April
30, 2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- Maybe the president believes he’s won a great
victory over the wicked Syrians by lobbing
cruise missiles at one of their underused air
bases. Maybe Trump believes that he’s scared the
evil Russians and the too big for their sampans
Chinese into obedience.
His
22,000 lb MOAB terror bomb on Afghanistan should
keep those pesky Taliban quiet for a while even
though the Pentagon claimed the intended target
was a group- Khorosan – that may not actually
exist.
Those
major malefactors, the crazy North Koreans,
could be about to feel America’s full military
might if they so much as twitch.
Not
content with nearly stirring up a new war with
North Korea, President Donald Trump is now
waving the big stick at another of Washington’s
favorite bogeymen, Iran. For the Trumps, Iran is
poison.
In
recent days, President Trump has threatened to
renounce the six-power nuclear agreement to
freeze or shrink Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
This sensible pact was signed during the Obama
administration by the great powers: US, Britain,
France, Russia, Germany and China. Trump appears
willing to abrogate the treaty and outrage the
other great powers just because he hates Iran
for some reason and, it appears, Muslims in
general.
The
Trump administration seems increasingly
influenced by Israel’s far right Netanyahu
government. In fact, PM Netanyahu often appears
the most moderate member of his rightist
coalition which is dominated by militant West
Bank settlers.
Trump
has surrounded himself with ardent supporters of
Israel’s right. One of his major bankrollers is
casino mogul Sheldon Adelson who is a key
supporter of Jewish expansion on the illegally
occupied West Bank.
Israel’s right has made a hate fetish of Iran
and incessantly calls for war against the
Islamic Republic. However, the mighty US Israel
lobby twice failed to push the Obama
administration to attack Iran. The US Congress,
by contrast, is totally under the thumb of
Israel’s American lobby and pays more respect to
PM Netanyahu than the president. He who pays the
piper….
In
fact, Congress sought to block sales of Boeing
civilian airliners to Iran worth $16.6 billion
even though it would have cost thousands of
American jobs. Congress has been trying to
sabotage the Iran nuclear deal ever since it was
signed, putting American national interests on a
collision course with those of Israel’s right.
But now
President Trump says he’s found a new reason to
sabotage the six-power deal: Iran, insists
Trump, supports ‘terrorism’ and has bad
intentions. This charge has been around for
decades, cited by Israel as a compelling reason
to attack Iran because Tehran supports the
‘terrorist’ Lebanese movement Hezbollah and the
Palestinian movement Hamas.
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The
‘terrorist’ label is slapped onto all enemies of
Israel and the United States. It’s a handy,
meaningless sobriquet that automatically denies
those so named political or moral justice.
I was
with the Israel army when it invaded Lebanon in
1982 and saw first-hand how its arrogance turned
formerly pro-Israel Shia Lebanese in the south
into anti-Israel fighters. Israel actually
encouraged and may have secretly financed the
growth of Hezbollah and Hamas hoping they would
drain support from the Palestinian Liberation
Organization (PLO) and Lebanon’s Amal militia.
Israel
hates Hamas and Hezbollah and is determined to
eradicate them. The principal supporter of Hamas
and Hezbollah has long been Syria. Large parts
of Syria have now been destroyed by a
US-engineered uprising and bands of
Saudi-financed mercenaries. That has left Iran
as the main supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah,
and a principal backer of Syria’s Assad
government. The PLO has become a puppet of
Israel and the US.
So
Israel is now determined to destroy Hezbollah in
its strongholds in Lebanon and then crush Hamas
with Trump’s blessing, so ending any dreams of a
Palestinian state. Iran is now being blamed for
all Washington’s problems in the Mideast. So war
fever against Iran is again mounting.
Interestingly, Iran, which has 79.1 million
people, is not cowering before this threat. Like
North Korea, Iran’s air force and navy are
sitting ducks. But Iran has strong infantry,
some 500,000 men including Revolutionary Guards.
They are armed with outdated weapons but showed
redoubtable fighting spirit in the Iran-Iraq
War. Any US invasion would be met by fierce
resistance.
An
Iranian commander told me, ‘let the Americans
come and invade. They will break their teeth on
Iran. Then we will drive them out of the Mideast.”
Boastful, yes, but not impossible. Iran could
prove more than the US can handle. President
Trump does not know this yet and is still having
fun with his new military toys. Problem is, he
just can’t decide where to attack first.
Eric
S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally
syndicated columnist. His articles have appeared
in the New York Times, the International Herald
Tribune the Los Angeles Times, Times of London,
the Gulf Times, the Khaleej Times, Nation –
Pakistan, Hurriyet, – Turkey, Sun Times Malaysia
and other news sites in Asia.
Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2017
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