The Big Lie: ‘Iran Is a Threat’
Iran has never manifested itself as a serious threat to the national security of the United States, or by extension as a security threat to global security. At the height of Iran’s “exportation of the Islamic Revolution” phase, in the mid-1980’s, the Islamic Republic demonstrated a less-than-impressive ability to project its power beyond the immediate borders of Iran, and even then this projection was limited to war-torn Lebanon.
Iranian military capability reached its modern peak in the late 1970’s, during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlevi. The combined effects of institutional distrust on the part of the theocrats who currently govern the Islamic Republic of Iran concerning the conventional military institutions, leading as it did to the decay of the military through inadequate funding and the creation of a competing paramilitary organization, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Command (IRGC), and the disastrous impact of an eight-year conflict with Iraq, meant that Iran has never been able to build up conventional military power capable of significant regional power projection, let alone global power projection.
Where Iran has demonstrated the ability for global reach is in the spread of Shi’a Islamic fundamentalism, but even in this case the results have been mixed. Other than the expansive relations between Iran (via certain elements of the IRGC) and the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, Iranian success stories when it comes to exporting the Islamic revolution are virtually non-existent. Indeed, the efforts on the part of the IRGC to export Islamic revolution abroad, especially into Europe and other western nations, have produced the opposite effect desired. Based upon observations made by former and current IRGC officers, it appears that those operatives chosen to spread the revolution in fact more often than not returned to Iran noting that peaceful coexistence with the West was not only possible but preferable to the exportation of Islamic fundamentalism. Many of these IRGC officers began to push for moderation of the part of the ruling theocrats in Iran, both in terms of interfacing with the west and domestic policies.
The concept of an inherent incompatibility between Iran, even when governed by a theocratic ruling class, and the United States is fundamentally flawed, especially from the perspective of Iran. The Iran of today seeks to integrate itself responsibly with the nations of the world, clumsily so in some instances, but in any case a far cry from the crude attempts to export Islamic revolution in the early 1980’s. The United States claims that Iran is a real and present danger to the security of the US and the entire world, and cites Iranian efforts to acquire nuclear technology, Iran’s continued support of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran’s “status” as a state supporter of terror, and Iranian interference into the internal affairs of Iraq and Afghanistan as the prime examples of how this threat manifests itself.
On every point, the case made against Iran collapses upon closer scrutiny. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), mandated to investigate Iran’s nuclear programs, has concluded that there is no evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Furthermore, the IAEA has concluded that it is capable of monitoring the Iranian nuclear program to ensure that it does not deviate from the permitted nuclear energy program Iran states to be the exclusive objective of its endeavors. Iran’s support of the Hezbollah Party in Lebanon - Iranian protestors shown here supporting Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during an anti-Israel rally - while a source of concern for the State of Israel, does not constitute a threat to American national security primarily because the support provided is primarily defensive in nature, designed to assist Hezbollah in deterring and repelling an Israeli assault of sovereign Lebanese territory. Similarly, the bulk of the data used by the United States to substantiate the claims that Iran is a state sponsor of terror is derived from the aforementioned support provided to Hezbollah. Other arguments presented are either grossly out of date (going back to the early 1980’s when Iran was in fact exporting Islamic fundamentalism) or unsubstantiated by fact.
The US claims concerning Iranian interference in both Iraq and Afghanistan ignore the reality that both nations border Iran, both nations were invaded and occupied by the United States, not Iran, and that Iran has a history of conflict with both nations that dictates a keen interest concerning the internal domestic affairs of both nations. The United States continues to exaggerate the nature of Iranian involvement in Iraq, arresting “intelligence operatives” who later turned out to be economic and diplomatic officials invited to Iraq by the Iraqi government itself. Most if not all the claims made by the United States concerning Iranian military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan have not been backed up with anything stronger than rhetoric, and more often than not are subsequently contradicted by other military and governmental officials, citing a lack of specific evidence.
Iran as a nation represents absolutely no threat to the national security of the United States, or of its major allies in the region, including Israel. The media hype concerning alleged statements made by Iran’s President Ahmadinejad has created and sustained the myth that Iran seeks the destruction of the State of Israel. Two points of fact directly contradict this myth. First and foremost, Ahmadinejad never articulated an Iranian policy objective to destroy Israel, rather noting that Israel’s policies would lead to its “vanishing from the pages of time.” Second, and perhaps most important, Ahmadinejad does not make foreign policy decisions on the part of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is the sole purview of the “Supreme Leader,” the Ayatollah Khomeini. In 2003 Khomeini initiated a diplomatic outreach to the United States inclusive of an offer to recognize Israel’s right to exist. This initiative was rejected by the United States, but nevertheless represents the clearest indication of what the true policy objective of Iran is vis-à-vis Israel.
The fact of the matter is that the “Iranian Threat” is derived solely from the rhetoric of those who appear to seek confrontation between the United States and Iran, and largely divorced from fact-based reality. A recent request on the part of Iran to allow President Ahmadinejad to lay a wreath at “ground zero” in Manhattan was rejected by New York City officials. The resulting public outcry condemned the Iranian initiative as an affront to all Americans, citing Iran’s alleged policies of supporting terrorism. This knee-jerk reaction ignores the reality that Iran was violently opposed to al-Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan throughout the 1990’s leading up to 2001, and that Iran was one of the first Muslim nations to condemn the terror attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.
