Tom Sunic, scholar and former diplomat, and IHR Director Mark Weber, addressed a special Institute for Historical Review meeting, Saturday evening, February 15, 2003, which was held at a pleasant hotel in Costa Mesa, California. While most of those who attended were from the Los Angeles and Orange County area, some came from further away. One person even flew in from Arizona.

In an address entitled “American Hegemony in Europe and the Middle East: Who Benefits?,” Sunic said that Europeans oppose war against Iraq, in part, because the horrors and devastation of World War II still scar the collective memory. Another factor, he said, is that Europeans are mindful of the sentiments of the millions of Muslims and Arabs who now reside in western Europe, particularly in France. Eastern European countries are more inclined to support the United States because they feel gratitude and obligation toward the US for its help in freeing them from Soviet domination, 1989-90.

Tomislav Sunic, who holds a doctorate in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, is an author and former professor of political science in the US. For a time he served as a diplomat with the Croatian embassies in Brussels and Copenhagen. He currently lives with his family in Croatia.

An interview with him, “Reexamining Assumptions,” appeared in the IHR’s Journal of Historical Review (March-April 2002). Last June he addressed the 14th IHR Conference on the killings, mistreatment and dispossession of ethnic Germans and German prisoners of war in the former Yugoslavia by the Tito Communist regime — in the final months of world War II and in the years immediately afterwards.

Mark Weber opened the meeting, introduced Sunic, and, following Sunic’s address, spoke at length on the Bush administration’s push for war in Iraq.

In his opening remarks, Weber spoke about the Institute’s difficulties during the past year. These problems are due, above all, to a persistent shortage of money, he said. The exhausting IHR-Carto legal dispute — now more than nine years old — has cost the Institute much more in time and money than it’s recovered, he said. Although the IHR has consistently prevailed in the courts, Carto continues his campaign of smears and harassment lawsuits.

Perhaps the most serious problem in recent years, said Weber, has been the tardiness of the IHR’s Journal, adding that the Institute needs money to hire a full time Journal editor. Weber reported on new projects in recent months, including several promotional mailings to new mailing lists. He also introduced new staff members, including Jim Ojala, a 33-year-old who moved here from Idaho in December.

Jim has taken on many of the responsibilities of Greg Raven, who left several weeks ago after more than ten years with the IHR. Weber expressed appreciation for Greg’s skill, resourcefulness and loyalty, above all during the severe crisis of 1996-1999.

In his main address, Weber examined the reasons cited by US officials for war against Iraq, and explained why each is not compelling. He then identified what he regards as the real reasons for this war. While there are apparently several factors, said Weber, the Jewish-Zionist interest is certainly a decisive one. Israel and its supporters in the US, he stressed, including Jews who now occupy high-level US government positions, were planning and pushing for war against Iraq years before George W. Bush even took office as President.

The new US policy of “preemption,” that is, military action against a country that has not attacked the USA, sets a dangerous precedent, said Weber. The US is now preparing to strike a country that has never attacked the United States, and has no demonstrable ability to do so. Weber compared the justifications being offered by the US government for preemptive war against Iraq with those cited during World War II by Germany for its preemptive attack against Soviet Russia. There was far greater justification for Germany’s June 1941 attack against the USSR than for Bush’s impending attack against Iraq, he explained.

Weber cited major lies by previous US governments, which should encourage profound skepticism of the official claims now being offered to justify war.

The IHR does not just oppose war, said Weber, it identifies and opposes those who foster and promote war. He cited encouraging events in recent months, including the massive anti-war demonstrations over the Feb. 15-16 weekend in cities around the world, which are unprecedented in size and character. During this crucial period for America and the world, he stressed, a strong IHR voice is more needed than ever.