By Stephen Lendman

Syrian opposition activists walk past a poster showing a dead man reportedly killed during clashes in Homs. Photograph: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images

On March 25, The New York Times headlined, “US and Turkey to Step Up ‘Nonlethal’ Aid to Rebels in Turkey,” saying:

Other US allies were urged to do the same. Insisting no weapons will be sent belies heavy Western and Israeli ones delivered through porous borders for months.

They include powerful explosives, small arms, submachine guns, machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket and anti-tank grenade launchers, among others. They’ve been used to kill civilians and security forces, as well as destroy government facilities.

Russia repeatedly denounces Washington’s one-sided support while claiming peaceful resolution intentions. Obama says aiding Assad’s opposition furthers transitioning to a “legitimate government.”

In other words, he wants independent Syria replaced by a client state America controls. Then on to the next target for the same purpose – Iran.

If Washington had a motto it would be: We’re boss, and what we say goes! Russia and growing numbers of other nations respond Nyet!

Syrians want no outside interference. International law backs them. They assert sole right to decide how their nation’s governed. Most support Assad. Washington recruited and backs Syrian National Council (SNC) and Free Syrian Army (FSA) belligerents. They function lawlessly as Western proxies.

Most Syrians oppose them. They want peace, not violence. They know Washington pulls their strings. Its Special Forces and CIA operatives aid them covertly on the ground. So-called “non-lethal” aid includes “strategic communication” equipment.

White House spokesman Ben Rhodes says it’s “important to the opposition as they’re formulating their vision of an inclusive and democratic Syria to have the ability to communicate.”

It’s not about saying hello to mom. It’s for coordinating attacks, as well as communicating with neighboring forces in Turkey, regional countries, and Western ones. It and other aid subvert peace efforts.

That’s the whole idea. Washington won’t tolerate it. Violence facilitates regime change. Peace assures continuity. Kofi Annan fronts for power. His mission excludes even-handedness. His disingenuous rhetoric hides it.

He largely pressures Assad. On Monday, he met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Ahead of the meeting, Russia’s strong statement said:

“(O)ur essential approach is to ensure a ceasefire and end to violence in Syria, which will be difficult to implement without putting an end to external armed and political support of the opposition.”

“Taking into account that the Syrian authorities are ready to establish such a dialogue, the key task is to convince the Syrian opposition to sit down at the negotiation table with the authorities and reach a peaceful resolution of the crisis.”

On Friday, a UN Human Rights Council (HRC) statement again censured Assad. It spuriously accused him of “sharply escalating” violence. Moscow and Beijing denounced the comments. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement said:

“The document gives a unilateral assessment to the events in the country and accuses only the Syrian government of violence. It does not contain any requirements towards armed groups of the opposition. The document also ignores international efforts aimed at settling the crisis, in particular the mission by U.N./Las (League of Arab States) Special Representative Kofi Annan.”

“The UNHRC biased and inadequate resolution runs counter the efforts taken by the international community to stabilise the situation in Syria. The document ‘is discordant’ with the recent U.N. Security Council statements that support Kofi Annan’s mission and condemns the terrorist acts in Damascus and Aleppo.”

“Moreover, the irresponsible position taken by several states, which came against Russia’s proposal to condemn the terrorist acts in Syria that led to the losses of lives, and violence by armed militants encourage impunity of terrorists.”

The Russian Federation “continues to insist on stopping violence in Syria by ceasing fire by all parties and start a nationwide political dialogue without foreign interference. We will persistently comply with this policy.”

As long as killer gang attacks continue, Assad’s obligated to fight fire with fire. Holding back facilitates insurgent killings, weakens his own grip on power, and leaves his people helpless in the face of Western-backed aggression.

Annan’s its willing agent. He’s replicating his Secretary-General role. He was little more than an imperial tool. He never achieved or worked for peace anywhere. He’s not doing it now. His message to Assad is that “the transformational winds blowing today cannot be easily resisted, or cannot be resisted for long.”

