“This business of making people conscious of what is happening outside their own small circle is one of the major problems of our time, and a new literary technique will have to be evolved to meet it. Considering that the people of this country are not having a very comfortable time, you can't perhaps, blame them for being somewhat callous about suffering elsewhere, but the remarkable thing is the extent to which they manage to be unaware of it. Tales of starvation, ruined cities, concentration camps, mass deportations, homeless refugees, persecuted Jews — all this is received with a sort of incurious surprise, as though such things had never been heard of but at the same time were not particularly interesting. The now-familiar photographs of skeleton-like children make very little impression. As time goes on and the horrors pile up, the mind seems to secrete a sort of self-protecting ignorance which needs a harder and harder shock to pierce it, just as the body will become immunised to a drug and require bigger and bigger doses.”
Senator Lieberman, Secretary of State Clinton, and former UN Ambassador John Bolton have resumed rhetoric of a United States attack upon Iran. There are two general justifications they speak of to justify war: Iran's "nuclear program" and their threat to Israel. The following is edited from my brief, "War with Iraq and Afghanistan, rhetoric for war with Iran." You are welcome to use the brief to inform others of my factual analysis.
Iran’s “Nuclear Program”: The Bush and Obama administrations have prepared the US military and the American public for war with Iran. President Bush ordered three aircraft carrier strike groups into the region[1] and Israel and the US are engaged in military strategic planning for war.[2] In early August of 2008, unprecedented numbers of war ships began their deployment for Iran.[3] The Bush Administration, along with Senators McCain, Obama and Clinton, all contributed heated rhetoric regarding Iran’s “nuclear program” during the election season and alleged that Iran wants to destroy Israel, to “wipe Israel off the map.”[4] Let’s examine the factual bases for both claims.
Some necessary history in three brief paragraphs: first, the Non-Proliferation Treaty[5] (NPT) was designed to limit nuclear weapon development, facilitate availability of nuclear energy, and lead to global nuclear disarmament. The treaty allows any country to develop nuclear material for energy, receive the assistance of the nuclear countries to do so (US, UK, France, Russia, and China), and then be inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to verify they do not refine fissionable material beyond energy-grade (3-5%) to weapons-grade (over 85%). To date, no NPT country with a nuclear energy program has developed nuclear weapons. Iran and the US are signatories of NPT. Therefore, the legal and Constitutional US response is to help Iran develop nuclear energy. However, the Bush administration rejects Iran’s proposal and threatens war. The Bush administration doesn’t disclose Iran’s treaty-right to nuclear energy under NPT and obfuscates the issue with rhetoric of Iran’s “nuclear program” to link energy with weapons.[6] Ironically, the US is in additional violation of NPT by developing new nuclear weapons and threatening to use them rather than work for global disarmament as per treaty terms.[7]
In 1953, the United States CIA led by one of President Theodore Roosevelt’s grandsons, initiated a coup in Iran (Operation Ajax[8]) to remove the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. The Iranian government was understandably dissatisfied with the terms of its contract with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company that allowed British interests to claim 85% of the oil profit from Iran.[9] Iran voted to nationalize the oil industry in 1951 after the British declined to renegotiate the terms. The US-led coup was successful, and the royal monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,[10] became virtual dictator. Fearing popular reprisal, Pahlavi’s government was supported by the CIA in creating the Iranian SAVAK, a vicious secret police for the Shah’s dictatorial government.[11] We can only assume that the oil revenue sharing agreement with the Shah was acceptable to the US and UK.
