Jeremy Corbyn in the Morning Star, November 22 2006

I’ve unearthed over 30 articles written by Jeremy Corbyn, in which he falsely blames the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The PNAC was a US think-tank staffed predominantly by Jewish Americans, and it is the subject of conspiracy theories — many of which rely on antisemitic themes.[1] Proponents of theory include antisemitic conspiracist[2] David Icke, white supremacist[3] author Kevin Macdonald[4] and holocaust denier[5] Gilad Atzmon[6].

I can reveal that Jeremy Corbyn accused the PNAC of exploiting 9/11 as an “opportunity”[7] and of orchestrating foreign invasions to grab “global reach and dominance.”[8]

In 2010, Corbyn spoke to Iran’s Official State News Agency — he described 9/11 as an event seized upon by the PNAC: “9/11 was the opportunity for the Project of the New American century to launch its wars…It means that the opportunity that the retaliation of the 9/11 offered was to start the war in Afghanistan.”[9]

As recently as 2013, Corbyn wrote that events of 9/11 were exploited to carry out what he called “the sinister dream” of the PNAC: “after the events of September 11 2001 it soon became obvious that George W Bush had nothing on his mind other than waging war and fulfilling the sinister dream of the Project for New American Century”.[10]

In a 2006 Morning Star article, Corbyn claimed the Afghan and Iraq wars were about the PNAC: “Both wars were a result of an inappropriate response to the attacks on September 11 2001, which the neoconservatives seized upon to put their infamous Project for a New American Century into operation.”[11]

Corbyn, who will be in charge of Britain’s armed forces if he becomes Prime Minister, claimed “our troops are risking their lives not for the British empire but for the madness of the Project for a New American Century.”[12] The Labour leader also accused Tony Blair of fabricating claims about Weapons of Mass Destruction to “appease the grand designs” of the PNAC”.[13]

The Leader of the Opposition also said the former US President was “in thrall” of the PNAC, and he lamented that George Bush failed to understand the motives of suicide bombers: “It might be a difficult concept for Bush, in the thrall of the Project for a New American Century brigade, but might he consider what motivates the suicide bombers and why so many people around the world not only detest the arrogance of the US and Britain but see no solution in any of these wars?”.[14]

Corbyn believes the PNAC’s plans are not limited to the Middle East. In 2006, he wrote that world domination was the group’s ultimate goal, rather than toppling Saddam Hussein: “the real motives were the Project for a New American Century’s plan for global reach and domination, which poses a threat to the whole planet.”[15]

Corbyn made a link between the PNAC and Israel

On-line conspiracies often make claims about the PNAC and its connection to Israel. Jeremy Corbyn also appears to have made such links:

At a 2009 event organized by the Stop the War Coalition Corbyn claimed events in Gaza were connected to the PNAC “we’ve opposed the Project for a new American Century and all the policies that go with that. This is another aspect of it… I’m convinced that one of the factors, not the only one, but one of the factors behind Israel’s current campaign is that it wants to exploit the natural gas off the coast of Gaza to benefit American and other international oil companies.”[16]

Jeremy Corbyn also repeatedly, and wrongly, claimed that one of the aims of the Iraq war was the reconstruction of a pipeline between Iraq and Israel. At a 2003 rally he announced:

“In the occupation of Iraq, we see the re-imposition of Western colonial power in that region. You will see a pipeline opened from Mosul through to Haifa. You will see the oil being pumped. And you will see a deep ignorance of the continued killing of Palestinian people”.

He also wrote about the pipeline in three Morning Star articles in April 2003. In the first of these he claimed Israel would be a beneficiary of the plan: “a very interesting story surfaced last weekend of US plans to reopen the long-dormant Mosul to Haifa oil pipeline, which would have the effect of circumventing the Gulf and supplying Israel with oil. Inconveniently, Syria is in the way of this plan.”[17]

Then on April 16 2003, Corbyn wrote “Contracts have already been handed out to Halliburton and other companies for oil equipment and ports and studies are underway to reopen the mothballed pipeline from Mosul to Haifa.”[18]

Finally, on April 23rd that year he claimed “coalition forces seem to have had no problem in securing oil fields and refineries or in making preparations for a renewal of the pipeline to take oil to Haifa from Mosul”.[19]