“The only way to deal with this is through reform, through change – and change that respects democratic principles, individual dignity, the rule of law and human rights.”

His decade long UN tenure showed contempt for the above principles. His words now ring hollow. While feigning even-handedness, he largely criticizes Assad.

Russia insists that halting violence depends on both sides cooperating and ending foreign interference. President Dmitri Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov especially oppose Western and neighboring states supplying weapons to insurgents. Annan avoided the subject.

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also denounces belligerent outside interference. Over the weekend, multiple insurgent attacks killed hundreds and injured many more. Killer gangs spurn peace. So do Washington, rogue NATO partners, and complicit Arab states.

On March 26, Today’s Zaman headlined, “Turkey presses Syrian opposition to unite, produce ‘national pact,’ ” saying:

Turkey and Qatar want unity ahead of an April 1 and 2 international meeting.

An unnamed Turkish official called it “by far the most significant meeting as far as the Syrian opposition is concerned.”

Presenting a united front offers a “political vision for the future of” Syria. Around 200 representatives from different ethnic, sectarian, religious, and political groups began meeting in Istanbul to try to find consensus.

Only the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) was left out because of its ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Turkey calls it a terrorist group for wanting an independent Kurdistan.

Ankara closed its Damascus embassy. It believes Assad’s days are numbered and thinks Syrians will oust him. However, “doubts of the Syrian opposition to act as a united front lead to concerns over” protracted conflict.

Deep rifts between opposition sides favoring violent and peaceful approaches leave resolution far apart. Whether discussions now can heal breaches remains to be seen. Previous attempts went nowhere.

Washington’s one goal involves establishing another client state by any means, including war. Expect it. Then on to the next target – Iran.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also 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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Chris Marsden, WSWS.org, a socialist organization

Marie Colvin, left, an American reporter working for The Sunday Times of London, and Rémi Ochlik, a French photographer, were killed in Syria, providing an excellent propaganda peg for the warmongers who wasted no time in shedding the accustomed crocodile tears.

The international media is conspiring to conceal the real aims and intentions of the United States and other major powers towards Syria.

This week a renewed push in the United Nations to condemn the regime of Bashir al-Assad for “crimes against humanity” has been accompanied by a drumbeat of accounts of rising casualties in Homs, including the deaths of journalists. The media barrage excludes any objective analysis of the social and political character of the opposition, its ties to the imperialist powers, or the historical origins of the present crisis. All casualties in a civil war stoked by the US and its allies are automatically attributed to government security forces.

This is a coordinated campaign to manipulate public opinion in support of military intervention in the name of “human rights,” following the script of last year’s bloody exercise in regime-change in Libya. The immediate demand is for the setting up of “humanitarian corridors” protected militarily by the Gulf States, Turkey and NATO, as well as the arming of the opposition.

Working people and youth should reject all attempts to drag them behind another colonial-style intervention by cynically playing on their humanitarian impulses. The destabilization of Syria is not the result of a mass popular upsurge against Assad. Unlike the revolutionary movement that erupted in Egypt, the Syrian opposition has little support in major urban centres such as Damascus and Aleppo, where the installation of a Sunni regime that will persecute Syria’s minorities is feared.

Immediately protests began against Assad’s repressive regime, Washington worked with the regional powers—Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey—to cultivate and arm a right-wing sectarian opposition with the aim of bringing about regime-change. The imperialist-backed opposition is led by Islamists associated with the right-wing Muslim Brotherhood. In alliance with bourgeois figures with long connections to the CIA and various ex-regime forces, they dominate the Syrian National Council and the Free Syrian Army.

Many of the journalists pontificating on Syria are well aware that humanitarian concerns do not animate Western support for the opposition. In the February 26 New York Times, Steven Erlanger acknowledges that the conflict in Syria “has already become a proxy fight for larger powers in the region and beyond.” He writes: “For Washington, Europe and the Sunnis of Saudi Arabia and the gulf, the impact on Iran is as important as the fate of Mr. Assad.”