Under the Eisenhower administration, the US cooperated with the Shah’s government for the development of Iranian nuclear energy through the “Atoms for Peace” program.[12] President Ford agreed to US full cooperation to help Iran build about two dozen nuclear energy plants. When the Iranian people overthrew the Shah’s government in 1979, the US stopped cooperating. The US backed Iraq in their invasion of Iran in 1980 and throughout the war until 1988, seeking a more US-friendly Iranian government. The US provided Saddam Hussein with the chemical and biological weapons the W. Bush administration later used as justification for invading Iraq.[13] Since 1979, the US has worked to prevent Iran having a nuclear energy program, even under the legal provisions of the NPT, and reneged on a multi-billion dollar contract to deliver nuclear fuel to Iran without refunding Iran’s money.[14]
The previous three paragraphs are plain vanilla history in conservatively-known content. Neither our government’s political leaders from either party or our major media give the US public the context of history to evaluate the Bush/Obama administrations' statements advocating war with Iran. Their use of the term “nuclear program” is misleading. We could also call it fraud, as it deliberately misinforms.[15] Objectively, the US actions are in violation of NPT and the UN Charter in threatening war.[16] Our mainstream media does not communicate these facts to the public.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Seymour Hersh, has reported since 2005 that government insiders have disclosed to him that the CIA is presently engaged in covert operations similar to 1953 to overthrow the Iranian government.[17] Hersh, claiming inside White House sources, reported one idea from Vice President Dick Cheney was for the US Navy to build four or five boats that looked like Iranian Naval PT boats, man and arm them with US Navy Seals, then have the Navy Seals attack a US Navy ship off Iran’s coast. The incident would be filmed and used as propaganda to enflame US public opinion for war with Iran.[18] Hersh is the reporter who insiders trusted to report the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up in the Vietnam War, and the Abu Ghraib Torture Scandal in the current Iraq war. Scott Ritter, US former weapons inspector and officer for US Marine Intelligence calls any covert planning and actions by their correct legal name: Acts of War. Ritter states the obvious: the US would never allow Iran to take these actions without calling them Acts of War.[19]
Recently and disturbingly, was the US Air Force admission that they “mistakenly” transported six live nuclear warheads attached to ready-to-launch cruise missiles to the US military base that is the jump-off for US supplies to Middle East Operations. This could be a veiled threat of nuclear war against Iran rather than explained by the long chain of continuous “mistakes” required for such an event to occur.[20] Nuclear weapons are protected by detailed protocol and lethal force; they go nowhere by mistake and had a 50 year perfect record for their handling.
We properly wonder why the Bush/Obama administrations are using Iran’s “nuclear program” as rhetoric linking Iran with atomic weapons, and the call for US war against Iran. In academic analysis, “why” is a subjective question that cannot be answered in full objective confidence. All we can do is discuss related facts to build broad-scale constructions of circumstances, and then construct hypotheses that match those facts. Let’s examine one more Iran war-related piece of propaganda before we attempt an analysis of why our government and major media use this misleading language in support of war. That, the "wipe Israel off the map" claim, is the subject of the next article. Can't wait? Read the full story in my brief.
[1] See SpaceWar. US Dismisses Iranian Offer as Warships Arrive. Feb. 21, 2007: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_Dismisses_Iranian_Nuclear_Offer_As_Warships_Arrive_999.html , Scoop. Sedov, D. Strike on Iran Would Signify Epoch of Nuclear War. Feb, 2007: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0702/S00167.htm , and Global Research. Nazemroaya, M.D. The March to War: Naval Build-up in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean. Oct. 1, 2006: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=NAZ20061001&articleId=3361 .
[2] The Coming Catastrophe? David DeBatto, June 23, 2008. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9437 .
[3] Global Research. Earl of Stirling. Massive US naval armada heads for Iran. Aug. 11, 2008: http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9799 .
[4] CNN interview. Bush takes Iran “seriously.” Sept. 20, 2006: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2006/09/20/sot.bush.iran.cnn , Raw Story. Bush Warns of World War III if Iran Goes Nuclear. Oct. 17, 2007: http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Bush_warns_of_World_War_III_1017.html and White House Press Conference. Dana Pushes Bush’s Big Lie. Reporters Sit on their Asses. Oct. 18, 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECVBzL9Q0nc . Transcript from the White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/10/20071018-2.html .