A careful fact-based assessment of Iran clearly demonstrates that it poses no threat to the legitimate national security interests of the United States. However, if the United States chooses to implement its own unilateral national security objectives concerning regime change in Iran, there will most likely be a reaction from Iran which produces an exceedingly detrimental impact on the national security interests of the United States, including military, political and economic. But the notion of claiming a nation like Iran to constitute a security threat simply because it retains the intent and capability to defend its sovereign territory in the face of unprovoked military aggression is absurd. In the end, however, such absurdity is trumping fact-based reality when it comes to shaping the opinion of the American public on the issue of the Iranian “threat.”
Scott Ritter was a Marine Corps intelligence officer from 1984 to 1991 and a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998. He is the author of numerous books, including “Iraq Confidential” (Nation Books, 2005) , “Target Iran” (Nation Books, 2006) and his latest, “Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement” (Nation Books, April 2007).
THE WAR IS OVER!
Mission Accomplished President Bush!
Mission Accomplished GOP Led Congress!
Mission Accomplished General Petraeus!
The Insurgency Is Put Down. The Genocide Is Stopped. Subdividing Iraq Would Only Be A Further Act Of War.
The duly elected government of Iraq (and its Iranian allies) have won.
Saddam Hussein (and the Baath Party) have lost. The United States (and its allies) have lost.
Bring The Troops Home, General Petraeus!
Bring The Troops Home, Congress!
Bring The Troops Home, President Bush!
No the troops need to be there to fight cholera. War on Cholera. War on Torture. etc. etc.
There is no Iranian threat. According to an article on antiwar.com, frantic headlines such as CNN’s “Iranian leader: Wipe out Israel” were twisted from Ahmadinejad’s October 25th, 2005 statement: Imam (Khomeini) ghoft (said) een (this) rezhim-e (regime) ishghalgar-e (occupying) qods (Jerusalem) bayad (must) az safheh-ye ruzgar (from page of time) mahv shavad (vanish from).
The statement was directed at the zionist regime, not the state of Israel, in defense of Iranian sovereignty against US imperialists trying to impose western puppet regimes on Iran. US media is clearly aiding an illegal, immoral, unnecessary aggression against Iran for the purpose of controlling Middle East oil production in a world that does not need fossil fuels of any kind in any way, shape or form.
Individuals: Boycott gasoline. Boycott plastic. Boycott gas and coal fueled electric power. Shift your exchange/association away from power centers and toward local communities. Help build food, materials and energy self-sufficiency, and help starve the beast capital into submission to the public will.
scott has once again made reason and logic the basis of analysis. in stark contrast to bushco who offer lies and lies and more lies.
he is uniquely qualified to pull this information together and his words ought to be read very carefully indeed.
well done scott!
Could someone please send this article to Hillary Chickenhawk Clinton.
Excellent article.
I agree.
One mistake: The leader of iran is Khameneh not Khomeini( He died in 1989)
Scott Ritter on Iran:
http://tinyurl.com/ypghdp
We can reason all we want, we’ve all known the truth for years, decades.
The impending war is a neo con done deal based on a delusional idea of a “new world order.” These are the final moments of calm before the perfect storm. I don’t think anything anyone does or says is going to make an iota of difference at this point.
Great work Scott. Any student of real history, even dilletantes, understand the truth of your presentation.
I’d add one thing. Even if Iran were developing (again - completely unproven) and eventually developed a nuke, and if such a nuke were used against the U.S. and the origin traced, for how many minutes do we all think Iran would continue to exist on this planet? They know and understand this - they aren’t fools. I’m more worried about Pakistan; they do have nukes and a TRULY radical element infiltrating their secular society.
Pakistan is a real threat not only to Afghanistan (with sponsoring and harboring the Taliban) and India (with Kashmiri seperatists) but to the West as well. Should we go to war with Iran the Musharaf regime in Pakistan will probably fall to radicals who will then have control of nukes. This is a frightening scenario. Karzai may also fall from power in Kabul should this happen and Afghanistan will be cut-off on both its boarders from much needed trade and supplies with winter approaching this will lead to starvation of war-ravaged and impoverished Afghanistan. The Iraq situation will also become far worse along with Lebanon. Its such a nightmare scenario and to be honest I am frightened there is little we can do to stop this train wreck. I hate the neocons and what they are doing. These people are traitors.
God (if there is one) keep Scott Ritter going and the IAEA too—anchors of sanity in the midst of psychotics (people who force their delusions on the world). We need more hands-on people to be heard—and Reason protect us from the weaponized profit-junkies, colonial-age dinosaurs who know they’re going down like all the rest in the face of human being
Yes, Khameini, not Khomeini… I hope it was a typo, not a lapse of Scott’s usual flair for accuracy…
It is truely frightening! And, I agree with the other posts that all of this seems to be inevitable. I feel so impotent! Scott has done a great job here, but for the masses they want a sound byt; a spiffy slogan to stick on their car bumper. Reason and facts are not going to get in the way of this neocon freight train.
