They engage in self destructive madness.
Unfortunately, many, many innocents must suffer.
"Iran: Why Won't We Take Yes For An Answer?; Israel's amen corner tries to spin the NIE report" by Justin Raimondo
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"Israel's lobby in the US is "scrambling," as Ron Kampeas puts it in the Jewish Exponent, to defend the draconian sanctions imposed on Iran for its alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons. With a war-weary America unlikely to respond favorably to the news that President Bush has ordered an attack on Iran, the War Party has had to content itself with preparing the ground for a future conflict, including a campaign to isolate Tehran economically, diplomatically, and politically. Now, however, as Kampeas reports, "The NIE is being held up by Congress, the presidential candidates and the media as an argument for tamping down isolation of the Islamic Republic rather than a vindication of earlier warnings that Iran indeed was pursuing a bomb. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations organized an emergency conference call of members on Tuesday to address how the news could threaten its recent campaign to isolate Iran." Red alert! Red alert! It looks like peace is about to break out! All hands on deck! The Lobby is frantically calling in all its chips in a desperate effort to repair the damage and get their war-wagon rolling again. Congress recently passed a "package" of sanctions on Iran proffered by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Tel Aviv), who phrases his advocacy of isolating us from the Iranian people in terms of "talking" to Tehran in the language of "carrots and sticks." Which means: first the stick, and then – maybe – a skinny shriveled up little carrot. This is the same Tom Lantos, you'll recall, who gleefully told Colette Avital, a Labor party member of the Israeli Knesset, "My dear Colette, don't worry. You won't have any problem with Saddam. We'll be rid of the bastard soon enough. And in his place we'll install a pro-Western dictator, who will be good for us and for you." (Lantos denied saying that, but Ms. Avital confirmed it: the man's a liar as well as a hypocrite.) Well, I don't know who Lantos is referring to when he says "us" – because it sure didn't turn out that way for the real "us," that is the American people, although one could make a good argument that Israel's interests have been more than served by the invasion and occupation of Iraq. We haven't installed a proper dictator, as yet, but that's just a matter of time, now isn't it? Perhaps we just can't find a suitable candidate. In the case of Iran, the logical choice to play that role is one of the Pahlavi clan's royal pretenders. Yet the NIE on Iran has knocked over a major pillar of that dream, the mad-mullahs-with-nukes meme that worked so well in its Iraqi version. Not that there aren't plenty of other tripwires capable of triggering a war, as I pointed out the other day, and yet a major setback for the War Party is that the ticking time-bomb aspect of their propaganda has got to be abandoned. Now we have time for diplomacy, for examining the real facts about Iran, including the historical context, and maybe we even will take the opportunity to ask questions such as "who wants war with Iran, and why?" This time, there's to be no rush to war: we can face the alleged "crisis" in light of genuinely American interests. As for the Israelis, they have a clear enough concept of their own interests. Defense Minister Ehud Barak's carefully worded I-beg-to-differ showed just a hint of bared fangs: "It is our responsibility to ensure that the right steps are taken against the Iranian regime. As is well known, words don't stop missiles. It is apparently true that in 2003 Iran stopped pursuing its military nuclear program for a certain period of time. But in our estimation, since then it is apparently continuing with its program." "We cannot allow ourselves to rest," avers Senor Barak, "just because of an intelligence report from the other side of the Earth, even if it is from our greatest friend." The other side of the earth – but not really so far away. Not when the Lobby is hard at work, pressuring US legislators, relentlessly churning out propaganda, and going on the offensive to ensure that the sanctions not only stay in place but are actually tightened – until the Iranian people really begin to hurt. It's just one more way to provoke some sort of internal convulsion that will give the Western powers a pretext for intervention. I have to add that the New York Times report identifying the sources of the NIE as intercepted conversations between hardliners in the military complaining that the Iranian nuclear program had been scotched in 2003 – which may or may not be true – was not something the authors and shapers of the report would want leaked, and was no doubt part of the pushback. The Times report undermines the position of Iranian moderates, and feeds the suspicions of Iranian nationalists – who will naturally sympathize with the officers' bitter protests. Seymour Hersh is telling us that the President gave the Israelis a heads up on the NIE two days before he was supposed to have first learned of it, and yet the "gotcha" aspect of this story – "Bush lied, or his brain is fried!" – is its least interesting aspect. What I want to know is why the chief executive of a foreign country gets the facts before the American people – and what, exactly, was said. I suspect the following: "Hey, Ehud, that damned CIA is telling me you guys are wrong about those Iranian nukes – can you give me something to get them off my back?" "Yeah, my own guys are no better: they're telling me the same thing. But, hey, that didn't stop us the last time, now did it?" Appreciative laughter all ‘round. " "Yeah, but, Ehud ol' buddy, do me a favor, willya?" "Sure, Mr. President. After all, what are friends for?" "Don't stick me with anything like those Niger uranium forgeries again – I think they're getting wise to us." "Oh, don't worry, Mr. President. A word to the wise is sufficient." I'm kidding, of course, so spare me the letters of outrage. What I'm not kidding about, unfortunately, is how careless the President of the United States has been when the actual interests of this country are at stake, and how willing he is – in spite of his administration's reputation for "unilateralism" – to subordinate those interests in order to preserve our "special relationship" with Israel. Now, however, it looks like the national security bureaucracy has done an end run around him, and confronted him with a blunt declaration of independence. What we are witnessing is a serious rebellion within key military, diplomatic, and intelligence circles against our Israel-centric policy in the Middle East. Critics of the status quo such as Michael Scheuer and professors Mearsheimer and Walt prefigured this realist "surge" by daring to break the taboo against stating the obvious: that our unconditional support for Israel has crippled our efforts to combat Islamist terrorism, threatened our security on account of our required access to oil, and cost us far more in moral and political capital than the "special relationship" was ever worth. Here we have a real divergence between American and Israeli interests, and those who shaped the NIE report were determined that, for once, the US government was going to go to bat on behalf of the former. Israel cannot afford to cut the Iranians any slack: we, on the other hand, are able to put the issue in perspective. In this case, geography is destiny. Yes, Israel has much to fear from an Iranian nuke – almost as much as the Iranians have to fear an Israeli first strike, which is all too imaginable. That's why a comprehensive approach to nuclear disarmament is the only one that will work: a regional solution, or nothing. Why, after all, should the Iranians give up for good the idea of developing a nuclear deterrent to Israel's atomic arsenal? Tel Aviv hasn't even signed the Nonproliferation Treaty, while Iran has: yet we continue to send billions to bolster Israel's "defenses." The pushback against the NIE's "high confidence" verdict is already well underway, and you can bet it will be attacked from every possible angle: it's not a sure thing, here's the parts they left out, it was written by Bush-hating axe-grinding bureaucrats who are anti-Semites to boot – expect the works. When that barrage fails to make much of a dent in the growing realization that their entire scare campaign was purest hooey, the Lobby will switch tactics and assert that this just proves we need to impose harsher sanctions. After all, the sanctions worked, didn't they? The NIE says the Iranians were pressured into abandoning their program because of the high costs imposed from outsiders, including the sanctions: yet what will be the effect of punishing them for compliance? If they get the same results from not complying, then it's all sticks, and no carrots. Those who want to isolate Iran – let's call them "isolationists," just for the sheer fun of turning the War Party's favorite epithet on its head – have one thing in mind, and that is in ginning up a war. Isolation is just what the Iranian militarist faction wants: it feeds into their narrative of humiliation and injured pride. Our own War Party benefits from this isolationist policy, too, because Iran is singled out as a pariah among nations, and thus fair game. It's time to lift the economic and diplomatic sanctions on Iran, and, not only that, but we must begin to establish normal relations. That means more than negotiations: it means unilaterally dropping the campaign to demonize the Iranian regime, publicly renouncing the goal of "regime change," and beginning the process that will end with the return of American diplomats to Tehran. For as long as the cold war lasted, we maintained an embassy in Moscow, and in all the Eastern bloc countries: in this context, twenty-eight years after the Iranian hostage crisis, our absence from Tehran is inexplicable. That's for starters. An opening of relations, both diplomatic and economic, would pave the way for a comprehensive settlement of the outstanding issues between the US and Iran, including not only the nuclear question but Tehran's relations with Iraq, Israel, and Lebanon. None of this can happen, however, until and unless there is resistance to the power of the Lobby, which has thus far successfully superimposed Israeli interests on US policy initiatives, effectively making us Israel's instrument in the region. The resistance is on the rise, that's the real meaning of the NIE, and that is cause for celebration – and yet much more remains to be done. The national security community has done its part, and now it is time for the politicians to step up to the plate and show their own independence from the most powerful lobby in the foreign policy realm. As a species, politicians are hardly known for their courage – and yet, now more than ever, we need patriots to come forward and make their views known. HR 1400, introduced by Rep. Lantos and passed by the House in late September, bars all Iranian products in the US and greatly narrows the range of allowable exports. This must be rescinded, at the very least, in response to this new information: or are we saying that the Iranian people must be punished no matter what their government does? Where are the presidential candidates on this? Only two have said all along that Iran poses no threat to us, and that we must trade goods, not threats, with a nation of some 50 million souls. Only two have spoken out and said the Iranian people are not our enemies, and denounced the rush to war: Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul. Will at least some of the other Democrats now step up to the plate and give us their unvarnished assessment in light of this new evidence from our own government? I'm afraid they must be talking in awfully low voices, because I can hardly hear a peep out of any of them.… |
| Find this article at: http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12014 |
That was a superb column.
And the Neo-Cons are proving how certifiably insane they are:
THE NEOCONS ARE IN A FRENZY OVER THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE REPORT: THEY THINK IT’S A C.I.A. PLOT AGAINST BUSH!
"The same people who bitch and moan at 9-11 "conspiracy theories" are claiming they are the victims of a conspiracy." -- Mike Rivero of What Really Happened
None of us should ever have to worry about that charge again -- especially since 9/11 Truthers are right!
Which means this blogger is correct:
Two Strikes
"Charley Reese
Lew Rockwell.com
Saturday December 8, 2007
Well, it should be two strikes and you're out for the foam-at-the-mouth warmongers. It should come as no surprise that the same people who ranted and raved for war with Iraq were also ranting and raving for war with Iran.
