Israel’s Goebbelian Ploy

 

No justification for war or sanctions on Iran

The hysteria over Iran’s nuclear capabilities having reached such a stage as to call for immediate bombing of its nuclear facilities – this hysteria is a red herring, a smokescreen deliberately and insidiously being whipped up by Israel to turn away the world’s gaze from its vicious ethnic cleansing and land grabbing activates in Palestine, especially in the Jerusalem region, and to find an excuse for attacking Iran, for which it has been itching ever since Iraq was neutered, leaving Iran the only country in the region that can be expected to stand up to Israel.

The extent of its success can be gauged from the fact that, according to a recent Pew poll, 58% of Americans favor preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons even if it means taking military action.

More important is the success Benjamin Netanyahu scored when he met Obama at the Whitehouse. One would have thought that the most burning question requiring urgent attention in the region, namely restoring peace between Israelis and Palestinians and the creation of a Palestinian state, would have been the central topic. But it was not. There was hardly any mention of the issue! Netanyahu managed to shut it out completely and devote the entire discussion to dealing with Iran!

Obama’s performance at the meeting was pathetic. Not only did he not bring up the issue of Palestine, but, even on Iran, enabled Netanyahu to say, “…Above and beyond that there are two principles you reiterated yesterday that Israel must have the ability always to defend itself, by itself against any threat and that, when it comes to Israel’s security, Israel has a right, a sovereign right, to make its own decisions…. Israel must reserve the right to defend itself…..my supreme responsibility as Prime Minister of Israel is to ensure that Israel remains the master of its fate.”

True Obama could not possibly have denied that. But he could and should have reminded Netanyahu that Israel, in exercising that right, must always remember that Israel, as any other nation, has a duty not to take any action that can result in grave harm to the world as a whole, especially if that action is unwarranted and unnecessary and is being maliciously or mistakenly being taken under cover of “defending Israel”, and that if, in spite of being advised against it, Israel goes ahead and takes such action, Israel cannot expect and will not get any support from the US. In fact, if Israel is preparing to take any such action, other countries that will be adversely affected have a right to take any action that may be required to prevent such an action.

By remaining silent at Netanyahu’s enunciation of Israel’s right, Obama missed the opportunity to make the US position forcefully clear to Israel and to Americans.

A brief look at relevant facts will show that there is no call for bombing Iran because of its progress on its nuclear energy program.

Iran has repeated again and again that it has no intention of acquiring a nuclear arsenal and that it nuclear program is meant only for civil not military purposes.

The New York Times, no friend of Iran, reported on February 24 that though Iran had accelerated its uranium enrichment program, “American intelligence analysts continue to believe that there is no hard evidence that Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb. Recent assessments by American spy agencies are broadly consistent with a 2007 intelligence finding that concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program years earlier, according to current and former American officials. The officials said that assessment was largely reaffirmed in a 2010 National Intelligence Estimate and that it remains the consensus view of America’s 16 intelligence agencies”. (emphasis added)

According to a report by Time’s journalists James Risen and Mark Mazetti, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper In his January 31 Senate testimony stated explicitly that American officials believe that Iran is preserving its options for a nuclear weapon, but said there was no evidence that it had made a decision on making a concerted push to build a weapon.

Other top Obama administration officials, including CIA Director David Petraeus, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey share Clapper’s assessment.

Even if it is assumed that Iran was bent on acquiring nuclear weapons, the question arises whether bombing its nuclear facilities is the only way to stop it and if so, is it necessary to take that action right away? The answer to that question hinges on how close is Iran to having a nuclear weapon.
Estimates on this have differed wildly in the past and continue to do so even now.

According to US Secretary of Defense, Iran is a year away from a nuclear bomb. In 1984 Senator Alan Cranston said Iran was seven years away. In 1992 Benjamin Netanyahu, who was then a member of Israeli parliament, said 3 to 5 years. That same year then Israeli Defense Minister (now Israeli President) Shimon Peres said Iran would have nukes by 1999. In 1995 “senior U.S. and Israeli officials” speculated Iran would have nuclear weapons in five years

Meir Dagan, who recently retired as Israel’s Mossad spy agency, has said that Iran would not be able to produce a nuclear weapon until 2015 and that Israel should not hasten to attack Iran but should do so “only when the sword is upon the neck” He later added that (Israel’s) attacking Iran would be a “stupid idea”

President Obama, who has access to intelligence reports, has stated that ‘’There is a window of opportunity’’ to try and solve the issue through diplomacy, indicating that in his opinion Iran is nowhere close to acquiring a nuclear bomb.

Besides, as late as January 2012, Gill Tudor, spokewoman for the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that “The IAEA can confirm that All nuclear material in the facility remains under the Agency’s containment and surveillance”.

Early in January of this year Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said: “Are they [Iranians] trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No. But we know that they’re trying to develop a nuclear capability. And that’s what concerns us.”

Iran has agreed to open up for inspection by IAEA, Parchin, the military facility southeast of Tehran where the U.N. nuclear watchdog suspected that development work relevant to nuclear weapons may have taken place.

Iran offered to return to talks on resolving the dispute over its uranium enriching program and, according to the European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the United States, China, Russia, France, Germany and Britain had accepted the offer and had voiced backing for efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the long-running row.

So, there is no evidence that Iran is preparing to acquire nuclear weapons. All that exists is a suspicion that Iran so intends, and, because of this suspicion, we are trying to compel Iran to abandon efforts to advance its nuclear program meant for civil and peaceful purposes, specially to meet its energy needs so that its industry can grow. Even though Iran does not violate any international requirement by continuing to advance its nuclear capability.

In view of all the above, clearly not only is there no justification for going to war now with Iran on the question of its nuclear program but there is no justification even for continuing any sanctions on it on that account, much less imposing new “crippling” sanctions.

So, what exactly is Israel trying to hide by diverting the world’s attention away from Palestine and focusing it on a non-issue? That is another story in itself!

LIVE SIMPLY SO THAT OTHERS MAY SIMPLY LIVE

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”
…Martin Luther King
“Every gun that is fired, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed”…..Dwight Eisenhower

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!
by Gulamhusein A. Abba
Tuesday, March 13th, 2012