Our best bet between now and the time that the shit hits the fan is to follow rtdrury’s advice. Get local and get to know your neighbors. Hard times are comin’ folks.
Peace to you and yours
rtdrury (October 8th, 2007 1:32 pm), your reminder of Ahmadinejad’s October 25th, 2005 statement that has been twisted out of context by the Govt and MSM is pertinent. As Joe Goebbels said, “If those in authority repeat an outrageous falsehood over and over, and there is no countervailing voice exposing this big lie to the public, or if that voice is censored by the media, the big lie is likely to be believed”.
Iran poses a very real threat to Israeli military domination of the middle east and the ability to expand Israeli borders to the Litani and Euphrates as originally set forth by Herzl.
Why the US should be concerned about opposing this real threat is another question.
Gee, I wonder why we’re not seeing Scott Ritter on the MSM talk show circuit trying to ’splain all this to Sean Hannity and Wolf Blitzer?
Oh! I forgot! We’re at war and it’s unpatriotic to question the Bush Administration!
Scott Ritter had better heed the words of Ari Fleischer the day after 9/11/01: “You’d better watch what you do and watch what you say. If you’re not with us, you’re with the terrorists.”
Too bad the American people will not get a chance to hear Scott Ritter make his case. Who’s your publicist, Scott? Hope she/he’s trying to get you booked on CNN, CNBC, Fox and MSNBC. I would like to see a glimmer of a debate on this before more bullets/bombs start flying.
Iran’s (Persia) belief system is based on the Zoroastrian. In fact, if one researches, they will find that Judasim received its guidance for religious law through the Zoroastrian faith. And many ancient rabbis would travel to Persian for religious education. Hamadan’s (the birth place of Queen Esther, history’s one and only Jewish queen)population is 50% Jewish. Emperor Xerxes was the first emperor that freed the Jewish Slaves.
During the past revolution in Iran the Jewish Hospitals in Iran provided medical treatment for the revolutionary guard and refused to surrender the solders to the Shah’s/U.S. military and from this action the present President of Iran gifted large sums of money to the Jewish Hospitals as a thank you. You will find that presently many Jews are refusing to leave the country and that they also have two representatives in the parliament representing members of their faith.
Scott Ritter is right, no where has the President of Iran ever said that he wants to wipe Israel off the map. This has been a form of propoganda again by our media trying to find support for an upcoming war. Its like saying you want to get rid of the Republicans out of office and someone accusing you of being anti-American. After Mike Wallace’s interview with this President (who is Jewish by the way), had the utmost respect for him and retracted many of his previous comments about him.
Aggression is not in their belief system (zoroastrianism. They are a very artistic society and it is such a shame that so many people of this administration and the neocons Clinton and Lieberman are using the naivity of the American people to conjure up another false war.
What Scott Ritter said is so very true. This Government’s administration even sent representatives to meet with Turkey’s dignatary in response to the Turkey/Iran natural gas pipeline deal. They spoke in veiled threats ‘how unhappy the administration would be with ‘a country were they to do business with Iran. That the 1999 Sanctions directed towards Iran, were anyone to do business exceeding $20 million would have those sanctions applied to them. That our Senate was agressively working on a new bill that would make the sanctions stronger and more easily imposed’.
This administration is workin’ it to try and bully every other nation to withdraw any ties with Iran.
Fox News is coming up with ‘credible evidence’ from every which way to make people believe the Great Satan is Iran and they only exist to murder all of us. Of course, FOX is such an incredibly reliable source of information. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more…
Bush follows a principle set by Vladimir Lenin. “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”.
Bush won the election in 2000 – A lie
9/11 – was just 9 men with box cutters - a lie
Al Qaeda and Bin Laden a vast and spontaneous Saudi extremist terrorist organization without US-Saudi-Pakistan connections and handlers – a lie
Taliban refused to hand over Bin Laden – a lie
The hunt for Bin Laden – a lie
Saddam’s WMD – a lie
Saddam’s support for terrorism, ties to Al Qaeda – A lie
Al Qaeda attack on UN compound in Bagdad – A lie (or extremely timely and convenient for the illegal war)
Bush won the election in 2004 – a lie
Al Qaeda threat in Somalia – A lie
America does not torture – a lie
No abductions to secret prisons – a lie
The whole “war on terror” is just a lie from beginning to end, America created a terrorist threat to justify global hegemony and endless wars of aggression and occupation, in which they destroy and divide and attempt to maintain dominance by spreading insecurity and distress along with an illusion of military might, which is in fact just fear and terrorism, all to capture and control resources.
Every technique is a direct copy of the Zionist’s experiment in Palestine, now being applied by the USA to the whole Middle East, and dreamt up by none other than the extension of the Zionist network, namely the NeoCons.
The American people have been sold a massive delusion, and even when they see the compilation and compounding of all the lies, they still go along with it because…… They are afraid. Afraid of what ????
