|
The 48 Hour Media-blitz for War with Iran
By Mike Whitney
03/10/06 "ICH"
-- -- In the last 48 hours all the major players in the Bush
administration have issued statements warning of the impending
danger of Iran.
Cheney blasted the Islamic regime saying there would be “meaningful
consequences” if it refuses to comply with international demands to
stop its nuclear program.
Condoleezza Rice said, “We face no greater challenge from a single
country than Iran… This is a country that seems determined, it
seems, to develop a nuclear weapon in defiance of the international
community that is determined that they should not get one.”
Donald Rumsfeld warned at a press conference on Wednesday, “I will
say this about Iran. They are currently putting people into Iraq to
do things that are harmful to the future of Iraq. We know it, and it
is something that they, I think, will look back on as having been an
error in judgment.”
Bush chimed in too, “Iran must not have a nuclear weapon. The most
destabilizing thing that can happen in this region and in the world
is for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
And then there was Bolton, the most vehement of all, saying that the
Security Council should issue a “vigorous response” to Iran’s
nuclear ambitions or the United States might have to consider other
steps.
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said, “It’s going to be
incumbent on our allies around the world to show that they are
willing to act.”
Congress also added their support led by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA)
“Iran’s quest for nuclear arms requires us to do two things: squeeze
Iran’s economy as much as possible and do so without delay.” Lantos
claims that more than 300 lawmakers will support sanctions.
Israel’s Defense Minister joined the chorus as well,” If the UN
Security Council is incapable of taking action to stop Iran from
acquiring nuclear weapons, Israel will have no choice but to defend
itself.”
Bush, Cheney, Bolton, Rice, Rumsfeld, Burns, Congress, and Israel.
Whoa! That’s quite a line-up.
All in the last 48 hours!
Was it spontaneous or a calculated public-relations campaign?
Beyond the political speechmaking are literally hundreds of
articles, full of the same predictable fictions and demagoguery
which have mischaracterized Iran’s nuclear program from the get-go;
fueling the hysteria for another preemptive war.
Did Iran become nuclear superpower overnight?
Apparently, so. But, just for the sake of argument, let’s remember
that according to the IAEA there is “no evidence of a nuclear
weapons program or any diversion of nuclear material.”
That is the judgment of the Nobel Prize-wining chief of the UN
nuclear watchdog agency, Mohammad ElBaradei. ElBaradei warned that
there were no nuclear weapons programs in Iraq and he has drawn the
very same conclusion in Iran.
“No evidence” still means “no evidence” except in Washington, DC,
where it is a mere stumbling block for a massive media-blitz to
manipulate public perceptions and whip the masses into war-fever.
It’s hard not to be impressed by the sudden ratcheting-up of
inflammatory statements and spurious claims that blast from every
media-soapbox across the country. Who could have imagined 4 years
ago how utterly corrupted our media really is?
Try this: do a Google search through the 2,400 articles on Iran
right now on and see what you find.
You’ll find that all 2,400 articles reiterate the same bland
deceptions and wearisome lies as all the others. You’ll see that the
forth estate provides neither facts, nor context, nor analysis, just
the endless, repetitive fear-mongering of administration officials.
That’s it; just manipulation through state-sponsored demagoguery
24-7.
You won’t find anything about the IAEA inspection team that rummaged
through Iran’s nuclear sites for the passed two years in the most
thorough examination of any country in the history of the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) You won’t hear anything about the “go
anywhere, see anything” inspections that allowed officials from the
IAEA to investigate any location or facility they felt was
suspicious. You won’t hear that the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)
predicted that it would take 10 years for Iran to build a nuclear
weapon. (If, in fact, that is even their intention) You won’t hear
that Iran temporarily sacrificed its legal right to enrich uranium
and accepted “additional protocols” because it trusted the EU-3
(Germany, France and England) who, it turns out, were simply acting
as Washington’s agents. You won’t find one single article that
clarifies the most fundamental issue of the entire confrontation;
that Iran has an “inalienable right” to enrich uranium for peaceful
purposes unless it can factually established that it has not
complied with the terms of its agreement.
It has complied. There is no violation. That is why there will be no
“punitive action”.
Instead, the United States is hoping for a “presidential statement”;
a bogus “slap on the wrist” from the Security Council because the
individual members can’t muster the courage to do their duty and
defy the US.
Perhaps, the Security Council could offer a “supplemental
presidential statement” at the same time, condemning the Bush
administration, for developing a new regime of low-yield,
bunker-busting “usable” nukes, and for its involvement in poisoning
the groundwater and great swaths of the Iraqi countryside with
Depleted Uranium; ensuring environmental devastation, cancer and
birth defects will continue into perpetuity.
Will the Security Council have time to reprimand the real nuclear
terrorist or will it limit itself to the imaginary villain who
refuses to prostrate itself to Washington?
Iran has weathered this farce with great dignity. They understand
the gravity of the situation when the media begins swarm to their
victim. They know that there are Carrier groups in the Gulf and
AC-130s in bases in Iraq. They know that Israeli commandoes have
infiltrated the countryside and are scoping out potential targets.
They know that satellites and unmanned drones have mapped out every
square inch of territory from Iraq to Pakistan and the B-52s are
tucked away close by where they can “liberate” another 100,000 or so
Iranians.
How do they know?
Because it is the same lame script that was used in the lead up to
the war in Iraq.
The Iran Bourse
On March 20 the Iran Bourse will formally open and allow countries
to break to US monopoly on oil purchases in petrodollars. The
central banks across Europe and Asia will trade in part of their
stockpiles of greenbacks for euros, and dollars will come flooding
back to the homeland. $3 trillion of American cash and securities
are owned by people or institutions outside of the United States. If
just a small portion of them pour back into the US, Depression will
follow.
Is the impending war with Iraq merely an effort to shore up the
debt-ridden greenback? (which is now underwritten by $8.2 trillion
in debt)
If not, then how do we explain the Federal Reserve’s surprise
announcement that it would stop releasing the M-3 in late March,
2006 coinciding with the opening of the bourse? (The M-3 provides
the aggregate statistics on US dollars around the world)
Don’t you think the American people would like to know when the
central banks begin tossing their stockpiles of greenbacks
overboard?
And won’t this “weakening of the dollar” curtail Washington’s
ability to print unlimited amounts of money to fund a powerful
standing army and provide lavish tax cuts to the wealthy?
The Iran bourse is a direct threat to the present economic system of
extorting labor and resources from the developing world for
worthless paper.
The Bush administration will do everything in its power to defend
that system.
Berkshire-Hathaway chief, Warren Buffet recently noted, “Right now,
the rest of the world owns $3 trillion more of us than we own of
them. In my view, it will create political turmoil at some point.
…Pretty soon, I think there will be a big adjustment.”
“Political turmoil”?"big adjustment”?…”Pretty soon, I think”?
‘nuff said.
Click below to post a comment on this article
(In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational purposes.
Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the
originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.) |
