January 29, 2007
"I'm
fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars
for yound
men to die in ."
George
McGovern, former US senator and presidential candidate
"Governments
constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars, with the end result
always being the same. One will always lead to the other."
Thomas Jefferson, (1743-1826), 3rd US President
"The United States no longer
bothers about low intensity conflict. It no longer sees any point in being
reticent or even devious. It puts its cards on the table without fear or
favour. It quite simply doesn't give a damn about the United Nations,
international law or critical dissent, which it regards as impotent and irrelevant."
Harold Pinter, 2005 Nobel Laureate for
Literature, acceptance speech
I
have believed for quite some time now that once the Bush-Cheney tandem
reached a dead-end in Iraq, as was amply predictable, they would try to save face
and camouflage their failure by raising the ante and launching a new war of aggression against Iran, all
the while wrapping themselves in the flag. For that, see my article of April
16, 2006, where I wrote (after the disaster in Iraq): "Bush may thus be
tempted to raise the ante and go after Iran to reclaim his 'Commander-in-Chief' mantle."
I would add now that the Bush-Cheney duo want to complete what they started in
Iraq during the few years they have left before them. Most military experts
believe that Iran can be contained militarily. But, make no mistake about it;
the main rationale behind the pressures being exercised upon Iran at this time
has little to do with concerns about weapons of mass destruction, but a lot to
do (as in 1953 when Mossadegh was overthrown)
with this country's oil reserves and how it uses them. Regime change in Tehran; that's
what the Bush-Cheney administration is after.
As to war preparations, the current situation
resembles what prevailed during the fall of 2002,
when lies and misinformation were used all over the place (by the
administration and by the neocon press) to stir up passions against Saddam
Hussein and Iraq. Today, the objectives are the same and the tactics used are
also the same. Indeed, the same forces are at work in the same two
countries—the U.S. and Israel—to exaggerate the military threats
posed by Iran and to attempt to link Iran to the al-Qaida terrorist network in
order to justify an attack. There is something very pathetic about the rage
with which the pro-war lobby is beating the drum for military action against
Iran, and the Bush-Cheney administration's musings about using nuclear weapons
of mass destruction.. It is political madness in action. But why is such
madness occurring seemingly only in these two countries?
The first thing
to be understood is that all these wars in the Middle East have been planned
for more than ten years by a small group of Washington Neocons who penned a
document, in 1996, calling for such wars, in order to balkanize the Middle East
for Israel's sake and to allow American companies to take control of the
enormous oil reserves present in that part of the world. In 1996, in a report on strategy
prepared by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies (a
think-tank created by AIPAC) and titled "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,"
future advisors to the Bush-Cheney administration (Perle, Feith, Wurmser, etc.)
proposed "removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq,"
and then to go on "engaging Hizballah, Syria, and Iran."
The Clinton
administration refused to embrace fully this incendiary strategy, but large
campaign contributions behind the scheme and promises of an oil bonanza persuaded
oil-men Bush II and Cheney that American military power could be used
profitably to implement the neocon plan. That is why, after 9/11, the
Bush-Cheney administration requested a blanket
approval Resolution from
the American Congress to take control militarily and reorganize politically the
entire Middle East. The senators reduced this mandate to Iraq, but the
Bush-Cheney intentions were crystal clear: Total domination of the entire
Middle East
The second
overlooked reality is the tight grip the pro-Israel neocon establishment holds
over the Bush-Cheney White House, both sides of Congress and the American
corporate media. For years now, not only the American Neocons but also the Israeli government
itself has demanded that the U.S. attack Iran. Its Lobby has
spearheaded the campaign. In Colin Powell's words, the 'JINSA crowd' at the
Defense Department, which is full of transferees from the neocon Jewish
Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), has been most active and
effective. What's more, we have been warned: Israel's
Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said it: "2007 (will
be) the decisive year,” to deal with Iran. —He might be proven right.
He made this comment just after he talked, on January 21, (2007) with visiting
U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns. Besides, the Israeli government
has usually gotten what it wanted from the Bush-Cheney administration, even if
it meant committing the United States to a disastrous policy.
Just as for the
Iraq war, the coming Iran war will be orchestrated by the same Neocons, and
will also be a product of a campaign led by the Israeli government and
its all powerful fifth column in America. On November
15, 2006, for example, Israel's outgoing U.S. ambassador Danny Ayalon seemed to
have been privy to Bush's intentions:
"U.S. President George W. Bush will not hesitate to use force
against Iran in order to halt its nuclear program." — On January 21 (2007), chief Neocon and
former director of the U.S. Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, Richard Perle,, made
it very clear when he said: "If all options were exhausted in the
attempt to stop the Iranian nuclear project, and US military involvement was
needed for a successful strike on Tehran, President George Bush would give the
green light for the operation."
American
politicians of both major political parties also seem to trip over each other
in their rush to go to Israel and declare that their country, the USA, should
attack Iran. In the last two months, a host of presidential candidates did just
that, from John McCain, to Hillary Clinton, to Mitt Romney, to John Edwards,
all pledging allegiance to a pre-emptive defense of Israel with a war of
aggression against Iran. The last in line is former Senator
John Edwards a
Democratic presidential candidate who, in a mid-January trip to Israel, also
established his own credentials for becoming president by declaring: "Americans can be educated
(sic) to come along with what needs to be done with Iran." And, to be sure he is well understood, he
added: "All options are on the table to ensure that Iran will never get
a nuclear weapon."
And third, less we forget, a war against
Iran has also been promoted by Bush's Christian fundamentalist supporters.
The latter meet frequently in the White House to discuss foreign policy, and
some are openly praying for a coming Armageddon that
they see happening soon.
And that is where we stand today, after
the disastrous 2003 American-led war against Iraq, the murderous,
American-supported Israeli war against Lebanon in 2006, and now, with the table
being set for an American-initiated war of aggression against Iran, possibly
involving the use of nuclear weapons. This is all part of a grand Middle East
neocon plan that we see slowly unfolding under our very eyes.
We may
ask, who is happy with all these successive illegal and immoral wars of aggression?
Answer: the Israeli government, its sycophants in the U.S., the arms industry
and certain big oil interests who have already mapped their foray in the
region, plus George Bush's wild-eyed fundamentalist
supporters, for
whom an attack on Iran is just what God has ordered.
Who is
unhappy? The young Americans who are sent half way around the world to die or
be maimed, and their families left behind; the people in the Middle East, who are
bombed and massacred and who see their countries destroyed and their resources
stolen; the American taxpayers, who are footing the obscene bill for these
whimsical and imperialistic wars; and the entire world population who look on,
unbelievingly, to this return to
calculated barbarism and lawlessness, and who witness, powerless, the
destruction of the United Nations.
Rodrigue
Tremblay lives in Montreal and can be reached at rodrigue.tremblay@yahoo.com
Also
visit his blog site at www.thenewamericanempire.com/blog.
Author's
Website: www.thenewamericanempire.com
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Posted,
January 29, 2007, at 5:30 am
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