The truth is they are afraid of going without. They have been trained to fear and trust violence and although some of them do not like these methods, or all the lies, somewhere in the back of their minds, Democrats, Republicans and Liberals alike, many are saying, “Hell, they’re only brown guys with rags on their head out there somewhere, they’re not Americans and they hate us any way for the most part. If it’s between China and us who gets their oil, then better it’s us. Right?”
So now the American people will roll over yet again and accept that their terrorist state and the war criminals in charge of it initiate another war of aggression this time on Iran.
And we all thought the Third Reich was bad! I have very little hope left for your people. I feel sorry for the suffering that you are now bringing on to yourselves by your ignorance and cowardice. That you continue to think you are free, and in a democracy is just another lie that you tell yourselves. The same money buys the same wars on both sides of the house, along with your silence and complacency.
My only hope left is that your military may have a few sane people who will depose Cheney and Bush declare interim martial law, dissolve Congress and send the corrupt lot home and then hopefully restore a true democracy in your country with free and fair elections. The alternative is much worse.
Great article. Scott Ritter never got enough credit. I think this administration is heading toward an attack on Iran, which will get us even more mired in the region, which is NOT in the US interest. What do you thin? http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=608
The Big Lie
Anyone that lived through the Cold War was aware of the Big (Red) Lie. Thanks to Lenin.
But Lenin got it from Niccolo Machiavelli who only wrote down what he observed working.
The Big (GOP) Lie was transparently obvious as soon as Bush and the MSM started beating their war drum. Only hidebound christians were trained to believe The Big Lie. They were enough to destroy America and much of the world.
Iraq was not a threat to the United States either but when you have a monster who thinks it’s his calling to police the world and a congress who is scared s—l— of him there’s no telling whom he will attack.Impeachment will stop this monkey and should already be over with these crooks in prison but as I said when you have a gutless congress what’s to stop him–something must if this republic is to survive.
So, what do we do now?
We have all known the truth and thanks to Scott have a clear articulation of it.
Knowing that, should I feel a sense of smugness when the bombs start falling on Iran?
Burn it down, W
In a book called “State of War”, James Risen states that the United States actually gave nuclear bomb designs to Iran. Haven’t we meddled enough in that country, what with the Shah, helping Saddam’s fight with Iran and on and on.
“Bush follows a principle set by Vladimir Lenin. “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”????
Not Lenin. It would be a compliment, Bush is much closer to Goebels.
I’ve always thought the historical figure CheneyBush most resembles is Mussolini, Hitler’s incompetent blowhard sidekick.
“In an interview after his appearance before a congressional panel on Monday, General Petraeus strongly implied that it would soon be necessary to obtain authorization to take action against Iran within its own borders, rather than just inside Iraq.”
Seems we’re down to one last option: military arrests the domestic enemies of our Constitution presently residing in our White House before they are allowed to illegally kill in America’s name again, then turns the keys over to the Speaker of the House.
So what if it sends our entire political system into chaos? It’s so corrupted at this point, only an earthquake-size shake up could rescue it anyway. And, while we’re sorting out the mess, no Iranians are dying. And, the world would be like: go America - we knew you weren’t dead yet!!!
If attacking Iran is a done deal, and I agree that it sure looks like it, then the draft will return. That’s a good thing, because we the people will have to start sacrificing to sustain the war. And that’s pretty unlikely.
Why would the U.S. attack Iran? Let me count the reasons (and this is just the major “dirty dozen”):
1. AIPAC
2. ADL
3. JINSA
4. Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations
5. American Jewish Congress
6. American Jewish Committee
7. World Jewish Congress
8. B’nai Brith
9. Hadassah
10. the Wiesenthal Center
11. the Federation
12. United Jewish Appeal (UJA)
This list lifted from a piece in Tikkun magazine, published (and written) by Rabbi Micheal Lerner.
http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/tik0709/frontpage/israellobby
iammyself. Thank you for the list. As Scott has lifted all of the MSM reasons for the necessity to bomb Iran, the list above appears to be the definitive reasons for actually going to war. It would be nice to have Bush and Company be up front and spell out the real reasons for what ever skulduggery they are planning. However, whatever reasons they have, we as a country are not going to sanction their actions. I think that when we were fed the idea that the Majority of Americans were pushing for the war in Iraq that those figures were over blown. My entire community was totally against the war in Iraq.
Lucitanian: Your point is well taken. “My only hope left is that your military may have a few sane people who will depose Cheney and Bush declare interim martial law, dissolve Congress and send the corrupt lot home and then hopefully restore a true democracy in your country with free and fair elections. The alternative is much worse.”
I think that just maybe some military folks already stopped a bunch of nukes from going to Iran. Remember the bomber that flew 6 nukes accross the US? At any rate, the military is the only entity that can stop an attack on Iran at this late date. All we can do is hope.
In the meantime, figure out what you are going to do when gas goes to $8-$12 a gallon. I suspect there won’t be much food at the grocery store (too expensive to ship). The economy? Who knows. And what are we supposed to do when marshall law is declared? It doesn’t look good folks.
