Broadwell, née Krantz, is linked to Norwegian shipping magnate and former banker Jan Henrik Jebsen, who is in turn linked to key neocons, including Scooter Libby, Conrad Black, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, and Michael Ledeen at the Hudson Institute, a premier neocon think-tank funded by the likes of the Scaife Foundations and General Electric, Monsanto, and other transnational corporations.
“Hudson operates inside Israel, where it pushes the far-rightist views of the most extreme elements in Israeli society: the settler movement, and the faction of Likud angling for war with Iran. It has also focused its attention on purging universities of academics who don’t toe the right-wing ultra-nationalist Likudnik line,” writes Justin Raimondo.
Hudson hosts the Center on Middle East Policy, led by Meyrav Wurmser, cofounder of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) and the wife of lead neocon ideologue and Bush administration official David Wurmser. MEMRI specializes in scathing anti-Islam propaganda and the Wurmsers are notorious for hyping a drummed up and largely fictional Iranian threat.
“Broadwell’s affiliation with the Jebsen Center, and the Center’s connection to the neoconservative network, sets the scene: a young, attractive woman with impeccable national security credentials throws herself at Petraeus, and he takes the bait,” writes Raimondo. “Whether she’s been recruited by a foreign intelligence agency at this point or not is irrelevant: he’s already put himself in a vulnerable position, and there are any number of actors on the international stage more than willing to press their advantage.”
This scenario is especially valid considering negative comments Petraeus made about Israel when he was head of the U.S. Central Command. In March 2010, Petraeus gave testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee:
The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests in the AOR [Area of Operations]. Israeli-Palestinian tensions often flare into violence and large-scale armed confrontations. The conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in the AOR and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilize support. The conflict also gives Iran influence in the Arab world through its clients, Lebanese Hizballah and Hamas.It is no secret that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his neocon allies abhor Obama’s wait-and-see approach on Iran. In the lead-up to the election, the neocon faction placed its weight behind Mitt Romney, who faithfully followed the anti-Iran script handed down by his neocon handlers.
Netanyahu was raked up one side and down the other by the establishment media in the United States for aggressively interjecting himself and his pet cause – a devastating attack on arch foe Iran – into the election. The Israeli prime minister broke political etiquette by involving himself with Sheldon Adelson, the rabid pro-Israel billionaire who donated nearly $35 million to the Romney campaign.
Israel and its supporters in the United States will not wait another four years for the Obama administration to make up its mind on an all-out attack against Iran following a less problematic take down of Syria.
The Petraeus scandal is obviously a message intended for Obama. In the words of former reporter for the New York bureau of the Associated Press, Michael Hoffmann, “if you don’t get on the Israeli bus and do the bidding of the neocon war lobby, at least to the extent that your base will permit,” more top government officials may be sacrificed and the presidency itself may be endangered.
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