Description
The Host & the Parasite is an extraordinarily important book that traces America’s slide into fascism and subservience to a foreign power.
Felton argues persuasively that three groups have converged and come to dominate American policy for the benefit of Israel: the neoconservatives, the Republican evangelicals (Christian Zionists), and Jewish Zionists. He backs up his analysis with over 800 footnoted references to government, scholarly and media sources.
Felton refutes the traditional progressive view that Israel is merely a client state of America. If this is so, he asks, how has America come to pursue policies that are so utterly contrary to their own national interest while being so highly beneficial to its junior partner?
Felton also refutes the theory that ‘it’s all about oil,’ arguing that the First Persian Gulf War was the last American oil war and that the Second Persian Gulf War ignored the interests of American oil companies, increased American oil costs and reduced American national security. How could this have happened? The Second War, he demonstrates, can only be adequately explained by the take-over of American foreign and domestic policy for the benefit of Israel.
Felton’s book integrates a remarkable range of relevant material, including:
- the decline of American republican government from Vietnam to the present;
- the rise of American fascism since the Reagan years;
- the rise of the pro-Israel lobby in America and its growing influence on the presidency from 1948 until now;
- the subjugation of America’s House and Senate by the pro-Israel lobby;
- the anti-democratic philosophy of Leo Strauss and its corrosive influence on America via the neoconservative movement;
- the growth and goals of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) and other right-wing think tanks;
- PNAC’s search for a new ‘Pearl Harbor’ to permit the restructuring of America;
- The Israeli foreign policy goal of dismembering Iraq to ensure Israeli regional domination;
- the demonization of Islam;
- the origins and rise of the religious right in America and its obsession with Israel;
- the planned attack on Iran that is being pushed by Israel and its proxies in America;
- the extremely gloomy prospects for America to “return to normal”
Felton is generous in his praise of others who have explored some of this material such as John Mearsheimer, Stephen Walt, Jimmy Carter and Paul Findley. Felton’s book, however, is a far more comprehensive study of the subject and integrates a much fuller range of issues and data to demonstrate the self-destructive nature of American policy in our time.
For those who imagine that America’s Mideast policy is motivated by “love of justice and democracy,” Felton reviews America’s shameful and ongoing record of supporting dictators and overthrowing democratically elected third world governments.
For those who pretend that America’s Mideast policy is intended to serve America’s self-interest, Felton reviews the appalling cost to America of its pro-Israel policy: thousands of dead American soldiers; trillions of dollars of debt incurred over the years due to higher oil costs and ruinous wars; the enmity of the world; and the destruction of the American system of republican government.
And what has America gained by supporting Israel? Nothing, Felton argues, that can begin to justify the appalling cost.
The book’s cover makes it clear that ‘Israel’s Fifth column’ includes secular neocon crooks like Rumsfeld and Cheney; Christian evangelical maniacs like Bush; and Jewish Zionist power players like Perle, Feith and Wolfowitz. Together, these people have torn up the American Constitution, dedicated America to endless war, bankrupted the country and endangered its security while cynically promoting the interests of a foreign power.
Softcover, 490 pages
