Final_Judgment

130 The Coming of the Messiah [69]
"Officially, the United States was "firmly committed to the support of the
political independence and territorial integrity of all the [Middle Eastern]
nations," while consciously, covertly, the Johnson "Middle East team" set
about enabling Israel to redraw to her advantage virtually every one of her
borders with neighboring Arab states.
"It was, of course, a policy without principle, without integrity. But it
was also ineffective, in the sense that Israel steadily continued to act in ways
that ignored U.S. national security interests." 190
VIETNAM—ISRAEL BENEFITS
These incredible facts about the sudden reversal of traditional U.S.
policy have gone too long ignored in the context of considering the question of
who stood most to benefit by the assassination of John F. Kennedy.Israel clearly
stood most to benefit—and did.
All of this is most ironic when one considers the fact that Israel
repeatedly and pointedly refused to support Johnson's Vietnam policy, much
to the dismay of "Israel's Texas Friend." "Dammit," Johnson once
complained to his "staff anti-Semite" Harry McPherson, "they want me to
protect Israel, but they don't want me to do anything in Vietnam." 191
Clearly, Israel's allies in the CIA now had a free hand to conduct their
own private war in Vietnam—one CIA benefit resulting from Kennedy's
removal from the presidency. (In Chapter 9 we will examine Kennedy's war
with the CIA in further detail.)
Johnson's reversal of JFK's decision to begin withdrawing U.S. forces
(and CIA personnel) from Southeast Asia was, in its own sense, a CIA
coup. The CIA also expanded its own power during the Vietnam conflict.
Likewise with Johnson's many friends in the defense industry both at
home in Texas and elsewhere. The defense contractors reaped untold billions
in profits from Johnson's dirty little war in Southeast Asia—a war that
probably spelled the end of Johnson's popular chances for a second term.
VIETNAM—ISRAEL'S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET
However, what has been unfortunately ignored is that Israel, too, had
much to gain from U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
As Stephen Green points out, a direct and proximate result of U.S.
military adventurism in Southeast Asia was Israel's ability to advance its
own military muscle and political influence in the Middle East.
After all, Israel could now argue, with the United States bogged down
in Southeast Asia, Uncle Sam needed its close, reliable, democratic ally in
the Middle East looking out for America's interests in the region.
According to Green: "In a period in which the Johnson White House
was becoming increasingly obsessed with the war in Vietnam, Israel's
military leaders offered to impose stability upon the peoples and countries of
the Middle East—it was to be a 'Pax Hebraeca.'