Bush Betrays Belligerent Intentions Toward Iran in State of Union
The only noteworthy thing about Bush’s State of the Union address was his unmistakable belligerence toward Iran.
He mentioned that nation first in the context of why the United States must stay in Iraq: otherwise, we would “strengthen Iran,” Bush said.
He could have thought about that before invading Iraq, but he didn’t. And now he’s back in a bombing mood.
Never mind that that the National Intelligence Estimate said Iran didn’t have nuclear weapons and didn’t have an active nuclear weapons program. Bush still raised the specter of Iran with a nuclear weapon.
He castigated the Iranian government for opposing freedom wherever it “advances in the Middle East.” And he said Iran was aiding terrorists or militia groups in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and in Iraq.
It’s the latter excuse that he’s going to hang his helmet on.
I’m betting that Bush will try to come to the American people once more before his term is up and declare that forces trained by Iran have attacked our troops in Iraq, and that he therefore is going after them.
Listen to his words: “Above all, know this,” Bush warned. “America will confront those who threaten our troops. We will stand by our allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf.”
Even more ominous was Bush’s line, “Our message to the people of Iran is clear: We have no quarrel with you.”
As Robert Fisk has pointed out, this is the mantra that Presidents use whenever they are about to attack another country.
It is an imperial tic, a ritual throat-clearing before the war-making, the rattle of the snake before the lashing bite.
Here are some quotes from the imperial tic file:
“The United States has no quarrel with the Iraqi people.”
Sept. 12, 2002, Bush to UN
“We have no quarrel with the Iraqi people. They are the daily victims of Saddam Hussein’s oppression, and they will be the first to benefit when the world’s demands are met.”
Oct. 5, 2002, Bush radio address
“Our message to the people of Iran is clear: We have no quarrel with you.”
Jan. 28, 2003, Bush State of the Union
Then there was Tony Blair, echoing his boss:
“Let me make it quite clear that our quarrel is not with the Iraqi people.”
March 19, 2003, Tony Blair addressing Parliament
And, for a little family fealty, here is Bush’s dad:
“Let there be no misunderstanding. We have no quarrel with the people of Iraq.” Sept. 17, 1990, George H.W. Bush, speech to the nation
Finally, the beatified Ronald Reagan:
“The attacks were concentrated and carefully targeted to minimize casualties among the Libyan people with whom we have no quarrel.”
April 14, 1986, Ronald Reagan speech to the nation.
So when Bush told the Iranian people on Monday night that he’s got no quarrel with them, that could hardly have been reassuring.
And for those of us who cherish peace, those of us who abhor imperial misadventures, we must pressure our elected officials to stop this madman before he wages yet another reckless war, this time in Iran.
We can’t say he didn’t warn us.
Matthew Rothschild is the editor of The Progressive magazine.
© 2008 The Progressive
It’s likely that hostilities will begin after another confrontation in the Gulf.
It could be faked (again), it could be some zealot from either side. “I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol”, courtesy of Gen. Boykin.
All that’s necessary is something to produce American casualties and then things will get out of control.
The Beast needs to be fed. Another war is on the way. And another…
American bombers managed to kill Gaddafi’s grandchild. I’m pleased to know we had no quarrel with that dead baby. And the million plus dead Iraqis? We have no quarrel with them whatsoever. If the dead could talk, they would thank Mr. Bush for liberating their country. The Iranians who Mr. Bush will order killed before he slides into a comfortable retirement now know that he bears them no ill, either. When this great Christian man bears you no ill will, you’ve got it made.
Mental!
Bush already holds the record for creating martyrs.
I guess he feels he needs more to really destroy civiliztion.
Some people are starting a pool as to when the attacks will begin.
A second pool is for when the Israelis start to bomb.
Don’t think that confrontation in the Gulf a month ago won’t be heard about again. It will be used as justification in the future. Has there been any closure on the incident? No, probably the same line about not commenting on an ongoing investigation only to be brought up again when it is deemed useful. It doesn’t even seem to matter when they’re caught red-handed in a lie, our president will just calmly repeat it until enough people believe. Americans always seem to hold out hope that our elected officals aren’t lying to us until the damning documents surface in 20 years. Look at Vietnam. Don’t know if you noticed the fanciful rewriting of history in which the anti-war folks lost the war for us, even when the documents proving the Gulf of Tonkin incident was fabricated to open up the war in earnest are finally produced. Alot of people claim that doubting the sincerity of our elected officials is cynical, but it seems like a prerequisite for logical thought to me.
All though there is no question that the Neo-Cons seek Iran’s vast oil reserves, I don’t believe that the attack is imminent. Instead I think corporate America has decided that Bush’s successor (either Hillary or Obama or McCain) should pull the trigger so as to convey the message that we are ‘united’ (Dems & Reps) in our quest to stamp out evil; a truly bipartisan effort!
