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An Attack on Tehran Would Be Madness. So Don't Rule It Out
If Israel really attacks Iran this year, it – and the Americans – will be more dotty than their enemies think. True, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a crackpot, but then so is Avigdor Lieberman, who is apparently the Israeli Foreign Minister. Maybe the two want to do each other a favour. But why on earth would the Israelis want to bomb Iran and thus bring down on their heads the fury of both the Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas at the very same moment? Along with Syria, no doubt. Not to mention sucking the West – Europe and the US – into the same shooting match.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. (Getty)
Maybe it's because I've been in the Middle East for 36 years, but I sniff some old herrings in the air. Leon Panetta, the US Defence Secretary no less, warns us that Israel may strike. So does CNN – an older herring it would be difficult to find – and even old David Ignatius, who hasn't been a Middle East correspondent for a decade or two, is telling us the same, taken in, as usual, by his Israeli "sources".
I expected this sort of bumph when I perused last week's The New York Times Magazine – not an advertisement, this, for I would not want The Independent readers to burn their energy on such tosh – and read a warning from an Israeli "analyst" (I am still trying to discover what an "analyst" is), Ronen Bergman of Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
And here is his "kicker" (as we call it in the trade), which is as near as you can get to playing the propaganda ragtime. "After speaking with many [sic] senior Israeli leaders and chiefs [sic yet again] of the military and intelligence, I have come to believe that Israel will indeed strike Iran in 2012. Perhaps in the small and ever diminishing window that is left, the US will choose to intervene after all, but from the Israelis' perspective, there is not much hope for that. Instead, there is that peculiar Israeli mixture of fear... and tenacity, the fierce conviction, right or wrong, that only the Israelis can ultimately defend themselves."
Now, first of all, any journalist who predicts an Israeli strike on Iran is putting his head on the chopping block. But surely any journalist worth his salt – and there are plenty of good journos in Israel – would ask himself a question: Who am I working for? My newspaper? Or my government?
Panetta, pictured, who lied to US forces in Iraq by claiming to them they were there because of 9/11, should know better than to play this game. CNN ditto. I shall forget Ignatius. But what is all this? Nine years after invading Iraq – an enormously successful adventure, we are still told – because Saddam Hussein had "weapons of mass destruction", we plan to clap our hands as Israel bombs Iran because of more unprovable "weapons of mass destruction". Now I don't doubt that within seconds of hearing the news, Barack Obama's grotesque speech-writers will be grovelling to find the right words to support such an Israeli attack. If Obama can abandon Palestinian freedom and statehood for his own re-election, he can certainly support Israeli aggression in the hope that this will get him back in the White House.
If Iranian missiles start smashing into US warships in the Gulf, however – not to mention US bases in Afghanistan – then the speechwriters may have much more work to do. So just don't let the Brits or the Frenchies get involved.
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29 Comments so far
Show All"I am still trying to discover what an 'analyst' is"
something to do with anal?
Well I know an analcyst prevented Rush Limbaugh from joing the military when he was all for that war in Vietnam.
Might they be related?
that was no cyst - that was his head.
"Instead, there is that peculiar Israeli mixture of fear... and tenacity, the fierce conviction, right or wrong, that only the Israelis can ultimately defend themselves.""
Does this mean we can cut off our aid to them. If they want to be martyrs why should we pick up the tab? Ultimately they can always drop the bomb they developed in secret on our dime anyway. I for one wish they'd try it on their own.
I am all for Israel putting themselves into debt the same way the US has in their interest.
Robert, from your post in Beirut you will have a ring-side seat as Israel does the unthinkable. Iran and Syria will then hammer Israel with every missile that they and their surrogates (Hamas and Hezbollah) can muster. Iran and Syria will be smashed with significant American and NATO help (yes including the Brits and "Frenchies" as you call them).
