The Obama Administration was seemingly foiled last week when it was discovered that the “secret” Iranian nuclear facility they were about to reveal to the rest of the UN Security Council had already been reported to the IAEA, by Iran, as legally required.
But no one seemed to notice. The Western media still crowed about the “uncovering” of a secret facility by the Obama Administration and ran several stories questioning the ramifications in the lead-up to this week’s talks.
Today Slashdot, a popular news and current affairs discussion site, has run a discussion entitled “Iran’s nuclear ambitions” which underscores the tenor of the topic. Slashdot’s readership tends to be pretty politically independent and have above average education, so one would think they’d be more skeptical about the case for war than the average voter.
And there is a pretty even split between pro-war and anti-war positions on the discussion. Lots of grousing about empire. Lots of mentioning Israel. But there is one thing you won’t see, and that’s any serious questioning of whether or not Iran is creating nuclear weapons.
Despite the US intelligence community saying they aren’t, despite the IAEA saying they have seen no proof that they are, pretty much everyone takes Iran’s “nuclear ambitions” for granted, and are just split over whether or not its worth going to war over.
It’s not hard to imagine why this is. Both the Bush Administration and Obama Administration have cheerfully ignored their own intelligence communities and trumpeted this myth of the threat posed by Iran. If you’re the average person who doesn’t spend all day paying attention to this stuff you’d probably figure if one was lying about it so overtly the other party would call them on it. Not so.
But while we can take some solace in the fact that so many on Slashdot don’t see this as a good reason to go to war, if everybody believes Iran is making nuclear weapons this argument is pretty much over, and then the pro-war side has won. If facts don’t matter the state can ALWAYS scare the public into war.
It worked in Iraq… and 6+ years after the occupation a non-trivial minority of Americans still think Iraq had WMDs. Now it seems like it’s just a matter of if President Obama really wants to attack Iran or not.
And that’s not so straightforward. The US has 130,000+ troops in Iraq and will likely have over 100,000 troops in Afghanistan very soon. Conquering Iran will be no cakewalk, and even with the international good will the Obama Administration seems to have it is unlikely NATO is going to jump at the chance for another war.
But unless Americans are really willing to revisit the underlying claim of Iran’s mythical nuclear weapons program, the debate is over. Thursday’s talks will be about lining up international forces on Obama’s side for sanctions or worse against Iran, and the media will gleefully report the official line, no matter how little sense it makes.
Duh. When was there ever a discussion?
Re Slashdot: don't forget the professional bloggers, who will be on the pro-war side and who will be sending multiple messages from several IP addresses to make it look like a wide spread of opinion. If the split is 50-50, then I'd guess that the vast majority of genuine bloggers are anti-war. In practical terms, it is hard to see how the US could go to war with Iran, essentially for the reasons Mr Ditz sets out. A war of any kind will discredit the attacker and make Iran into the hero of most of the planet. It would also send the "allies" scurrying home from Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving the US firendless and with three unwinnable wars on its hands. I'd guess the pro war propaganda is manipulation coming from some Israeli/Israel Lobby source.
From what I've read, I strongly doubt Iran is seeking to build atomic bombs. But what if they are building them? How could anyone blame them? It must now seem to any foreign nation that the only way to deter unjustified, immoral and aggressive invasion by the United States of Force is to deploy nuclear weapons. An undeniable truth that every government in the world knows, but is hesitant to admit: God made powerful nations and God made weak nations, but is was Edward Teller and nuclear technology that made them all equal.
Russia offered their friends the Iranians , fuel for nuclear ractors for electrical generation , But Iran wants to enrich their own peacefull fuel . Its a good bet they want to enrich enough for nuclear bombs .. But it is not a fact , just like Iraqs WMDs were not a fact . It is a fact United States has bombed several countrie on what now is claimed to be false facts . Obama may just be softing up the world for Israels attacks Than Iran wont be mad at Russia and China or even the United States , we cant be held liable for what Israel does neither can Russia and China . The whole world can tell Israel they are acting bad . But the job will be done .
"it is unlikely NATO is going to jump at the chance for another war"-I don't think so!
France Germany Canada Austrilia New Zealand are Zionist controlled–don't count them out.Any bets?