One only had to watch the Democrats on the right side of George Bush during his State of the Union address to see how quickly everyone jumped to their feet applauding with any reference to the troops. Corporate America isn’t really concerned about the colors of their elected officials as long as they do their bidding. The great thing about Obama and Hillary is that both of them are committed to pleasing their corporate sponsors regardless of what the public yearns for.
The current farce referred to as the ‘primaries’ is the way corporations weed out any candidate that they suspect of being anti-corporate. Once the establishment is satisfied that all of the remaining candidates are vehemently pro-corporate/MIC/Big oil, then the establishment can sit back and let the public choose their own poison.
This scenario has played out for decades now, yet the public is slow to catch on.
i’ll give 10 to 1 odds the idiot Bush will bomb Iran before he leaves office. no doubt about it.
Favorite date for Pool 1 - May 5
Date for pool 2 - April 15
Funny how he did not mention his request to Congress last week to legalize the sale of nuclear secrets to Turkey. I say legalize and not authorize since it appears we have already been selling them.
http://www.counterpunch.org/frank01272008.html
And you wonder why Iran wants nukes, Israel, Pakistan and now Turkey. They are surrounded by countries who have or want nukes themsleves, and they all got the technology from us.
” curmudgeon99 January 31st, 2008 3:59 pm
Bush already holds the record for creating martyrs.
I guess he feels he needs more to really destroy civiliztion.”
WHAT’S LEFT OF IT; for there isn’t any in the “West”, except for the part that’s usually not inferred and which is South America, which definitely is part of the WESTERN HEMISPHERE, regardless how much people like to define “West” differently, that is, minus So. America.
“Some people are starting a pool as to when the attacks will begin.
A second pool is for when the Israelis start to bomb.”
AND SOME OF US are in neither of those categories, including myself and, f.e.:
” alexnosal January 31st, 2008 7:43 pm
All though there is no question that the Neo-Cons seek Iran’s vast oil reserves, I don’t believe that the attack is imminent. Instead I think corporate America has decided that Bush’s successor (either Hillary or Obama or McCain) should pull the trigger so as to convey the message that we are ‘united’ (Dems & Reps) in our quest to stamp out evil; a truly bipartisan effort!
…”
THAT IS MORE REFLECTIVE OF MY position, although mainly with respect to believing that the attack may well be non-imminent. As for whether the likelihood will really increase with Obama and Clinton, I’m not sure and will instead leave a BIG ‘?’ on even them being secretly commanded or puppeted to command war on Iran.
Those two war criminals would surely go along with accepting to be the puppet figurehead president commanding war on Iran, if the real and hidden ruling elites of the U.S. Otherwise, NO, they will not launch the war on Iran.
READ what the real and hidden ruling elites would likely and not want to do; not what the goon the U.S. has been criminally fated to have for puppet president wants, for they’ve sold their souls to the hidden ruling elites. Figure out what those “elites” want and then you’ll know what degree of potential there is, or not, for U.S. and/or Israel warring on Iran; and yes, also Israel.
After all, Israel is not going to bite the hands of its criminal, despotic, anti-democratic, anti-human rights, …, hellbent feeders and protectors, i.e., “caretakers”. Israel knows this reality very well, that it would not be able to get away with its endless and extreme crimes, if it was not for the U.S. govt and, most surely of all, its real and hidden ruling elites.
If they do attack Iran, then don’t forget what Russian President Vladimir Putin has firmly and clearly stated! Russia’s military isn’t going to be idle, say.
Americans would not know about the latter part of the whole picture, unless reading at OnlineJournal.com, and then only maybe. Larry Chin may possibly have some articles there on this particular topic. Perhaps Opednews.com and ZMag also have some articles on this.
And then maybe a few, very few, Americans writing individually have written on that topic, such as Stephen Lendman and Mike Whitney, [perhaps]. Mike’s written some very good articles about 2007 meetings between Bush and Putin, as well as about some other U.S. govt officials having gone to Moscow to try to sleazily persuade Pres. Putin their way, after Bush failed. And Putin expertly judo’d these sleaze bags, who he showed are at best half-wits.
He warned that Russia’s missile defence system has not be adequately upgraded, after the USA cause that country’s economy quasi-total destruction, very serious collapse; and that these systems will very likely be triggered by any missiles fired at Iran, for these systems would interpret these missiles as likely heading to strike Russia. ETC.
Even without that technological issue and which is the FAULT OF THE CRIMINAL USA, Russia has entered an agreement with central asian countries, including Iran, for these are the littoral countries of the Caspian Sea; well, any of them being struck will cause Russia to activate its military, and I mean [really] ACTIVATE.
Iran is, so far anyway, not going to be alone in its active defence if the US and/or Israel strike it.
I guess the hidden and real ruling elites of the USA are aware of this additional matter that apparently MOST Americans are unaware of.
Most so-called alternative news and views websites don’t do a good job of representing many important news stories or reports.
