{"id":1940,"date":"2012-01-06T15:18:18","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T20:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/W3\/?p=1940"},"modified":"2012-01-06T15:18:18","modified_gmt":"2012-01-06T20:18:18","slug":"slip-sliding-to-war-with-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/slip-sliding-to-war-with-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Slip-Sliding to War with Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Exclusive:<\/strong>\u00a0Having apparently learned nothing from the Iraq disaster, many of the same political\/media players are reprising their tough-guy roles in a new drama regarding Iran. These retread performances may make another war, with Iran,\u00a0hard to avoid, writes Robert Parry<\/p>\n

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With the typical backdrop of alarmist propaganda in place, the stage is now set for a new war, this time with Iran. The slightest miscalculation (or provocation) by the United States, Israel or Iran could touch off a violent scenario that will have devastating consequences.<\/p>\n

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Indeed, even if they want to, the various sides might have trouble backing down enough to defuse today\u2019s explosive situation. After all, the Iranians continue to insist they have no intention of building a nuclear bomb, as much as Israeli and American officials insist that they are.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>President Barack Obama as drawn by Robbie Conal (robbieconal.com)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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So, this prospective war with Iran \u2013 like the one in Iraq \u2013 is likely to come down to intelligence assessments on Iran\u2019s intentions and capabilities. And, as with Iraq\u2019s alleged WMD,the many loud voices<\/a>\u00a0claiming that Iran is on pace\u00a0to build\u00a0a nuclear bomb are drowning out the relatively few skeptics who think the evidence is thin to invisible.<\/p>\n

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For instance, the recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency about Iran\u2019s supposed progress toward a nuclear bomb was widely accepted as gospel truth without any discussion of whether the IAEA is an unbiased and reliable source.<\/p>\n

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In framing the story in support of the IAEA, the major U.S. newspapers and TV networks ignored documentary evidence that the IAEA\u2019s new director-general was installed with the support of the United States and that he privately indicated to U.S. and Israeli officials that he would help advance their goals regarding Iran.<\/p>\n

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These facts could be found easily enough in WikiLeaks cables that the U.S. news media has had access to since 2010. Yet, the Big Media has ignored this side of the story, even as the IAEA report has been touted again and again\u00a0as virtually a smoking gun against Iran.<\/p>\n

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This pattern of ignoring \u2013 or downplaying \u2013 evidence that runs counter to the prevailing narrative was a notable feature during the run-up to war with Iraq. It is now being repeated not just by the right-wing news media, but by the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC and other centrist-to-left-leaning outlets. [Update: The IAEA report\u00a0was cited again on Friday in\u00a0another bellicose editorial\u00a0<\/a>in the\u00a0Times.]<\/p>\n

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The IAEA Cables<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Thus, very few Americans know that U.S. embassy cables from Vienna, Austria, the site of IAEA\u2019s headquarters, revealed that the U.S. government in 2009 was celebrating its success in installing Japanese diplomat Yakiya Amano to replace Egyptian Mohamed ElBaradei, who famously had debunked some of President George W. Bush\u2019s claims about Iraq\u2019s supposed nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n

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In\u00a0a July 9, 2009, cable<\/a>, American charg\u00e9 Geoffrey Pyatt said Amano was thankful for U.S. support of his election. \u201cAmano attributed his election to support from the U.S., Australia and France, and cited U.S. intervention with Argentina as particularly decisive,\u201d the cable said.<\/p>\n

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The appreciative Amano informed Pyatt that as IAEA director-general, he would take a different \u201capproach on Iran from that of ElBaradei\u201d and he \u201csaw his primary role as implementing safeguards and UNSC [United Nations Security Council]\/Board resolutions,\u201d i.e. U.S.-driven sanctions and demands against Iran.<\/p>\n

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Amano also vowed to restructure the IAEA\u2019s senior ranks in ways favored by the United States. In return, Pyatt promised that \u201cthe United States would do everything possible to support his [Amano\u2019s] successful tenure as Director General and, to that end, anticipated that continued U.S. voluntary contributions to the IAEA would be forthcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For his part, Amano stuck out his hand seeking more U.S. money, or as Pyatt put it, \u201cAmano offered that a \u2018reasonable increase\u2019 in the regular budget would be helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Amano also rushed to meet with Israeli officials \u201cimmediately after his appointment,\u201d \u00a0consulting with Israeli Ambassador Israel Michaeli and leaving Michaeli \u201cfully confident of the priority Amano accords verification issues.\u201d That was another indication Amano\u2019s IAEA\u00a0would take a hard line against Iran\u2019s alleged nuclear ambitions while ignoring Israel\u2019s undeclared nuclear arsenal.<\/p>\n

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Michaeli also revealed that Amano\u2019s public remarks about \u201cno evidence of Iran pursuing a nuclear weapons capability\u201d were just for show, designed \u201cto persuade those who did not support him about his \u2018impartiality.\u2019\u201d In reality, Amano intended to be anything but impartial.<\/p>\n

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Amano agreed to private \u201cconsultations\u201d with the head of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, Pyatt reported. The purpose was to hear Israel\u2019s purported evidence about Iran\u00a0continuing its work on a nuclear weapon, not to discuss Israel\u2019s refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or to allow IAEA inspectors into Israeli nuclear sites.<\/p>\n