Speaking of gas going to $12/gal., reminds me of Jim Kunstler’s “Clusterfuck Nation Chronicle” from today:
http://www.kunstler.com/mags_diary22.html
My friend was talking about Wal Mart and how they will hold up in in the coming months/years if gas prices rise due to war or the economy collapsing. I had to laugh. I told him, “If you think semi-trucks are going to be criss-crossing America shipping Barbie Dolls to Wal Mart you are NUTS. The only thing that will be going up and down the I-95 here in New England will be FOOD!”
BTW, this is definitely going to be a very quiet Christmas in America, shopping wise. Ironically, Wall Street says that Christmas shopping is a “make or break” for the U.S. economy every year. Dollars to donuts this will be a “break” kind of Christmas. (Jesus would probably like it better that way anyhow.)
Jim Kunstler’s Monday articles are always well worth reading.
Abby: Thanks for the link! Great stuff
A US president declared war on poverty. Poverty won.
Another US president declared a war on drugs. Drugs won.
This US president declared a war on terror. Terror won.
Next?
Ryszard62 - Maybe Coprophageous George will declare War on Sanity.
abbybwood - What Christmas? Didn’t Santa drown? As for Jesus . . . after Satan’s Little Helper vetoed SCHIP this is no place for anyone’s child - least of all Joseph and Mary’s.
“iammyself. Thank you for the list. As Scott has lifted all of the MSM reasons for the necessity to bomb Iran, the list above appears to be the definitive reasons for actually going to war.”
annabelle,
Not sure if I’m reading you right, but I don’t think the Israel Lobby is the reason we would go to war with Iran (or are now at war in Iraq), but rather they would definitely grease the skids. As the Tikkun article suggested, while the Israel Lobby is not the only reason we’re in Iraq, we would not have invaded Iraq had these organizations said “Do not invade Iraq.” Their power is not to be underestimated!
curmudgeon99 asks: “So, what do we do now?”
I say if the Bush/Cheney “team” is not IMPEACHED Now, then there will be martial law declared Before 2008 elections and the only legitimate password will be HEIL BC -
Bush/Cheney. Heil.
abbywood: bought Kunstler’s “The Long Emergency” right after it came out but let it sit on my bookshelf about a year before I read it. More of a confirmation than a revalation. Tell me: is he still hurling insults at our brothers and sisters south of the Mason-Dixon Line? Hope not, ’cause that doesn’t help anything.
Zionist leave Jerusalem and return the Arab lands set-out in the U.N. charter.If the Arabs and Persians Don’t leave Israel in peace after having left, it would then unify the whole world against them.The Muslims will never abandon Jerusalem. Of course to get there would require negotiations!
The Bigger Lie: ‘The USA is a democracy’
It may be shocking to some people in this country to realize that, without meaning to do so, they hold views in common with Hitler when they preach discrimination against other religious, racial or economic groups.
Henry A. Wallace
Here’s Mr. Ritter live on the same topic - about an hour long:
http://www.freespeech.org/fscm2/contentviewer.php?content_id=1619
As usual, Mr Ritter is the voice of truth and reason, alas he’s singing to the choir. For my part, I’m going to print copies of this article and post one on the notice board of every Laundromat in my area, and leave some there. I wish everybody did something to spread the word.
Some, out of sheer anger and frustration blame the American people for the atrocities committed by their terrorist government, but the fact remains that these people are just like any other people, if not better. For one thing, the majority of Americans are bombarded day in day out by a vast capitalist/Zionist propaganda machine. And then, people have to work their ass off to meet more pressing needs such as taking care of the family and putting food on the table and paying all sorts of bills and taxes. This doesn’t leave them much time to think about and attend to their higher needs.
While some may think about the actions or non-actions of their government, they find themselves helpless and frustrated. What can they do with a corrupt system that holds them in bondage? The US government/capitalists that used to run rough shot and pillage other nations is now turning inwards, screwing its own people. In a way, it seems like it’s payback time for the people, and they have my sympathy. Since Bush took over, the second class is vanishing at a much faster pace.
Turce said “Great Satan” instead of “Big Satan”. Please read on:
I do not quite recall who coined the phrase, but I’m pretty sure it was Ayatollah Khomeini. Every time I see that phrase in print in western media I try to contact the writer and explain that Great Satan is actually a mistranslation from its original in Farsi, which is “Sheytan-e-Bozorg”, meaning Big Satan. Propaganda shills, as they are, the western media, in their mistranslation apparently wanted to attribute some sort of greatness to America.
However, the correct translation of the phrase in English is Big Satan; in the way that one would speak of the U.S. as being the big devil and of others like Israel, Egypt, etc being the little devils.
We should not forget that bigness is for size; greatness is for character. Khomeini was simply referring to size. Also, no scholar of the known religions would ever refer to Satan as being great, least of them Khomeini. Additionally, if Khomeini wanted to use the equivalent Farsi phrase for Great Satan he would have said “Sheytan-e-Kabir” and not “Sheytan-e-Bozorg”, but he correctly said Sheytan-e-Bozorg, meaning Big Satan
I have no doubt that the leadership of Iran wishes they were a threat to someone. So far they have basically been a threat to their own people.
By providing a convenient external threat we are entrenching the very leadership that will try to be a threat in the future.