Their much-touted weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were nonexistent, and now it turns out that Iran's nuclear-weapons program, the latest subject of their rants, is nonexistent, according to a consensus of America's 16 intelligence agencies.
It also turns out that Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who bravely tried to tell the American people the truth, was right. He was right about Iraq. He is right about Iran. Yet this faithful public servant was brutally maligned and attacked by the warmongers. The Bush administration reportedly tapped his telephones and tried to prevent him from being re-elected to his post. Fortunately, the Bushies failed.
I cannot think of lower, more despicable human beings than people who try to frighten their country into a war they are all too old to fight by printing and broadcasting false information fed to them by the worst political administration since Ulysses Grant. They added to their sins by attacking honest people for speaking the truth.
These so-called foreign-policy experts are a contemptible lot. If they were honorable people, they would confess their error and apologize to the people they tried to discredit, but of course they are not honorable people.
The worst of the lot are those who pose as journalists but who really are water-carriers for the administration, the Republican Party, the neoconservative clique or, in some cases, Israel. They deserve to have their foreheads tattooed with the word "whore." Then when people see them on television pontificating, they will know that those journalists are a bought bunch.
A real journalist has loyalty to only one group – his readers or listeners. He has an obligation to tell them the truth as best as he can determine it and not to pass on propaganda from someone behind the scenes.
The Founding Fathers wrote into the Constitution protection for the free press because they realized that only a well-informed public can govern themselves. Misinforming the public is a direct attack on a free society. It is a direct attempt to subvert the democratic process. It is as much a crime against freedom as rigging an election.
The warmongers have blood on their hands. They bear almost equal responsibility with the government for the dead and wounded of the Iraq War. Thank God that this time the intelligence analysts stood firm against the administration's pressure to politicize the results of their work, or these miserable warmongers would have had even more blood on their hands.
And don't expect them to let up on trying to paint Iran as an imminent danger to the world. The truth is that there are only two countries in the world that could threaten America or Europe. Those are Russia and China. When you are assessing threats, you have to look at capabilities, not at rhetoric or intentions. Only China and Russia have the capability to attack the U.S.
Given this fact, you would think the administration would pay more attention to relations with these countries than to getting its drawers in a tizzy over Third World countries that lack the capability of harming us in any meaningful way.
The future grows dark for the United States. We have a bad administration that is corrupt, secretive, incompetent and disdainful of liberty. We have a press that for the most part cannot distinguish news from celebrity gossip. We have an education system that is manufacturing functional illiterates. We have a public that seemingly believes the only things worthwhile in life are entertainment and consumption.
The public debt is $9.1 trillion, and interest increases that debt by $1.4 billion per day. That alone will do us in if we fail to confront it. As for war, we can't even afford the two we are in.
Copyright © Infowars.net All rights reserved.
Printed from: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2007/081207Strikes.htm"
I say take it further due to recent revelations!
Here's a call out to Congress to stop it:
Calling on Congress to Stop a War
".... Virtually unreferenced in all of the media buzz following the release of the NIE on Iran is the response of America’s No. 1 ally in the Middle East: Israel. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has dismissed the American NIE as irrelevant. The Israeli position has always been to oppose the development of any technology by Iran which provides material support to a nuclear weapons program, whether one formally exists or is currently dormant. The demonstrated capability of Iran to enrich uranium has crossed a red line previously declared by Israel to mark what is acceptable and unacceptable to its national security interests.
The recent Israeli airstrike against Syria only further clouds the issue. While it is increasingly clear that the target struck was neither a nuclear reactor under construction (despite the alarmist conclusions arrived at by David Albright and others) nor a plutonium extraction plant (an absurdity postulated without any factual basis by some Israeli nuclear “experts"), perception has a way of becoming its own reality. The ongoing Israeli paranoia about a nexus of nuclear proliferation among North Korea, Iran and Syria, void of any hard intelligence to back it up and yet hyped to the point that an abandoned military warehouse in the middle of the Syrian desert could be pre-emptively bombed, serves as a warning to any who believe that the newly published NIE will, by itself, inject a measure of sanity and objective thinking into a process that has created an ideologically driven self-fulfilling prophesy that no amount of fact and reasoning can make go away....
The time for action is now. Joe Biden would be doing America, and the world, a huge favor if he would remove his candidate’s hat and resume the role which he has been empowered by his constituents to serve: overseer of American foreign policy. Hearings must be held, and time is not on our side. If the newly released NIE on Iran is to have any meaning, then let it be that it triggered a reawakening of the Congress of the United States to assert its authority and responsibility in a time of great need."
Wish I could believe those spineless sell-outs were up to the job.
I don't think Joe is.
The only problem, reader, is this situation is scary as hell, not because of Iran, but because of the paranoid, irrational, lying NaZionist rulers of Israel.
Witness: Israel's Secret Weapon
Many of you will have seen this video, but just as many may not have.
Israel's Secret Weapon
Damn frightening, indeed, when you think of those horrific consequences. Over LIES! Zionist-propagated LIES!