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In a subsequent cable dated Oct. 16, 2009<\/a>, the U.S. mission in Vienna said Amano \u201ctook pains to emphasize his support for U.S. strategic objectives for the Agency. Amano reminded ambassador [Glyn Davies] on several occasions that \u2026 he [Amano] was solidly in the U.S. court on every key strategic decision, from high-level personnel appointments to the handling of Iran\u2019s alleged nuclear weapons program.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Amano also continued to indicate that he needed to hide his true intentions. \u201cMore candidly, Amano noted the importance of maintaining a certain \u2018constructive ambiguity\u2019 about his plans, at least until he took over for DG ElBaradei in December\u201d 2009, the cable said.<\/p>\n

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In other words, the emerging picture of Amano is of a bureaucrat eager to please the United States and Israel regarding Iran\u2019s nuclear program. Wouldn\u2019t that evidence be relevant for Americans\u00a0deciding\u00a0whether to trust the IAEA report? But the Big Media\u00a0apparently felt that the American people shouldn\u2019t know these facts whose\u00a0disclosure has been limited\u00a0to a few Internet sites. [See Consortiumnews.com\u2019s \u201cAmerica\u2019s Debt to Bradley Manning<\/a>.\u201d]<\/p>\n

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Similarly, the U.S. press corps is now reporting the dubious allegations about an Iranian assassination plot directed against the Saudi ambassador as flat fact, not as some hard-to-believe accusation comparable to Vice President Dick Cheney\u2019s claims in 2002 that Iraqi officials had a hand in the 9\/11 attacks. [See Consortiumnews.com\u2019s \u201cPetraeus\u2019s CIA Fuels Iran Murder Plot<\/a>.\u201d]<\/p>\n

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Dangerous Cascade<\/strong><\/p>\n

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There is now a cascading of allegations\u00a0regarding Iran, as there was with Iraq, with the momentum rushing toward war.<\/p>\n

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Just as with Iraq\u2019s Saddam Hussein, the U.S. news media treats Iran\u2019s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a designated villain whose every word is cast as dangerous or crazy. Even left-of-center media personalities, like MSNBC\u2019s Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow, talk tough against Ahmadinejad, just as many \u201cliberals\u201d did regarding Hussein.<\/p>\n

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Also, as happened with Iraq \u2013 when harsher economic sanctions merged with a U.S. troop build-up, making an escalation toward war almost inevitable \u2013 tougher and tougher Western sanctions against Iran have pushed the various sides closer to\u00a0war.<\/p>\n

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In November, Iranian anger at escalating sanctions and other hostile acts led to an assault on the British Embassy, which then prompted new European demands for a full-scale embargo of Iranian oil. As tensions have grown, the U.S. Senate tossed in its own hand-grenade, voting 100-0 in favor of hitting Iran with ever more stringent sanctions.<\/p>\n

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In turn, Iran has threatened to retaliate against the West\u2019s\u00a0economic warfare by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil flows,\u00a0thus driving up oil prices and derailing the West\u2019s already shaky economies. That threat has led to even more bellicose language from many U.S. political figures, especially the Republican presidential hopefuls who have denounced President Barack Obama for not being tougher on Iran.<\/p>\n

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With the exception of Rep. Ron Paul, virtually all the leading Republican contenders including Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich \u2013 have signaled a readiness to join Israel in a war against Iran.\u00a0Romney has farmed out<\/a>\u00a0his foreign policy agenda to prominent neoconservatives, and\u00a0Gingrich has gone so far<\/a>\u00a0as to suggest a full-scale U.S.-Israeli invasion of Iran to force \u201cregime change.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As the U.S. news media and politicians mostly reprise their performances on the Iraq invasion in regard to Iran, the principal obstacles to a new war appear to be President Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Both are said to privately oppose a war with Iran, which was not true of how President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld felt about Iraq.<\/p>\n

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Though Obama and Panetta have talked tough about \u201call options on the table,\u201d the Obama administration slipped loopholes into the Senate\u2019s anti-Iran legislation, to allow the President to waive Iranian sanctions if he deemed them a threat to national security or to the economy.<\/p>\n

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One intelligence source told me that Obama is playing a delicate game in which he must placate hawkish anti-Iranian sentiments in Israel and on Capitol Hill while he continues to seek a broader Middle East security arrangement that would include Iran in the mix. On Wednesday, administration officials sought to tamp down alarmist anti-Iran reports in the U.S. press.<\/p>\n

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Still, whether Obama can head off a violent conflict with Iran remains to be seen. As the presidential election grows nearer \u2013 and the likely GOP\u2019s nominee hammers at Obama as soft on Iran \u2013 a preemptive Israeli attack or a miscalculation by Iran could make war unavoidable.<\/p>\n

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For its part, the major U.S. news media has done its best, again, to line up the American people behind another war.<\/p>\n

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[For more on related topics, see Robert Parry\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0Lost History, Secrecy & Privilege<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/strong>Neck Deep<\/strong><\/em>, now available in a three-book set for the discount price of only $29. For details,\u00a0<\/strong>click here<\/strong><\/a>.]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book,\u00a0<\/strong>Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush,<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0was written with two of his sons, Sam and Nat, and can be ordered at\u00a0<\/strong>neckdeepbook.com<\/strong><\/a>. His two previous books,\u00a0<\/strong>Secrecy & Privilege: The Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/strong>Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & \u2018Project Truth\u2019\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>are also available there.<\/strong><\/p>\n


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Exclusive:\u00a0Having apparently learned nothing from the Iraq disaster, many of the same political\/media players are reprising their tough-guy roles in a new drama regarding Iran. These retread performances may make … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[583,25,598,588,599,593,600,601],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}