Our past support for authoritarian regimes has created the blow-back that has caused many of our diplomatic difficulties. We should be careful that the middle east hurricane Bu$h the inferior started doesn’t blow us into WW3.
To Vince Lawrence:
As to Kunstler, my impression is he’s pretty much just hurling insults at people who think we can go on “happy motoring” forever. I think he believes the time is NOW to put our efforts into developing sustainable cottage communities in this country where we can live together cooperatively, have plenty of fresh water, good farmland and sensible housing. I actually moved to the Northeast from Southern California because of what I read in “The Long Emergency”. That horse pulling the car on the back cover really caught my attention.
But believe it or not, I think I may be moving back to California because I’ve found I miss my sons way more than I care about my personal future. God knows they’ll never leave Venice Beach, the Lakers, the Dodgers and their precious UCLA Bruins. No matter what, they love So. Cal.
Love trumps everything in the end, for me at least.
The U.S. and big business have never been able to squash Iran because Iran has been independent. But big oil companies want all of the oil and as long as Iran stands firm in keeping out big business take overs,there will always be a danger that military forces will break it apart just like the military has broken Iraq and many other coutries. What do the Democratic candidates have to say unlike Hillary who sounds just like Bush?
Iran has never attacked or invaded another nation in about 300 years.
If or when this greedy war criminal profiteering administration bomb Iran all hell will break loose. More illegal aggressive war for profit should turn the entire civilized world against America and the U.S. could be boycotted,embargoed and sanctioned as any nuke happy rogue state should be treated .
Please arrest this war criminal administration before it’s too late , “elected” congress do nothing but talk and spend your grand children’s money to make criminals more wealthy .
This government with the aid of MSM are consuming American souls and futures.
KARMA can not be deemed a terrorist or won over with bombs.
Lucitanian: Great Post !
I am also always disappointed in how few people can actually connect the dots between all the crimes being carried out by Republicans, without seeing the overall Republican strategy, which is ’start a war on terror to crush dissent and eventually crush democracy’. It is crazy to see that there are still 40% of the population of the U.S. would consider voting Republican in the next election, even if they hate Bush.
9-11 is also an interesting one. There are so many crazy conspiracy theories about 9-11, that nearly anybody who brings up the topic is almost immediately silenced or not taken serious. Yet, the whole incident fits in perfectly well with the overall ‘Republican strategy’; it can surely be no accident that all plans for invading and torturing and making more bombs and stealing elections were just waiting in the wings and that the disaster purely struck by co-incidence. And we know that the ‘official’ 9-11 report is a complete fraud, so the wildgrowth of crazy theories is understandable.
If a normal educated person can conclude, just by doing a library or internet search, that Iraq did not have nuclear weapons, how can government officials, who have access to much more information, from many more sources than us, be ‘mistaken’ and have to admit in a later stage that ‘we were wrong ?’. A normal educated person can conclude the same about Iran now. There is no reason to believe the stories that are being told.
All the lies are intentional. The whole strategy is to wipe out dissent, conquer the world, and dismantle democracy, country by country. The whole strategy is: Total complete power.
People who still support Republicans after all these years are utter complete fools. If you have them in your family: disown them. If you are married to one: divorce them. If they are on your workplace: ignore them. If they pay your salary, look for work elsewhere. If they are on TV, don’t pay attention to them. Take it personal. Republicans are after YOU, they want to take away everything you ever cherished in life.
Republicans belong to the garbage of history. They have no ideas except complete power. They are on the same level with Atilla the Hun.
If a warrant can be issued by the THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL for Milosevic for crimes against humanity surely Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheyney, Wofkowitz can be indicted and arrested by the International Court before they pass legislation or attempt to protect themselves, even that should not matter after all Milosovic’s government could pass legislation to protect him but the court could ignore it.
Can ordinary citizens bring charges?
Milosovic threatened a region, these people threaten the destruction of the human race with
nuclear first strike policies, and they have the blood of millions on their hands and their god delusions threaten the whole planet. Ayotollah Khomeini said that nuclear weapons were unislamic. Bush thinks that God condones nuclear genocide. Cheyney well -Halliburton and Enron tell us that money is probably his God. Join
http://peacesource.net/
see how Bush policies support Bin Laden
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/08/wanbar208.xml
http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/publications/books/ar07.php
Winnetou the Democrats are in on it to. What it boils down to is the elite. There is very little difference between the two parties..I used to work on Capitol Hill I should know. I guess you didn’t see the article on Hillary and how she wants to nuke Iran. Military Industrial Complex, AIPAC, and Corporate Greed is the lethal combination that is destroying the world.
My thanks to Scott Ritter for educating me and making the fact-based reality clear and uncomplicated.
Thanks to Saila for the Farsi translation. I had not seen “Great Satan” vs. “Big Satan” explained before.