[5] United Nations. Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: http://www.un.org/Depts/dda/WMD/treaty/ , and Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_Proliferation_Treaty .
[6] Heard, L. Iran is not the Belligerent Party. June 23, 2008: http://www.gulfnews.com/articles/08/06/24/10223329.html .
[7] Alternet. Berrigan, F. March 8, 2007. The United States Nuclear Hypocrisy: http://www.alternet.org/audits/48890/ and United States Government.net. United States Violating International Treaties: http://www.unitedstatesgovernment.net/violatinginternationaltreaties.htm , Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States-Iran_relations
[8] Future of Freedom. Hornberger, J.G. An Anti-democracy Foreign Policy: Iran. Jan. 31, 2005: http://www.fff.org/comment/com0501i.asp , Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax .
[9] Democracy Now: http://www.democracynow.org/2003/8/25/50_years_after_the_cias_first , Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Iranian_Oil_Company .
[10] New York Times. Risen, J. April 16, 2000. The CIA in Iran: http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html , Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Reza_Pahlavi .
[11] Federation of American Scientists. Pike J. Ministry of Security: SAVAK. Jan. 16, 2000: http://www.fas.org/irp/world/iran/savak/index.html ,Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAVAK .
[12] World Nuclear University. President Eisenhower’s speech to the UN General Assembly. Dec. 8, 1953: http://world-nuclear-university.org/html/atoms_for_peace/ , Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_program_of_Iran .
[13] Iran Chamber Society. King, J. Arming Iraq: A Chronology of US Involvement. March, 2003: http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/arming_iraq.php , Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_iraq_war .
[14] Antiwar. Prather, G. ElBaradei Isn’t Perfect. Dec. 27, 2005: http://www.antiwar.com/prather/?articleid=8308 , and background: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_program_of_Iran#After_the_1979_Revolution .
[15] Legal Dictionary: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/fraud , Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud .
[16] Foley, B. “Limiting War by Process: Congress, the UN and Iran. Jurist Legal News and Research. May 25, 2006. http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/05/limiting-war-by-process-congress-un.php .
[17] Hersh, S. Preparing the Battlefield: The Bush Administration Steps up its Secret Moves Against Iran. July 7, 2008: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_hersh and interviews on Preparing the Battlefield: http://www.911blogger.com/node/16388 , http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1812 .
[18] Prison Planet. Watson, S. Media blackout on Cheney Iran false flag story. Aug. 2, 2008: http://www.prisonplanet.com/media-blackout-on-cheney-iran-false-flag-story.html .
[19] Truthdig.com. Ritter, S. Acts of war. July 29, 2008: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080729_acts_of_war/ .
[20] Analyses: Project Camelot. Carter, J. What Really Happened at Minot AFB. : http://www.projectcamelot.org/jack_carter.html , Information Liberation. Lindorff, D. The Air Force Report on the Minot-Barksdale Nuclear Missile Flight. Nov. 2, 2007: http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=24191 , and Rense. Twietmeyer, T. Missteps in the Bunker: Damage Control? Sept. 25, 2007: http://www.rense.com/general78/dmge.htm ..
Comments
Our problem with ANY nation's nuclear program is one of hypocrisy. We have the largest arsenal of nukes on the planet, next to Russia and then Israel, which we helped fund. Israel's is by far the most dangerous since they aren't even a signatory to the Non- Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, while Iran is. What do we MEAN rein in Iran's RIGHT to produce electricity using nuclear power as the means of production? How DARE we? This goes to the heart of what's wrong with this evil cabal running the planet now, and our government. That doesn't mean I trust Iran's government any more than I trust ours or Israel's, but at this point we NEED a strong 3rd party to step in and tell us ALL to chill out, and there's no one around to do it. The UN is too weak and seen as the instrument of the same cabal running the governments of the US & Israel. They are totally useless and weakened by the Hegelian Dialectic.
On September 11 - the Jews bombed America!
That the house of reps came out with a strong punishment laden message towards Iran is disgusting.
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