Then, right on schedule, like mushrooms blooming in the woods after a solid two weeks of heavy rain, fifth columnists within Syria and Iran (thoroughly trained by the NED and other subversive CIA NGO-front groups) will revolt and throw out the RG in Iran and the Assad family in Syria.who will then be replaced by more compliant U.S. puppets.
Bibi and Avigdor and all the rest of the political xenophobes in Israel will be ousted by an electorate who will have, for the first time in their history, experienced the kind of death and destruction they have routinely and unilaterally rained down on others. This time Israel, minus the nut-faction that has dominated their governments for so long, will get down to business and negotiate in good faith with Arab and other Muslim factions who will do the same (now won't that be different!).
Even the Pope will get involved (probably not the current one who has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel) and lend his good offices on behalf of all the Christians of the world in order to settle the real nexus for all this Middle East violence which is the status of Jerusalem. An agreement will be reached, and Neville Chamberlain-like the Pope will declare it to be a time of "peace and safety" and then as you, Robert, are so fond of saying, "Watch out!".
Syria is not going to get involved, I will bet you $1.
Repost.
"I am still trying to discover what an "analyst" is.."
An analyst is a person paid to assemble talking points in a way that makes ridiculous conclusions seem logical.
Of course it would be mad to attack Iran in a general sense. However it would be perfectly rational to attack Iran from the cowardly, criminal, old war criminal ruling oligarch point of view. It is a win win for them.
Billions in no-bid conracts for the MIC, Israeli interest will be pleased, BigOil profits would skyrocket. The bankster financial middlemen parasites would profit widly. Plus, the ruling classes can create a massive diversion from the domestic economic collapse and wholesale theft of public finances and goods. The oligarchy can use the "national emergency" to implement NDAA and further consolodate power.
As always the old war criminals never fight or get killed, they profit while others are slaughtered on a mass scale. They have an incentive to attack Iran.
With that said, indirectly, this may well hasten the demise of the vestiges USD hegemony - the demise of the petrodollar. Already Iran is selling oil for gold and other currencies to India and China etc, not in USD. When the US cannot buy enough oil priced in dollars, it will not be able to finance its war/military deficits. Most all the deficit is caused by debt service from previous military/war debt and current military/war expenditure. No petrodollar, No more Empire.
Think Tanks, I don't mean that kind of Tank. I mean the kind of Think Tank that thinks every problem is solved with that kind of Tank. The Masters of War. The Rand Corporation, The Council on Foreign Relations,Heritage Foundation, and of course The Let's Just Kill Everybody Institute,(OK I made that one up). These Think Tanks are full of very smart folks that figure out who US America is going to fuck over next. They have chosen their fellow citizens. NorthCom coming soon to a town or city near you. Don't miss it. And remember the next time you need to think, let a Tank do it for you!
You lost me when you said "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a crackpot,"
Journalistic bias
Me too.
Yes, I agree. The time is long overdue to stop calling other peoples' leaders crazy and actually try to understand their nation's complexity and point of view. There is no doubt in my mind that George W. Bush and Ronnie Regan were at least three or four bricks short of a load but to call them crazy did not provide an analysis for getting them out of power. Breaking thru the power and undermining an entire way of thinking requires more than name calling.
We've found the WMD-- weapons of mass disinformation.* copyright reserved in the USA but can be used in discussion of important issues. "Manufacturing consent" in progress. Always stand in the way of this kind of "progress."
Good point. Calling them crazy in all but a very few cases (King George III) is incorrect. It is merely an admission that you don't understand their motives.
"You lost me when you said 'Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a crackpot'"
_______________________
I respect and admire Fisk, but he does have a unfortunate habit of dropping peremptory, dismissive characterizations-- i.e., resorting to curmudgeonly name-calling-- into otherwise thoughtful and incisive analysis.
He can't mention Ahmadinejad without automatically or compulsively disparaging him as a "crackpot". And it's the same with other persons or pet peeves that apparently just rub him the wrong way.