Surely CD’ers, some anyway, must’ve noticed that we pretty much never find news reports from other than U.S. news media, and by far most views are from Americans. It’s an awful underrepresentation of MOST of the news there is in this world, of which the USA represents a very small population segment.
www.globalresearch.ca has articles on the topic of Russia, the alliances between Russia and the Caspian Sea’s littoral countries, of which I believe there are five (+/- 1), and between Russia, China, and several central asian countries, with Pakistan and India being non-official members, but which also have not rejected the offer, which, in turn, they’re surely not interested in doing; being, surely, very interested in this, only knowing that due to the U.S., they must tread this lightly very carefully and discreetly.
But in the USA, the cultural norm is that “ignorance is bliss”, and making that their unstated credo, they stick with it as obstinately, i.e., pig-headedly, as they can.
Americans’ bliss is hell to everyone else; but Americans are too “thick as a brick” to understand such simple-to-comprehend and simple-to-SEE reality.
Check out this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7930
That’s VERY EYE-OPENING, and “man” am I glad to have read that right away. It’s a very important article and not long, so should be neither ignored nor postponed reading.
I tried to edit that post to make the corrections that grammatically and/or semantically are due, but my Web browsers suddenly and entirely blacked out in terms of the content windows or tabs, and I had to reboot. That leaves me unable to edit the above post; but I guess people will understand what’s meant (from what’s lacking or needing slight typographic correction).
Just one question: Some of the views presented above have indicated that the task of loosing bombs on Iraq is being left to the next democratic (?) president. If so, who will the president appoint as a VP who will have to be an avid supporter of perpetual war?
My prediction: Bush and Cheney wait till the general election is over, then a week or so later they pull a Gulf of Tonkin incident that needs “imediate retaliation” against Iran. Then the next president is left with the headache.
If a republican wins maybe they’ll do it. As bad as the Democrats have gotten, and they’ve gotten REALLY bad, I’m not sure a new Democratic president in this climate would start a new war with a contry that is much more powerful than Iraq or Afganistan. They’ll keep the present wars going indefinetly, they’ll destroy every social program left, but I think they would only invade Iran under huge pressure from their corporate masters; of course for all I know they are already under this kind of pressure from their corporate campain contributors.
Also, in the short term, A Bush attach on Iran would wash the hands of whoever the new president is. Although they would most certainly continue the invasion of Iran, any public outrage for starting yet another unwinnable war could be deflected by saying,”My administration didn’t start this war, but now that we are in it we have no choice but to fight to the end.”
I can’t put this kind of outrageous action past Bush and Cheney. It’s what they do, and they’ve learned that there will never be any legal consequeces. Also, at this point they know that the only way to secure a possitive legacy for themselves is through media propaganda: rewriting history like in that recent 60 minutes peice and Oliver Stone’s upcoming “Unbiased” Bush Biography film. Remember words and phrases like “Unbiased”, “We report you decide”, and “Fair and Balanced” always mean Rightwing.
Bush aint playing roulette!
He already has the Ace of spades (Saudia Arabia) and the Ace of Clubs (Iraq) in his hand! Now if he can just figure out a way to get ahold of the Ace of Hearts (Iran), then America will win the biggest pot in the history of the planet.
My guess is that Bush and his evil neoconservative posse have underestimated the collective will of the rest of the world to resist evil (cheating/rigging the game) once our military industrial complex sets the new war in motion. History is full of stories just like this.
I hope you are right andrew.herman, because the rest of the World (less China and Russia) is playing kissarse at the moment.
Alexnosal said:
“The current farce referred to as the ‘primaries’ is the way corporations weed out any candidate that they suspect of being anti-corporate. Once the establishment is satisfied that all of the remaining candidates are vehemently pro-corporate/MIC/Big oil, then the establishment can sit back and let the public choose their own poison”.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I have NO ENTHUSIASM for either Obama OR Clinton.
The SOB’s are fully vetted by the SOB’s that are waging a successful class war against anyone who is not part of the investor class.
It is time to either tax wealth at a punitively high rate or (better in my mind) begin to seize and Nationalize the assets of the rich.
The plutocracy has NEVER made any attempt to hide the fact that they think that the working class is disposable cannon fodder and wage slaves.
Folks, we can continue, for at least a little while longer, to participate in this charade of Democracy or immediately take the inevitable step of seizing the misappropriated wealth of the investor class.
Sure…..they will whine like the spoiled bastards that they are. SCREW THEM!
There is MORE THAN ENOUGH to go around in this Nation and indeed the world.
How long can we afford to stand by and watch the Plutocracy pit the workers of the world against each other?
Just as mankind eventually realized that we didn’t need Royalty and a feudal system to survive we will one day realize that Capitalism is inherently evil and must be replaced.
But we damn sure better do it soon or global warming and weapons of mass destruction will replace the current corrupt system with something that none of us will like.