Jeffrey Goldberg's recently published "Time to murder the filthy Persians" musings completely skip over the parts where he perviously made the opposite claim (bombing the Iraqis actually catalyzed Saddam's nuclear ambitions,) and the fact that the official US intelligence community's position mirrors the statements made by the NIE in 2007: there is no proof Iran is building nuclear weapons (energy facilities for civilian purposes, yes, vaporizing weaponry, no,) and Iran stopped pursuing nuclear weapons in 2003.
Clearly, the US's concern isn't disarmament because no one has said a peep about the Middle East's worst kept secret: Israel has stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Nor does the US seem overly concerned about bringing stability to the region, since the government just announced plans to sell $30 billion-worth of F-15s to Saudi Arabia, Israel's adversary, while the US simultaneously continues to ship Israel billions in aid and weaponry.
If Goldberg's irresponsible myth-building sounds familiar, it's because this is exact the same "journalmalism" technique utilized in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion. Thousands of miles from Tehran, Goldberg offers his calculations with the detached indifference of a serial killer as if bombing suspected nuclear facilities won't result in civilian casualties -- no matter how "smart" we think our bombs are. It's difficult to believe that just a few months ago, armchair activists in America (including some of the same talking heads now pimping war), were celebrating the Green Revolution. If the US bombs and invades Iran, those moderates will forever be lost to understandable and deserved anti-US sentiment.
Despite the overwhelming contradicting evidence, yesterday the Treasury Department released new regulations that "effectively bar foreign banks from doing business in dollars if they engage in transactions with anyone suspected of involvement in Iran's nuclear or missile programs. The entities include Iran's Revolutionary Guards," which is a branch of Iran's military.
The statement is shaped so broadly (does "nuclear program" mean the energy facilities for civilian purposes?) that this wide-ranging sanction could potentially affect individuals who have nothing to do with terrorism, which is usually how those sanction thingies AKA "collective punishment" work. If a hospital treats a member of the IRG, does that mean that hospital is aiding Iran's nuclear ambitions? That sort of slippery slope reasoning is one of many reasons sanctions frequently miss the target and inevitably slip into collective punishment territory.
Financial sanctions is one side to the War on Terror (or whatever shiny new name President Obama is calling it these days), and it is usually used as a preface to greater military action. When it comes time to debate "to bomb, or not to bomb?" politicians will sigh, hold up their hands, and say, "Well, the sanctions didn't work, so what other option do we have?" setting aside the facts that the US knew of no actual nuclear weapons before they assigned sanctions that were so broadly defined literally anyone could be labeled a terrorist.
In The Price Of Fear, author Ibrahim Warde builds a copious, and damning, indictment of the U.S government's financial War on Terror since 9/11. Warde dismantles the long-held theory that it is possible to extinguish terrorism by cutting off funding, since the nature of terrorism inherently means operations cost very little cash, which terrorists can access through a limitless number of channels. In the meantime, Warde argues, innocent parties like certain Muslim charities -- oftentimes the only lifelines to resource-challenged communities -- become suspects and victims of sanctions. Ironically (and tragically,) when those communities lose their limited resources, they are all the more likely to grow resentful of the US and turn to extremism.
For example, the Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and the Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, didn't need tons of funding to execute their crudely drawn plans. The only reason those attacks were thwarted wasn't because of the fat budget of Homeland Security, but because of their own ineptitude.
Furthermore, harsh sanctions will never completely obliterate the risk of a terrorist attack. In the words of Jonathan Randal, author of Osama: The Making of a Terrorist, financial sanctions "nab few bad guys, ruin many innocents, freeze little hot money and vastly complicate worldwide banking for the greater glory of a burgeoning American bureaucracy."
However, financial sanctions do successfully bolster the US case for invasion and occupation. This is step one in the "Time to murder the filthy Persians" plan laid out by famous warhawk Jeffrey Goldberg, but also now parroted by the Very Serious Persons in Washington who seem hellbent on leading the country into yet another pointless, immoral, illegal, tremendously wasteful, and permanent conflict.
Cross-posted from allisonkilkenny.com
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Obama has not only continued Bushes aggressive polices around the planet, he has been excalating them; thousands of airstrikes in Yemen and Pakistan, he has sent secret terrorist thug squads into 12 countries; General Petraus is RAH-RAHING!! all over the place about how successful his pet counterinsurgency strategy is working - the facts reveal he is lying!!!
Turkey has been raising hell against Israel's slaughtering of 9 Turkey citizens on those humanitarian ships and has also voted against sanctions against Iran. Obama says he will cut off millions in aid to Turkey if they don't shutup about Israel's war crimes and start supporting sanctions against Iran. There is no doubt that Obama and his Administration is working for AIPAC and these divided loyalties really STINK!!! and it is a stupid, incrediably counterproductive foreign policy to favor Israel over the other Arab/Muslim nations and has always proven to be extremely harmful to the best interests of the American people.
F&F
'Who you gonna call?'
Why, the military, of course.
'What kind of solutions will you get?'
Why, military solutions, of course.
'Who are the insane ones here?'
We are.
We keep electing the same people over and over and over while expecting different results!
As an American I hope our government has learned the errors of it's ways and seeks peace over war as a future policy. It's my hope that the American people will reject any notions of war in a manner Washington can't ignore. Hopefully the people of Iran and all of the middle east will do the same.
It's my belief regardless of what Washington or other governments say that the people of all nations simply wish to go about their business, raise their families and live their lives in peace.
If there is an attack on Iran, which may be necessary for all I know, the whole world should be in on it. No more George Bush cowboy stuff.
Iran since WW-I has tried hard to be independent and become industrial. You can not look at what has happened in the past few years, you need to go back all the way to 1900s.
A secular Iran is bad news for the west and Israel's long term expansionism. If Iran becomes secular that idea will spread to the entire middle east.
Imagine UAE instead of building empty sky scrapers they had build a few more refineries or hospitals or build some factories to produce electricity. Instead the entire southern Persian gulf countries are having rolling blackouts.
Bushehr power plant went it comes up can not only feed entire southern Iran it can also feed Kuwait and other countries.
Have we not learned that unless we are directly attacked that war is NEVER the answer?
Regards.
excellent point.
This time it will so affect the American people that it will drive this country to the very brink of crisis the likes we have never faced before.
And all so Israel can continue in it's quest for Eretz Israel, and the United States can have control of the last bits of the planet's oil.
If we don't change in the US ourselves and stop supporting this insanity as a country, we are going to fully own the consequences as well as the unintended consequences.
No matter how much the neocons believe the US does not have to answer to anybody.
http://www.votingbloc.org/Peace_Bloc.php
Israel has long outlived even the illusion of usefulness to the US, and if they persist in this insanity as expected it could well spell the end of our "special relationship" as US military brass have been hinting.