I just make allowances for this disagreeable tendency, which I regard as equivalent to Tourette Syndrome, but of course YMMV.
While i have the highest regards for Mr. Fisk, i find his continous degeneration of President Ahmadinejad quite pugnacious and unkind. I have seen many interviews of Mr. Ahmadinejad, and to me, he seems quite wise and sensible. Would appreciate if Mr. Robert Fisk could kindly elucidate us on his remark on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad being a "crackpot'. Is it bcs he supports Hezbollah?!
While Ahmadinejad seems more reasonable than some national leaders, it isn't a crowd where there are high standards of historical realism, ethical behavior or complex thought. I think the prime cause for this is M. A.'s indulgence in Holocaust denial. While there does seem to be scholarly disagreement on real numbers for this mass killing, it is media and academic suicide to give any credibility to anyone who substantively denies this history. Where M.A. falls on this spectrum and even if what he has actually said is not extreme, I honestly don't know, but it is enough to discredit him in the MSM.. Fisk knows those rules and is one of the Israeli right's most credible and consistent critics, who is bold enough to say Lieberman is as nutty as Ahmadinejad. What is sadly under-explored by MSM journalists is a comparison of the human rights repressions of M.A. to the those of the US imposed Shah. Especially since we urged the Shah to develop nuclear power. At any rate Fisk's purpose here is to point toward the risks of Israeli/US behavior.
Nevertheless it appears to me, and I am very sympathetic to Iran, that it is craziest for Iran to press their luck. They should abandon nuclear technology, build a solar energy system and sell their oil very slowly and very dearly while letting the US dollar self destruct and Israel run out of sympathy. They should become the masters of Gulf regional permaculture and reconnect to the roots of ancient Persian mysticism and culture and become a center of peace, beauty, and learning. Wisdom and not war or revenge is the answer.
Jonabark, I agree with you wholeheartedly....Iran should go solar and not give any further excuse to the new world order cabal to destroy it...let the dollar destroy itself along with the US and world economy. But for the record, and since i speak fluent Farsi, Ahmadanijad never denied the Holocoust from having taken place...he only wanted to be allowed to start researching on the numbers that were killed and he also never said he wanted to destroy Israel from the face of this earth. I heard him very clearly say that the zionist regime that controls Israel will destroy itself...Your are on the mark when u say "Wisdom and not war or revenge is the answer."
Pottery.
Ridiculous. A crackpot is a crackpot and I appreciate Fisk's directness and that he doesn't temporize with diplomatic niceties. But let's address the substance here.
Fisk is never an easy read, so he takes us beyond the easy read to ask, "Why are we being softened up for the 'inevitability' of an Israeli attack on Iran?" It's a good question.
And the forecast is....for more war.
I hope someone is taking notes. I would love to know what we have really been doing ever since we had that actor as president. The garbage we get from the Ministry of Truth is useless. U.S. history is filed under Fiction.
I wonder why Iran doesn't simply agree to adhere to the same limits and inspection on atomic weapons as Israel.
lol!
Anyone who has lived for any length of time in the United States and is interested in politics realizes that the foreign policy establishments of both the democratic and republican parties are completely dominated by zionists that put the security of Israel ahead of the national security of the United States so whatever Israel wants Israel gets and the corrupt extremist government of Israel is determined to attack Iran so they can remain the only nuclear power in the middle east. We should not be foolish enough to think that the Americans will have an independent foreign policy.
I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said “DEFEND AMERICA & ISREAL”. I was tempted to follow the car and put a big RED X over ISREAL. Keep your eyes open and a RED marking pen handy.
My headline: AN ATTACK ON IRAN WOULD BE WORTH TRILLIONS TO THE 1%, SO DON'T RULE IT OUT.
It is not madness to the warmongers and war profiteers of the U.S. and Israel. It is just a matter of perspective!
have to unfortunately agree with you on your above assertion...