I don’t believe Bush can afford another war with Iran. It would prove to be the end of him. He has started far to many useless wars now. That have gone nowhere and are money pits. He is fast losing in Afghanistan too. I don’t buy the surge in Iraq is working until I see actual results that it is. He can’t afford another war due to the deficit’s he has accumulated already. He has strained and broken the Army to the point it is going to take years to repair the damage he has done to it. So he doesn’t have the troops. He has the weapons all right. But, if he starts bombing Iran he really has king sized problems in Iraq! I look for Iran to get into his mess in Iraq physically. He already has a deficit that is threatening to swallow us alive. I think if he attack Iran that would be the end of him in the world and at home. Everyone would be forced to take him out of office because he was to big of a world wide threat. Someone said on a political show I watched yesterday he has painted himself into a corner. I can believe it. All he is doing with the threatening is trying to push the blame for his failures onto Iran. So maybe history will look at him a little kinder than most of us are right now. That is all the twit is concerned about right now his stupid legacy! He is a shallow man who cares about nothing. Salvaging himself from the scrap heap of history for all his failures. He is the most pathetic example of a man as I have seen recently. I can’t stand watching the worm on television. I have never hated anyone before in my life but I despise him.
Perhaps the media propaganda is not working on the American people anymore?
CBS News/New York Times Poll. Sept. 4-8, 2007. N=1,035 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
“Which comes closer to your opinion? Iran is a threat to the United States that requires military action now. Iran is a threat that can be contained with diplomacy now. OR, Iran is not a threat to the United States at this time.”
Military
Action Now Diplomacy Not a Threat Unsure
9/4-8/07 9% 59% 24% 8%
peacemaker October 9th, 2007 10:09 am
“I don’t believe Bush can afford another war with Iran. It would prove to be the end of him. He has started far to many useless wars now.”
You talk about Bush as if he makes rational decisions. The evidence shows otherwise.
Lobo Gris
The reason Iran has not been in an aggressive war for 300 years is the way it is presented in their constitution. If Iran goes to war the leaders of the country must take the front lines. (President and Supreme Leader included) It’s their law. During the Iraq/Iran war when Iraq attacked Iran, the Supreme Leader who was then President was on the battlefield. Maybe we should create such a law.
Thank you, Mr. Ritter,
As always an excellent and informative article. I admire your untiring efforts and am grateful for the light you’ve shed on the situation since your days as an inspector.
The one glaring omission to your list should be its first item. That is the assassination of Iran’s first elected president, Mossadegh, by Allan Dulles’s new CIA. This was certainly the opening act and initiator of the historic line of hostility your article follows. Mossadegh’s killing opened the way for the installation of Reza Palavi and ended talk of nationalizing the oil.
Otherwise a sterling and valuable article.
Sincere thanks for your work.
egon fawlkner
dcbeltwy, you forgot the Christian rightwing evangelists.
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers.” Quoted from Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.
Not that this admin hasn’t learned from Herr Goebbels, also.
‘atruepatriot”
I was unable to find, in the The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran your mention that “If Iran goes to war the leaders of the country must take the front lines. (President and Supreme Leader included) It’s their law.” Can you tell me where that is. I’m unable to read Farsi and cannot find such mention in the English translation.
sphne they are already part of AIPAC. AIPAC supporters or the Israeli lobby as Walt and Mersheimer define it are made up of some Fundamnetalist Christians, some Jews and others. Its a conglomerate. Not to say all Jews support AIPAC as plenty do not Rabbi Lerner for example and most Mormons I know which would consider themselves fundamentalist Christians are also not AIPAC supporters.
Actually they are Both right—-
Ayatullah Khamenei’s upon Imam Khomeini’
If ya’ll want to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, prevent a war with Iran, prevent wars with a sequence of other countries, and regain control of your country (the U.S.)you will have to declare and fight a war with the U.S. government. This is out of your comfort zone and your personal comfort is all that really matters to you, but at this point there is no other way. Bitching about the above does nothing. It’s much like praying…it may make you feel better but has absolutely no perceivable effect on the things you/I are complaining about. So the current wars (war on drugs, war on terrorism, war on peace) will continue, new wars will be fought ad infinitum. The U.S. will _never_ withdraw from either Iraq or Afghanistan and is more likely to take control of other countries when we choose to do so. The Quicksilver Messenger Service Song “What About Me” is just as relevant today as it was back in 1970.
Being an Australian I watch and listen to the US from a safe distance. Observing the US from this far away I believe we Australians see things that you guys just don’t see…you’re too close to the problems. I see lots of introspection and analysis and views on the world as if the US “owns” the world and it’s problems. Even the good hearted and fair minded souls on Common Dreams tend to do this. The world is not your problem. You (the US) may have been largely responsible for causing worldwide problems but you can’t solve them. The world has had enough of the US and it’s hubris and arrogance and will not tolerate imposed solutions. And all that attitude on other folks hard earned cash. It used to be the Japanese and Saudi Arabia (and a few others) that funded the US wars and standard of living but that is changing. The countries that currently produce current account surpluses are no longer “friends” of the US. These countries are China, Russia, Iran, Venezuala, United Arab Emirates amongst others. What response do you think these countries will give to an almost bankrupt US if it wants to wage yet another war. I suspect the “Bankers” will tell the US to behave. China in particular, has already made it clear to the US that with its US$7.5 trillion of cash in the bank that it would sell down the currency and cause the bottom to fall out of the US dollar if it had to. The problem for the US is the US$1 trillion budget deficit which it runs and which is only supported by a US dollar that’s historically been strong. Now it is slowly declining in value and importance. The Yuan and Euro are taking over. The US should perhaps start coming to terms with the fact that it will be economic forces that will stop it being a bully and that it’s colonial time is very quickly coming to an end. You cannot wage war if you have no borrowings to buy those resources which you haven’t got..oil (fuel and plastics), iron ore (steel and stainless steel) and many others that are necessary. Take heart all you well meaning folks, China will be your saviour….but then….what about China? That’s another discussion altogether!
