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AIPAC Wants War on Iran
AIPAC Wants War on Iran
by Stephen Lendman
AIPAC is an unregistered foreign agent. It calls itself "America's Pro-Israeli Lobby." It's represented Israeli interests since 1953.
Virtually no one in Congress confronts it. Doing so is a career-ender. It has enormous influence over US Middle East policies affecting Israel, including war and peace.
It disseminates disinformation, lies and hate. It viciously attacks opponents. It calls Iran "the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism and is racing toward a nuclear weapons capability."
It manufactures threats to promote fear. It wants the Islamic Republic destroyed. It targets other regional states. It wants unchallenged Israeli regional dominance.
James Petras says its sole purpose "is to ensure Israel’s unchallenged military and political power over a huge region from North Africa to the Persian Gulf."
Its annual meeting "is the most outrageous public display of Zionist-Jewish power as it shapes US foreign policy."
It threatens "to drag the US into another major war in the Middle East - this time against Iran." Doing so is lawless, madness, and self-destructive.
Its web site says "While the World Talks, Iran Enriches; More Pressure Needed." A litany of disinformation and lies followed.
Negotiations failed. Iran got more time "to advance its nuclear program and cleanse a suspected nuclear site."
The international community "must dramatically" increase pressure.
Iran "is believed to have carried out experiments on nuclear explosives."
"Satellite images indicate Iran has been working to cleanse (a suspect) site by removing buildings and soil."
Iran's nuclear capabilities have advanced. It fuel stockpile approaches nuclear weapons production capability.
"America must make clear that it will act to prevent Iran from achieving the capability to build a nuclear weapon at a time of its choosing."
Contain(ing) a nuclear Iran" is inadequate. US policy must reject any possibility of Tehran developing nuclear weapons. All options must be considered, including "military action."
Economic sanctions must be "accelerated" and "crippling." Washington should do whatever it takes to prevent a nuclear Iran.
AIPAC is a destructive, malevolent, evil force. It's heading Washington for war. Waging one on Iran assures losers, not winners. Israel may self-destruct in the process. Catastrophe will affect the region. America won't escape harm.
War on Iran may go nuclear. Weapons of mass destruction may be used against a nonbelligerent state. The potential economic and human consequences are staggering. At issue is either stopping this madness or be consumed by it.
Nuclear war leaves no middle ground. General Omar Bradley said the only "way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts." It may be closer than most imagine.
Congressional and administration sentiment reject containment. Preventing an Iranian nuclear capability is prioritized. Doing so heads America closer to war. Timing alone is unknown.
In mid-August, Foreign Policy featured a debate of sorts. David Rothkopf headlined "The Drums of August." He's Foreign Policy's CEO and Editor-at Large. Earlier he served as Kissinger Associates managing director and US Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Policy.
"Israel is not bluffing," he said. The punch line about a boy crying wolf is that "the wolf shows up." Reasons for attacking Iran are "clearly growing more compelling for Israeli leaders."
A litany of canards followed, including:
Diplomacy isn't working. Sanctions alone aren't enough. Iran's nuclear program is accelerating. It's advancing closer to weapons capability. Tehran threatens to destroy Israel. It "murder(ed) five Israeli tourists in Bulgaria. (It's) hard for Americans to grasp (its) existential threat."
Failure to confront Iran is "imprudent." He implies might equals right as the bottom red line.
Stephen Walt's view differs. He headlined "Another reason the US shouldn't go to war with Iran," saying:
Washington should avoid war. It's not in America's interest. Diplomacy should be prioritized, not conflict. Policy makers mustn't "get buffaloed into a war by Israel." He urges reengaging Iran directly.
It "makes so much sense," he stresses, even though AIPAC and other hardliners reject it. Together with Netanyahu, they're heading America for war. They're "paint(ing) the United States into a corner."
Why is "simple." Israel can't go it alone. It lacks enough power. It can't sufficiently damage Iran's nuclear facilities without US help. Israel understands. It's pushing Washington into a war it shouldn't wage.
Notions about "closing windows," "red lines," "zones of immunity," and other rhetoric are political ploys to "stifle diplomacy, strengthen sanctions," and pressure Washington to use force. Israel needs America for its "heavy lifting."
Netanyahu/Barak war talk is "bluff, but one can scarcely blame Israel for employing a tactic that keeps working so well. It's our fault we keep falling for it."
Walt's argument falls short. Vital issues too important to ignore weren't discussed. No evidence suggests an Iranian nuclear program. Nations with them don't lob them at each other or non-nuclear states. Aggressive war is lawless.