Erlanger cites Olivier Roy, a French historian of the Middle East, who states bluntly: “Syria is almost the only country where the so-called Arab Spring could change the geo-strategic concept of the region… if the regime is toppled, we have a totally new landscape.”

Changing the landscape means isolating Iran, strategically located at the junction of the oil-rich Middle East and Central Asia, and removing it as an obstacle to the establishment of US hegemony in the region.

Plans to overthrow Assad militarily to achieve this aim are being constantly leaked to the media. These leaks prepare public opinion for what comes next.

Asharq Al-Awsat, which is tied to the Saudi Royal family, has reported an unnamed source in the US military stating that the Pentagon is planning to intervene in Syria based on NATO’s 1998 strategy in Kosovo. It would begin by establishing “a secure zone” near the border with Turkey, followed by the provision of “humanitarian aid… first, through the International Red Cross and, then, through NATO forces that will move in from Turkey.”

This “paves the way for the declaration of an air exclusion zone” like those imposed on Kosovo and Iraq “before the overthrow of the regime of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.”

The UN’s Human Rights Commission is set to endorse a call to “permit humanitarian agencies” to deliver aid to “Homs, Deraa, Zabadani and other areas.” France has said the UN Security Council will then be presented with another draft resolution on the need to gain access to these areas.

What has so far stayed the hands of the Western powers is not only the opposition of Moscow and Beijing, nor embarrassment over the known presence of Al Qaeda elements in the Syrian opposition—the US and its European allies are working with such forces in Libya. It is also the fact, as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted to the BBC, that there is “very strong opposition to foreign intervention, from inside Syria, from outside Syria.”

Presently, no political force articulates the public hostility to war cited by Clinton—not the venal Arab regimes and least of all the various pseudo-left parties, large and small, that once claimed to be socialist and anti-imperialist.

Syria is only the latest in a series of colonialist adventures carried out by the US, with the active support of the European powers. The first Gulf War in 1991 coincided with the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the hands of capitalist elements that emerged from the Stalinist bureaucracy. The US saw this as an historic opportunity to rewind the clock of history all over the world.

A retreat from direct colonial rule was necessitated in the aftermath of World War II by the emergence of mass anti-imperialist movements that, despite the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet Union, drew inspiration from the October Revolution of 1917.

The capitalist regimes established could never represent the genuine liberation of the working class and oppressed masses from imperialism. Washington was nevertheless wounded by this challenge to its rule and sought to reestablish its control through bloody interventions, covert and proxy wars, and support for right-wing movements and regimes. It saw the end of Moscow’s position as a contending super power as giving it a free hand to use its military superiority to establish hegemony over strategically vital oil-producing regions. What followed were interventions in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

The current round of wars for neo-colonial domination are overwhelmingly supported by the social democrats, Greens and liberals, with various pseudo-socialist groups trailing in their wake.

They have all sought to justify their stance by echoing the moral posturing of Washington, London, Paris and Berlin. Support for each new war for “human rights” and “democracy” requires a convenient bout of amnesia regarding the crimes committed in the last one. Clinton this week described Assad as a war criminal. But the world knows the US has committed war crimes, such as the destruction of the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004, that dwarf anything being perpetrated by Assad.

This does not trouble the liberal interventionists of all stripes, who are the main champions of the UN’s “responsibility to protect” doctrine, used to legitimize whatever act of imperialist banditry is in preparation. Their moral outrage is always selective, conditioned by a desire to preserve their own wealthy lifestyles by reinforcing their standing as trusted defenders of the financial oligarchy.

War against Syria would only be a stepping-stone to the targeting of Iran. It has already helped polarize the Middle East along a sectarian Sunni-Shia axis. It can rapidly become a regional confrontation involving direct conflict between the US, Russia and China, for whom Syria and Iran are strategic partners.

The World Socialist Web Site and the International Committee of the Fourth International and its sections call on workers and youth to make their reply to the warmongers: “Hands off Syria!” It

 

 

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by Stephen Lendman

Major media scoundrels can’t bear reporting good news they’d rather suppress, so they downplay and disparage it best they can. More on that below.  On Sunday, Syria’s state TV showed huge pro-Assad crowds in Damascus’ Saba Bahrat Square. By national referendum, they were eager to support constitutional reforms. They also backed state security force efforts against Western-backed killer gangs.

