor at Dimona.[SUP]84 [/SUP]Recent research has also identified the "British and French branches of the Rothschild family" as secret financial supporters of Israel's nuclear weapons program.[SUP]85[/SUP]
* * *
In Decision Points, Bush makes a valiant though ultimately unconvincing attempt to defend the official rationale behind the invasion, noting there were allegations:that America's real intent was to control Iraq's oil or to satisfy Israel. Those theories were false. I was sending our troops into combat to protect the American people.[SUP]86[/SUP]Yet every government that goes to war has motives and aims that it keeps secret from the public and from its adversaries. This was certainly the case in the first Gulf War, where the key unstated objective of President George H. W. Bush was to "destroy Saddam's offensive capability", though "it had not been feasible to list it openly" as achieving it required avoiding a diplomatic solution, according to the memoir written by Bush Senior and his national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft. In short, as Bush allegedly told his close advisers: "We have to have a war."[SUP]87[/SUP]The 2003 invasion of Iraq was no exception to this rule. But defending Israel and seizing Iraq's oil reserves would not have been the only secret objectives. Numerous analysts have identified other unpalatable reasons including: Bush's belief, allegedly expressed in 1999, that invading Iraq would boost his domestic popularity;[SUP]88[/SUP] and for "demonstration effect", in the wake of 9/11, the invasion of Iraq was intended "send a powerful message" to other potential foes about the costs of defying the US.[SUP]89[/SUP] But of these unstated motives, defending Israel would have appealed the most to Rothschild family, and it motivated the neo-conservatives who served in the Bush Administration.[SUP]81[/SUP] Melanie Lidman, "$200 million renewal project launched at N'tl Library", Jerusalem Post, March 28, 2011.
[SUP]82[/SUP] Quoted in Bill Hutman, "A Magnificent Present From the Rothschilds", Jerusalem Post, November 11, 1992.[SUP]83[/SUP] Calv BenDavid, Joseph Finklestone & Nicholas Simon, "The Immortal Rothschilds", The Jerusalem Report, April 18, 1996, p.36. Equivalent to £13.7 million in 2009 (conversion through www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/).
[SUP]84[/SUP] Seymour M. Hersh, The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy, Random House, 1991, pp.66-67.
[SUP]85[/SUP] Michael Karpin, The Bomb in the Basement: How Israel Went Nuclear and What That Means for the World, Simon & Schuster, 2006, p.137.
[SUP]86[/SUP] Bush, Decision Points, p.253.
[SUP]87[/SUP] George Bush & Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed, Vintage Books, 1998, p.463; and Bob Woodward, Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate, Simon & Schuster, 1999, pp.184-185.
[SUP]88[/SUP] Russ Baker, Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, The Powerful Forces That Put It In The White House, And What Their Influence Means for America, Bloomsbury Press, 2009, pp.423-425
[SUP]89[/SUP] Barton Gellman, Angler: The Shadow Presidency of Dick Cheney, Allen Lane, 2008, p.231.
The 'Rothschild Connection': The House of Rothschild and the Invasion of Iraq11
The Silence of the Rothschilds
According to Lord Jacob Rothschild, the 9/11 attacks were "cataclysmic",[SUP]90[/SUP] but other than the cancellation of Sir Evelyn's 70th birthday party,[SUP]91[/SUP] there are few clues as to what actions the Rothschilds took or advocated in response. Moreover, unlike David Rockefeller, for example, who controversially suggested that US support for Israel may have prompted the attack;[SUP]92[/SUP] the Rothschilds have not publicly speculated on its causes. Indeed, despite having plausible motives to support the forcible ouster of Saddam Hussein - an integral part of the US strategic response to 9/11 - the leading members of the Rothschild family have maintained a conspicuous silence on the issue.This has been the case, even when opportunities have arisen to make their position clear. In September 2002, for example, Jacob hosted a two-day conference of notables, led by billionaire Warren Buffett, at Waddesdon Manor, the Buckinghamshire ancestral home of the Rothschild dynasty. The reported purpose of the "private gathering" was to discuss, among other issues, "the implications of the expected war in Iraq."[SUP]93[/SUP] The conference speakers included two "well-placed Washington officials" who reportedly informed the select group that "war was now inevitable"; and that "regime change" would not stop with Iraq, but would be extended to Iran, Saudia Arabia, Syria and Pakistan.[SUP]94[/SUP] Despite being present, there is no record of Jacob's reaction.The only exception to this silence has been Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, the current wife of Sir Evelyn. In a letter to the Financial Times in 2007, she wrote:One can understand the world's dismay about the US's decision to elect George W. Bush and allow him to lead the US and Britain to war in Iraq. These two acts will godown in history as two of the US's worst decisions and are fair objects of criticism.[SUP]95[/SUP]
Whether her husband and his extended family shared this view is unknown. Her sincerity on this matter is also questionable given that during the 2008 US presidential race her political preferences seemed to be firmly aligned with those contenders who had supported the invasion. Forester had supported Senator Hilary Clinton, but when Barack Obama had won the Democrat nomination; she had switched parties, to back the neo-conservative favourite Senator John McCain.[SUP]96[/SUP] Forester had justified her rejection of Obama, who had opposed the invasion, with the bizarre argument he was an "elitist".[SUP]97[/SUP] What is clear, though, is that neither her husband, nor her many in-laws have found it necessary to comment on one of the biggest controversies of the past decade.The Rothshilds and the Neo-Conservative Network
Between them, Icke and Makow name at least nine prominent neo-conservatives as "Rothschild agents", but curiously provide no proof of any actual Rothschild connections. In fact there is no evidence of the English Rothschilds directly funding any of the US-based neo-conservative organisations, despite donating to other leading US
[SUP]90[/SUP] "Chairman's Statement", in RIT Capital Partners plc, Annual Report and Accounts 31 March 2002, p.4.[SUP]91[/SUP] "Rothschilds hit hard", The Evening Standard, September 24, 2001.
[SUP]92[/SUP] See Bill Marvel, "9-11 attack shook Rockefeller's world of certainty", Dallas Morning News, November 8, 2003.
[SUP]93[/SUP] Damian Reece, "Buffett to be leading light at elite forum", Telegraph, September 14, 2002.
[SUP]94[/SUP] Anatole Kaletsky, "So much money but, I still hope, so little sense", The Times, September 26, 2002.
[SUP]95[/SUP] Financial Times, July 6, 2007 (emphasis added).
[SUP]96[/SUP] Michael Falcone, "A Democratic Baroness Endorses McCain-Palin Ticket", New York Times, September 17, 2008, http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/a-democratic-baroness-endorses-mccain-palin-ticket/.
[SUP]97[/SUP] Lynn Forester de Rothschild, "Democrats Need to Shake the 'Elitist' Tag", Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2008.
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The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14