Iran threatens no one. It urges peace, not war. It wants a nuclear free Middle East. Claiming an alleged nuclear threat is red herring cover for regime change.
Attacking Iran may go nuclear. Doing so assures mass casualties. Israel will be affected like Iran. So will America, other regional nations, and Western ones.
Anytime war is waged, it's hell. Potential nuclear war is madness and self-destructive. Netanyahu and Barak allegedly set a September 25 deadline. Obama's got until then to commit to military action or Israel will go it alone.
Israel's US ambassador Michael Oren said Israel will attack even if destroying Iran's nuclear facilities entirely isn't possible. "Diplomacy hasn't succeeded," he said.
"We've come to a very critical juncture where important decisions do have to be made." He added it won't be "in the too far distant future."
Oren also raised the bogus issue of an alleged Syrian chemical weapons threat. He suggested dealing with it might have to be prioritized. Earlier, Israel threatened to attack Syrian facilities where chemical weapons are stored. Doing so increases the likelihood of full-scale war.
Israel is spoiling for a fight. Ideally it wants Washington to do its heavy lifting. Either way, it wants regional rivals removed. War is its final solution.
A Final Comment
Last March, Occupy AIPAC said "AIPAC wants war with Iran. We don't!" Its open letter to Congress said "AIPAC is on the warpath - this time with Iran. They say the US should be willing to attack Iran or support an Israeli attack."
"AIPAC pushed our government into the catastrophic war in Iraq by exaggerating Saddam Hussein’s threat and lying about weapons of mass destruction. Now they are repeating history, with AIPAC lobbyists vastly exaggerating Iran’s nuclear threat and eschewing negotiations."
"AIPAC continues to lobby for policies that prohibit a just peace for Israelis and Palestinians and support violations of international law. AIPAC’s views do not represent the values and interests of the majority of the American people who voted for you, who pay the taxes that fund our government, and whose family members serve in the U.S. military."
"The majority of Americans do not want another war in the Middle East and the US can’t afford a war during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression."
"The Iraq war left thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead. We implore you not to repeat this tragic mistake. Say no to AIPAC, no to war with Iran and yes to diplomacy."
Wars don't solve problems. They create them. War with Syria and/or Iran may cross a line too potentially catastrophic to risk. Priority one is stopping leaders willing to chance it.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour
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When Social Media was just emerging, like NEWSVINE, my very first blogging article, in 2007, followed by many other similar ones, was on the incestuous, proto fascist alliance between Amerikan Empire and Fascist Zionism, Fascist Israel. The Fascist Zionism went beyond totalitarian, proto fascist Jews because it included the religious and secular delusions of fundamentalist, conservative Christians. At that time, in 2007, NEWSVINE, had a substantial liberal and conservative view points, but each rather limited in their perspective of class/empire relations. There was within NEWSVINE a massive pro Zionist, proto fascist contingent, which became a major problem for both the liberal base and a few international socialists, social theorists, like myself.
The essential argument I made was that Amerika was already a proto fascist state, that the early years of the Obama administration was lost within the very first days, with his Wall Street cronies, and illegal drone attacks against MUSLIM countries. I called for his impeachment within the first month, and therefore earned the ire of everyone, not just the proto fascist Zionists, proto fascist NEOCONS, but also the proto fascist liberals, whose Weimar process, class degenerating cycle, proto fascist process began immediately after World War II, ONCE CAPITALISM was re established as the class system around the world. It was easy to be kicked off that social site because the rules were quite abstract, selectively enforced, and whose creators, were conservative, and finally corporatized the social site to be sold to MSNBC itself. I was kicked off for spelling Amerika with a "k" and finally kicked off permanently for comparing Amerikan class/empire policies to the same proto fascist policies of Germany and its Nazism. Thereafter, quite a few number of progressives left NEWSVINE, because the conservatives, proto fascist Zionists, had the same kind of parasitic, ideological thuggish control over that site.