steve brown: Excellent analysis of modern America. With all our hubris and threats to weaker nations around the world, our days are numbered as a beacon of hope on this planet. After World War Two, the Europeans finally came to the conclusion that war is not the answer in solving problems, and after so many centuries of killing one another, they ceased fire and began cooperating and now have a better standard of living for it.
The Russians as well as the Chinese know the ultimate plan of the US is to take control of their oil and natural gas resources, and these two former enemies have forged a new relationship for their own survival. And bringing other countries on board.
We are pressuring Japan to change their Constitution and prefer them to take the Tojo stance of military might.
When a nation has to bribe people with large amounts of money to join the military, give them better benefits and wages comparable to civillian jobs, and pay large bonuses to retain them, something is morally wrong with this system.
‘The Sleeping Giant’ in Asia has awakened, and cannot be bullied by the US or anyone else.
Most of the writers on Common Dreams have the ‘live and let live’ philosophy, and really don’t want to meddle in other countries affairs.
okay man.. I fon’t give a fuck who it is.. any one who says any coutry must be earased from the face of the earth, is a direct threat to humanity.
that is my 2 cents.. deal.
J.
The Big Lie: The “official” 9/11 story
All else proceeds from there. Enough Said.
“The left is right and the right is wrong”
This perfectly states the current administration’s policy regarding the invasion of Iraq. Aside from the fact we should never have gone into Iraq to begin with, and as a military venture it was always an effort doomed to be a failure, an attack on Iran would be a classic example of insane behavior (you know the definition: “Repeating bad behavior yet expecting different results”).
Are the members of this administration completely mad? We are bogged down in a failure in Iraq, have emptied our treasury needlessly, ruined our military capabilities, destroyed our Constitutional rights, and killed over a million people friend or foe. This was against a country with a second rate tired army, in a country of about 26 million people. Iran, on the other hand, has a fresh army, and a determined population of around 70 million.
If we can’t win against Iraq who, besides someone completely insane, would ever dream we could defeat an insurgency of 70 million pissed off Iranians?
Just as Greenspan finally spoke the truth (for a change) and stated the Iraq mis-adventure was “about oil”, so too is the fight we are trying to engage with Iran. The real thorn to this administration is Iran now refusing to accept $USD (United States Dollars) as the fiat currency for purchase of oil. If other nations followed suit it would skew currencies worldwide. Saddam suggested the same in about 2000 and see what happened there. Iran & Venezuala have threatened and you can see how our relations with both those countries have degraded. Follow the money to find a war.
Yeah….Iran is harmless. Nuclear technology when you have a sea of oil under you seems a little silly if not suspicious don’t you think? If any of you all know Mr. Scott’s history, he has an agenda. lets give this just a little bit of thought….they get nuclear…they give it to a bad guy…..the bad guy brings it to the USA……they blow it up and liberal’s and conservatives die…..every hear them say “death to America?”…wise up retards, we need to bomb them back into the Stone Age. NOW! That way you all are free (want to stay free?) to protest and bitch about the great USA! :o)
Bush won the election in 2000 – I believe it happened, he won
9/11 – was just 9 men with box cutters - does it matter?
Al Qaeda and Bin Laden a vast and spontaneous Saudi extremist terrorist organization without US-Saudi-Pakistan connections and handlers – umm……terrorists kill people, and bin laden killed people
Taliban refused to hand over Bin Laden – does it matter?
The hunt for Bin Laden – umm…ok?
Saddam’s WMD – hmm…..what about humanitarian reasons, oh and by the way they still found bombs
Saddam’s support for terrorism, ties to Al Qaeda – Saddam was still a dictator
Al Qaeda attack on UN compound in Bagdad – I vote no, its too bad you can’t accept the truth
Bush won the election in 2004 – you better believe it, its the truth
Al Qaeda threat in Somalia – Al Qaeda is a threat
America does not torture – who doesn’t its not good, but I don’t see your point
No abductions to secret prisons – ok?
Nuclear Technology with oil is suspicious??? Its like an upgrade, think about it, you have a perfectly good TV at home but you decide you want an HDTV, because it is bigger, better, and you want it so you get it. It is the same way, with Nuclear Technology, they want it so why can’t they have it?
Hi very nice article but i hope someone sees this, there is a huge mistake in the article. The supreme leader of Iran is not Ayatollah Khomeini but Ayatollah Ali KHAMENEI plz fix this in the article, Khomeini was the first supreme leader and has passed away.