Russian Eurasian Institution head Alexander Doglen also endorsed draft constitutional changes. Islamic scholar Abdul-Rahman Ali al-Dalaa said they boost human dignity and religious freedom.

On February 27, Syria’s Interior Ministry announced Sunday’s impressive results. From 7AM, 14,185 polling centers opened across Syria’s governorates, as well as at border crossings, airports, mobile desert areas, and other locations.

Syrians are enthusiastic for change. Despite opposition boycotts, threats, anti-Assad media campaigns, and turnout hampered in violence-torn areas, 89.4% of eligible voters approved it. Another 9% opposed, and 1.2% of ballots were invalid.

Overall, 57.4% of Syrians participated. The total was impressive, given the risks voters took to show up.

Raw numbers included 8,376,447 voting among 14,589,954 eligible. Those for totaled 7,490,319 compared to 753,208 against.

The Constitution includes 157 articles. From its initial draft, 14 are new, 37 were amended, and another 34 reformulated. Among other reforms, political pluralism was established for the first time, as well as presidential term limits, and press freedom.

Reporting it, The New York Times headlined, “Syrians Said to Approve New Charter as Battles Continue,” saying:

Fighting keeps raging. Critics called it “too little too late, and Western leaders labeled (it) a farce.”

“Even before the result was announced, after a morning of new shelling in the beleaguered city of Homs and elsewhere, some Western leaders had disparaged the vote as having no credibility.”

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said it “fooled nobody. To open polling stations but continue to open fire on the civilians of the country has no credibility in the eyes of the world.”

In fact, Western-backed insurgents bear most responsibility for violence and instability to impose regime change most Syrians oppose. Their impressive turnout showed it.

Huge crowds voted in Damascus and other less violent areas. Voting continued until 7PM, and in high turnout areas until 10PM. Only then were centers closed.

Downplaying an impressive day, The Times said “(s)ome polling places appeared deserted, and at others, the opinions were divided.”

Hillary Clinton called Sunday’s vote an empty gesture, saying:

“It’s a phony referendum that is going to be used by Assad to justify what he is doing to other Syrians. So it’s a cynical ploy to say the least.”

Anti-Assad Syrian National Council (SNC) member Bassma Kodmani said:

“It is not going to work because the repression is continuing. They are caught up in this cycle, and it is simply to late.”

AP buried referendum results paragraphs into an article headlined, “Red Cross delivers aid to Syrian city of Hama.” It stressed violence and opposition boycotts over impressive results downplayed dismissively.

At the same time, EU nations imposed new Syrian sanctions. They include freezing central bank assets and those of certain government officials. Importing precious metals, diamonds, and minerals were also banned. Moreover, cargo flights may no longer land in EU countries.

New measures build on last September’s oil embargo and other multiple rounds. They’re effective after publishing them in the EU’s Official Journal. It’s usually within 24 hours of imposition.

A joint EU foreign ministers statement said:

“The EU underlines that those responsible for the violence across Syria will be held responsible for their actions. The EU supports the Syrian opposition in its struggle for freedom, dignity, and democracy.”

In fact, rogue EU states, like America, won’t tolerate democracy at home or abroad. They wage wars to prevent it.

For his part, Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned about intervening against Syria and/or Iran “under cover of humanitarian slogans.” In fact, “tragic events (are) driven not by concern for human rights, but a desire by some (nations for regime change and) to redistribute markets.”

Russian news agencies quoted him saying nations need to “decide their own fate independently.” He added that Western nations backed Arab Spring revolts to advance their own regional interests.

