printAs I pointed out in 2005, Judith Chalabi Miller, the Gray Lady’s prized reporter, shilled for the Iraq war over the pages of the New York Times, like there was no tomorrow. The Bush White House, together with a wily Iraqi exile named Ahmad Chalabi, friend to the neoconservatives, fed the voracious birdbrain with misinformation and lies about WMD. The NYT and Miller, as much as FoxNews and its hot-for-war hotties, promoted the immoral, illegitimate, baseless war on Iraq.
Whereas the Times was prone to see faces in the clouds during the delirium of destruction in Iraq, it is now attempting to cleave to the facts about Iran.
“American intelligence analysts continue to believe that there is no hard evidence that Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb. …Recent assessments by American spy agencies are broadly consistent with a 2007 intelligence finding that concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program years earlier, according to current and former American officials. The officials said that assessment was largely reaffirmed in a 2010 National Intelligence Estimate, and that it remains the consensus view of America’s 16 intelligence agencies. … Iranian officials maintain that their nuclear program is for civilian purposes. ” [NYT]
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, a nuclear scientist and Iran’s permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), speaks reasonably to his country’s need to produce radio isotopes for pharmaceuticals, a product of the nuclear industry. However, the US prefers to increase the burden and isolation of the Iranian people with sanctions. Pure evil and plain counterproductive.
Facts did nothing to sway the U.S. from attacking a prostrate, Third World nation, with no navy or air force, whose military prowess was a fifth of what was smashed in the Gulf War. Rationalizing these war crimes with lies post invasion became de rigueur in the major media.
Similarly, facts will not forestall an American assault on Iran. In the early days, Iraq had provided “documentary intelligence from Naji Sabri, Saddam’s foreign minister, that Saddam did not have WMD.” I recall the derision and mockery with which the Bush administration and its hangers-on greeted what turned out to be the only truthful document in the sad saga of Iraq.
The Mexicans shot at Americans on their own soil – THIS MEANS WAR. A ship boiler blew up in Havana Harbor – THIS MEANS WAR. German submarines blew up British ships carrying munitions (while simultaneously Britain stopped food shipments to Germany) – THIS MEANS WAR. Then there was the formidable North Vietnamese navy in the Gulf of Tonkin – THIS MEANS WAR. And General Noreiga who supposedly was a “drug dealer” – THIS MEANS WAR. And Saddam Hussein who was developing Nook-Yoo-Lar tipped cruise missiles – THIS MEANS WAR. And all those bucktooth Afghan Pushtun warlords sending troops into the heartland of America- THIS MEANS WAR.
Freedonia’s Going to War!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jCyK5QtOuo
…. this means the country’s going to war … this is a fact you can’t ignore….
Orwell: “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”
MP is elucidating pretexts…not actual war motives on the part of TPTB. Most wars, in fact, are overdetermined: based on aggressive-destructive human nature and real conflicts of economic and political interest. Never more so than the onrushing IranWar, based on both Israeli long-term security requirements & on DC/Wall Street’s desperate need to maintain the dollar as world reserve currency. Without which, the dollar will find its own level in an uncoerced market, go quickly to hyperinflation, and collapse the entire anglosphere debt-Ponzi economy. In all candor, if I were in Zero’s shoes, I’d attack Iran real soon and hope for a quick regime change in Tehran. If not, kiss this Imperium goodbye.