But within a space of only 5 years, now 2012, many of the same liberals, bloggers, social critics on other social news sites have concluded the same position and referred to Amerika's class state and system, as totalitarian, proto fascist, with Obama defending Fascist Zionism, and all of its War crimes, not to mention his own War crimes around the world. Amerika and the Western world , with its Failed Enlightenment degenerated into the first and the second Axis of Fascism, first under Hitler, Mussolini, Franco and the Japanese class Empire. The same failed collection of class states, throughout class history, became victims of their own degenerating class cycles, proto totalitarianism, and re started the same proto fascist process producing the Weimar class-republic, whose class cycle after World War II began when Capitalism was put back on its feet towards class Empire which supported military fascist regimes in the service of Capitalism, the connection between Capitalism and Fascism. It was always denied by the corrupt middle class ideological thugs, its political and intelligentsia, thereby enabling, re-establishing a second Axis of Fascism. THIS TIME IT IS A GLOBAL FASCIST, CAPITALIST MATRIX UNDER THE U.S. EMPIRE which prevented and deformed all other nation states, from achieving social control , real independence, THUS THE FALSE COMPARISON TO CLASS SYSTEMS & CAPITALISM, as superior, when all class states were failures, victims of this Global class/proto fascist Matrix. All class parties, linked to NATO and FASCIST ZIONISM, have become a proto- police states, just shy of a comlete global fascist dictatorship, part of a Fascist , global Matrix:
End the WikiLeaks Witch Hunt: Julian Assange’s Full Address from the Ecuadorean Embassy (video)
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/8/20/end_the_wikileaks_witch_hunt_julian
excerpt:
"This Friday, there will be an emergency meeting of the foreign ministers of Latin America in Washington, D.C., to address this very situation. And so, I am grateful to those people and governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, and to all other Latin American countries who have come out to defend the right to asylum; and to the people of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Australia who have supported me in strength, even when their governments have not; and to those wiser heads in government who are still fighting for justice—your day will come; to the staff, supporters and sources of WikiLeaks, whose courage and commitment and loyalty has seen no equal. To my family and to my children, who have been denied their father, forgive me, we will be reunited soon.
The democratic party, like all class parties were born on the betrayal of the social center, betrayal of the Social Enlightenment, all starting as crippled class centers, ALWAYS CENTER RIGHT POSITIONS, that devolves into totalitarianism, proto fascism, through class compromises., Shifting class centers moving further to the right has resulted in a Fascist Obama, fascist democrats, fascist Congress, even the Courts, with their fascist Judges, who all reject their own rule of class laws for their TOTAL, ORWELLIAN THUGGERY and have become integrated into A FASCIST WESTERN CLASS SYSTEM ITSELF. It now threatens the social classes around the world, through their failed class states, failed class systems, ironically with the self induced enslavement of voters, class delusions by voting for these class parties, that results in endless, permanent militarism, a character of all class Empires and their class tyrants, observed by the first social theorists in Ancient Greece. The central class myth that links all class system, is the class delusion that class systems produce social justice, or Elephants birthing kittens. The nature of all class systems is to INVERT, CO OPT, CORRUPT, SUBSTITUTE REALITY, SOCIAL VALUES, the essence of Orwell's totalitarian principle, also called inverted totaltiarianism and holds true for all class systems, with its parasitic control and rule, while using fake social rhetoric:
Tariq Ali, Ex-U.K. Ambassador Craig Murray Praise Ecuador for Granting Asylum to Julian Assange (Video)
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/8/20/tariq_ali_ex_uk_ambassador_craig
excerpt:
"CRAIG MURRAY: The Vienna Convention is absolutely plain. The Vienna Convention of 1961 is the single most subscribed international treaty in existence, and it states in Article 22, Section 1, that the diplomatic premises of an embassy are inviolable. Full stop. Are inviolable. You cannot invade the embassy of another country. As Tariq rightly said, there were times when I sheltered Uzbek dissidents from their government within the confines of the British embassy in Uzbekistan. Even during the height of the tensions of the Cold War, the opposing parties never entered each other’s embassies to abduct a dissident. The fact that William Hague now openly threatens the Ecuadoreans with the invasion of their sovereign premises is one further example of a total abandonment of the very concept of international law by the neoconservative juntas that are currently ruling the former Western democracies. [...]
The use of BASTARDIZED, DEFORMED, BLACKMAILED, INTELLIGENTSIA, ideological thugs forces the creation of these class myths, the non existence o of Free markets, which are enslaving whole nations. This is exactly how the Patriarchy, the first class system started Humanity on the road to slavery, enslavement, through property/class laws, creating the downfall of Women as social, egalitarian partners, and then enslaving the whole of Humanity, the downfall of Humanity, right through today. The only way to break the back of class hierarchies, the Patriarchal class mechanism, class history itself, is FOR A GLOBAL CALL TO REJECT ALL CLASS POLITICIANS, CLASS PARTIES, for a global social agenda that reclaims HUMAN NATURE, its social nature, from the deforming functions of class hierarchies themselves, by dissolving its partial, deformed functions, into fully developed social middle layers, that promote real social control of wealth and labor as the means of production.
A SOCIAL MANIFESTO AND HISTORICAL THEORY
http://asocialmanifestoagainstclasshistory.com