They very much want Syria and Iran regime change to assure them there against majorities in both countries.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also 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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Netanyahu

Irresponsible anti-Iranian political and pack journalism rhetoric sound ominously like spurious Iraqi WMD threats in the run-up to the 2003 war.  In his January State of the Union address, Obama said:

“Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal.”
At the same time, Netanyahu told Israel’s Knesset:

“Only a combination of crippling sanctions and putting all the options on the table can make Iran stop” its nuclear program.  Republican presidential aspirants also use the issue irresponsibly. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum all support bombing Iran’s nuclear sites and assassinating its scientists. Only Ron Paul’s strongly opposed but hawkish din drowns him out.

Daily reports heighten the alleged “Iranian threat.” Multiple rounds of sanctions were imposed. In late January, Israel’s Mossad connected DEBKAfile reported Obama ordering a “massive US military buildup around Iran: up to 100,000 troops by March.”

America’s heaviest concentration of regional might matches its strength before invading Iraq in 2003. DEBKA suggested “May as (a) tentative date for clash(ing) with Iran.”

On February 22, DEBKA stoked more fear headlining,”Iran cuts down to six weeks timeline for weapons-grade uranium,” saying:

“Tehran this week hardened its nuclear and military policies in defiance of tougher sanctions and ahead of international nuclear talks.”

Washington, NATO allies, Israel, and IAEA inspectors know Iran poses no nuclear threat. Nonetheless, pro-Western IAEA head Yukiya Amano said Tuesday night:

“It is disappointing that Iran did not accept our request to visit Parchin during the first or second meetings. We engaged in a constructive spirit, but no agreement was reached.”

DEBKA claims its where Tehran “conducts experiments in nuclear explosives and triggers.”

In fact, no evidence suggests Parchin Military Complex conducts nuclear related activities. IAEA’s been there before, took environmental samples, and found nothing. Parchin manufactures and tests conventional explosives.

IAEA found none consistent with nuclear weapons research and development. Amano knows it but stoked tensions anyway. So did IAEA’s Herman Nackaerts saying its team members “could not find a way forward.” As a result, talks were “inconclusive.”

An official February 22 IAEA statement said “Iran refuse(d) access to suspect nuke site.” Saying it contradicts IAEA inspectors who found nothing suspicious about Parchin.

In response, Iran’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said the IAEA came for talks, not inspections.

In fact, no country’s nuclear facilities are more closely monitored round the clock than Iran’s, and none cooperate more fully. Suggesting otherwise is a spurious canard, yet it’s suggested daily.

At the same time, Reuters said, “Iran says would act against enemies if endangered,” quoting Iranian General Mohammad Hejazi telling Fars news agency:

“Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran’s national interests, and want to decide to do that, we will act without waiting for their actions.”

Whether or not the translation’s accurate, Washington and Israel both maintain first-strike nuclear options (including against non-nuclear states) against real or manufactured threats. Western reports say virtually nothing, but ratchet up unjustifiable fears about non-belligerent Iran.

On February 22, senior Israeli military and intelligence officials said “(s)ince Wednesday, the rules of the game have changed.”

On February 15, AP headlined, “Israeli minister: Iran near ‘point of no return,’ ” saying:

Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said Iran achieved two major advances to produce nuclear fuel. They believe it’s “an insurance policy to their regime.” Tehran’s latest claims “show no intention to abandon plans for a nuclear bomb.”

“Israel and the world (can’t) live with Iran having the ability to develop a nuclear bomb.”

Other Israeli officials claim Iran’s nuclear capability is so advanced that unless it’s confronted within months or a year it’ll be too late. Their rhetoric belies the facts and they know it. Nonetheless, pressure keeps building for potential confrontation.

All Iranian nuclear facilities are closely monitored. No evidence suggests a military related program. US and Israeli officials know it. Responsible ones admit it, yet hawks in both countries drown them out.

On February 22, the Jerusalem Post headlined, “Iran missiles may be able to hit US in 2-3 years,” saying:

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told CNBC Wednesday that “Iran may develop inter-continental missiles that can reach the east coast of the United States in two to three years.”

Tehran’s investing “billions of dollars,” he claimed. “Their aim is clearly not only to be able to threaten Israel and the Middle East, but to put a direct nuclear ballistic threat to Europe and to the United States of America.”