In this same article, Corbyn then spelled out his belief that the Iraq war was partly waged partly to “secure Israel’s oil supplies”. He wrote: ”The occupying forces are well aware of that and, in their cold calculations, the US and British want to ensure that Iraq is, essentially, a client state. The reality is that the plan is to reward donors to Bush’s election funds with contracts, to secure Israel’s oil supplies and to provide permanent bases for the US.”[20]

Corbyn doubted Bin Laden’s presence in Afghanistan at the time of 9/11 attacks

Theories about the PNAC appear to be a part of the 9/11 “truther” movement — the community of conspiracy theorists preoccupied with the terror attacks. I can also numerous articles in which Jeremy Corbyn questioned the motives of going to war in Aghanistan by suggesting Bin Laden might not have been in the country, or that there were other inconsistencies.

By 2004, it was long beyond doubt Bin Laden and Al Qaeda were responsible for the attacks[21], but writing three years after, Corbyn referred to “alleged perpetrators”. He suggested: “post-September 11 2001, the US regime launched a massive invasion and bombing of Afghanistan to deal with the alleged perpetrators of the New York outrage.”[22]

Writing in 2008, Corbyn seemed skeptical that Bin Laden was in Afghanistan at the time of the attacks: “the Afghan war was fought on the assumption that Osama bin Laden was hiding there after September 11 2001 and that the stability of the whole world relies on the West getting its way in that country.”[23]

In 2009, he used the term “supposedly” to refer to Bin Laden’s whereabouts, and claimed the US and UK made no attempt at seizing the terror leader without war. “The war started eight years ago in 2001, supposedly because the government of Afghanistan was concealing Osama bin Laden. Neither Bush nor Blair appeared interested in any kind of diplomatic outcome.”[24] The latter point is wrong, in reality that the Taliban repeatedly rejected demands to hand over Bin Laden.[25]

In March 2011, Corbyn seemed to cast doubt not just on Bin Laden’s location but adopted an odd choice of words about his responsibility — “the Afghan adventure was based on the theory that Osama Bin Laden had bombed the US and therefore bombing Afghanistan would lead to his capture and the whole matter would be swiftly ended.”[26]

Finally, in an article he wrote for CNN in 2011, Corbyn claimed there were “contradictions” in the invasion of Afghanistan because of supposed links between Bin Laden and the United States: “the invasion duly happened; predictably the Afghan forces were over-run and the hunt was on for Bin Laden…There were many contradictions in all this. Bin Laden and his companies had been associated with the U.S. and even reportedly the Bush family. The statements by Bin Laden were more concerned about U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia than anything else.”[27]

Conclusion — PNAC conspiracy theory is central in Corbyn’s world view

Author Robin Yassin-Kassab notes that when giving talks about Syria to left-wing audiences he’s often asked the same questions. Are the Rothschilds behind the war in Syria? Did Israel create ISIS? Or is it all the fault of the Project for a New American Century? He points out the absurdity: “as if a paper written years ago by Jewish Americans bears more weight than the unbearable oppression of the Assad regime.”[28]

Back in 2004, David Brooks wrote in the New York Times of a growing antisemitic conspiracy about the small group of policy wonks. He wrote: “full-mooners [are] fixated on a think tank called the Project for a New American Century, which has a staff of five and issues memos on foreign policy. To hear these people describe it, PNAC is a sort of Yiddish Trilateral Commission, the nexus of the sprawling neocon tentacles”.[29]

It is disturbing that the Labour leader promoted this theory over the past two decades. It also appears the PNAC conspiracy was the driving force behind the Stop the War Coalition.

John Rees, who like Corbyn co-founded the Stop the War Coalition, suggested in 2016 that the anti-war group was created partly because of the PNAC.