Former IDF head General Gabi Ashkenazi also said Iran’s threat must be taken seriously.

Both men and other top officials in both countries know Iran threatens no one. But the big lie repeated often enough gets most people to believe it and risks potentially catastrophic war.

On February 22, Washington Post writer Joel Greenberg headlined, “Israelis seem resigned to a strike on Iran,” saying:

Israelis “are talking about a possible war come summer, or later this year….The prospect of devastating counter-strikes and possible mass casualties seems to be taken in stride, seen as a lesser evil than facing a nuclear-armed Iran.”

US and Israeli polls weigh an alleged Iranian threat and advisability of preemptively confronting it. A recent Pew Research Center one said 58% of those surveyed said America should use military force to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Only 30% want confrontation avoided.

Nuclear expert Graham Allison sees parallels between Iran today and the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Despite little threatening evidence then and now, heightened tensions risked potentially devastating conflict. When politics and heated rhetoric spin out of control, anything’s possible including nuclear war.

Earlier US Hawks

In July 1961, General Curtis LeMay believed nuclear war with Soviet Russia was inevitable and would erupt later that year. As a result, he argued for preemptively launching thousands of missiles to destroy their nuclear capability even though retaliatory strikes could destroy major US cities.

At the same time, at a National Security Council meeting, General Lyman Lemnitzer presented John Kennedy with a surprise nuclear attack strategy. Kennedy was so disgusted he walked out, and later told Secretary of State Dean Rusk: “And we call ourselves the human race.”

In his book, “Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years,” David Talbot wrote about former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara saying:

“LeMay’s views w(ere) very simple. He thought the West, and the US in particular, was going to have to fight a nuclear war with the Soviet Union, and he was absolutely certain of that. Therefore, he believed that we should fight it sooner rather than later, when we had a greater advantage in nuclear power, and it would result in fewer casualties in the United States.”

Like Kennedy, McNamara categorically rejected the idea. Nonetheless, other extremists then and later urged the same strategy. Cooler heads throughout the Cold War prevailed. A potential nuclear holocaust was avoided.

A Final Comment

On February 22, inflammatory White House and State Department rhetoric included spurious statements.

Commenting on Iranian/IAEA talks, White House spokesman Jay Carney said:

“We regret the failure of Iran to reach an agreement this week with the IAEA that would permit the agency to fully investigate the serious allegation raised in its November report.”

“Unfortunately, this is another demonstration of Iran’s refusal to abide by its international obligations. This particular action by Iran suggests that they have not changed their behavior when it comes to abiding by their international obligations.”

In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

State Department Deputy spokesman Mark Toner added:

“This is a disappointment. It wasn’t all that surprising, frankly. But, you know, we’re going to look at the totality of the issue here and the letter and what we think is the best course of action moving forward”.

“Let’s be very clear that we consult very closely with Israel on these issues. We are very clear that we are working on this two-track approach. We believe, and are conveying to our partners, both Israel and elsewhere, that this is having an effect.”

At issue is whether greater regional conflict’s planned.

What goes around, comes around. Today, hawkish Israeli and US officials urge bombs away preemptively. Even though nuclear armed Soviet Russia posed only a retaliatory threat if attacked, potentially devastating war would have been waged if belligerent hawks prevailed.

Today, Iran threatens no one. Yet latter day LeMay types urge preemptive war. Spurious accusations aren’t at issue. It’s about replacing an independent regime with a client one.

Wars against Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya were for the same reason. So is Syrian insurgency.

Notably, post-WW II, US aggression achieved nothing but millions of deaths, mass destruction, incalculable human suffering, and bitter global anti-American sentiment. Waging war on Syria and Iran will send it higher. At issue is possible WW III, the first nuclear war if waged, threatening humanity.

Yet aggressive hawks advocating damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead don’t consider that in their calculus. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail today like decades earlier.

Also 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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By Chris Mardsen, WSWS.ORG. a socialist organization

—Chris Marsden

 

 

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