Rees said: “We understood what was happening with American imperialism and therefore when 9/11 happened, we automatically assumed that this would be used as a trigger by the Bush administration to enact the project for a new American century. So we were, if you like, intellectually and theoretically in the right place before the event happened. So we reacted very quickly. The first meeting of the Stop the War Coalition was held — I think 9/11 was a Tuesday and on the Friday of the following week we had the first Stop the War rally. I wrote the first leaflet. It was called Stop the War before It Starts. And the leaflet said they are going to use this to attack Iraq and Afghanistan.” (Read here)

Just earlier this month, Corbyn spoke of “conspiracy theorists” “who see Muslims and migrants or George Soros as their enemy.”[30] It is important to address antisemitic tropes about the philanthropist George Soros — but Corbyn’s hypocrisy is staggering given his own record of promoting conspiracies about the Project for a New American Century that capitalise on antisemitic themes of world domination, causing wars, and and profiteering from conflict.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/06/opinion/the-era-of-distortion.html

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/feb/20/conspiracy-theorist-david-icke-hits-back-after-australia-revokes-visa

[3] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2234623/Kevin-MacDonald-University-professor-A3P-leader-investigation-white-supremacist-teachings.html

[4]http://web.archive.org/web/20170106091650/https://www.toqonline.com/archives/v4n2/TOQv4n2MacDonald.pdf

[5] https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/chris-williamson-labour-mp-signs-petition-gilad-atzmon-blockheads-islington-council-1.474213

[6] http://web.archive.org/web/20160408214744/https://www.gilad.co.uk/the-wandering-who/2011/9/18/prof-william-a-cook-tearing-the-veil-from-israels-civility-a.html

[7] 9/11, American project to dominate Middle East, says British lawmaker Iranian Government News October 12, 2010

[8] Feature — War, war, war; Jeremy Corbyn looks at the issues facing Labour in the runup to the annual Labour Party Conference Morning Star September 6, 2006 Wednesday

[9] 9/11, American project to dominate Middle East, says British lawmaker Iranian Government News October 12, 2010

[10] Ten years on… Morning Star January 29, 2013 Tuesday

[11] Feature — All part of the plan; Jeremy Corbyn on why there’s no separating the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq Morning Star November 22, 2006 Wednesday

[12] Feature — Reid’s lacking a certain sense of history Morning Star April 26, 2006 Wednesday

[13] How pure is Evian?; JEREMY CORBYN MP responds to the unpleasant spectacle of the G8 summit and issues a challenge to Blair over the truth on Iraq. Morning Star June 04, 2003

[14] What price liberty?; JEREMY CORBYN MP warns us that hysterical talk of the terrorist “threat” is being used to cloak a crackdown on our civil liberties. Morning Star May 28, 2003

[15] Feature — War, war, war; Jeremy Corbyn looks at the issues facing Labour in the runup to the annual Labour Party Conference Morning Star September 6, 2006 Wednesday

[16]Jeremy Corbyn MP -“Stop the Gaza Massacre Rally in London” 8 January 2009 https://youtu.be/INTLsVpW5Sc?t=628

[17] Where now?; JEREMY CORBYN MP looks beyond the current death and distruction in Iraq and throws down a challenge to the peace movement. Morning Star April 09, 2003

[18] Is this peace?; JEREMY CORBYN MP sees confusion and chaos in the wake of the allied “victory” and reminds us that this is only one of many global struggles. Morning Star April 16, 2003

[19] Corporate takeover; JEREMY CORBYN MP sees Orwellian overtones in Washington’s approach to world affairs — but with a couple of crucial differences. Morning Star April 23, 2003

[20] Corporate takeover; JEREMY CORBYN MP sees Orwellian overtones in Washington’s approach to world affairs — but with a couple of crucial differences. Morning Star April 23, 2003

[21] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/14/september11.afghanistan

[22] Iraq and beyond; JEREMY CORBYN MP looks at the implications for the world of the US and Britain’s continued occupation of Iraq. Morning Star June 30, 2004

[23] Feature — Miliband’s neocon act; Jeremy Corbyn considers David Miliband’s misguided plans for future policy Morning Star February 13, 2008 Wednesday

[24] Feature — Obama’s unwinnable conflict Morning Star October 7, 2009 Wednesday

[25] https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/02/international/taliban-again-refuses-to-turn-over-bin-laden.html

[26] Feature — Labour needs to break with the past; The party has to formulate a humane foreign policy if it is to have a credible voice, says Jeremy Corbyn Morning Star March 2, 2011 Wednesday [Page 2 here: Link]

[27] https://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/07/opinion/ten-years-on-a-new-generation-has-learned-to-oppose-war/index.html

[28] https://qunfuz.com/2018/08/04/is-corbynism-anti-semitic/

[29] https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/06/opinion/the-era-of-distortion.html

[30] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tewoh3wLl38