POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY GERALD CAPLAN IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL
There is nothing threatening about Iran, absolutely nothing.
Indeed, after the horrors of the Iran-Iraq War - started by
Hussein's Iraq and encouraged and abetted by a United States keen to see
Iran hurt - which was a war on a per capita basis about as bloody for
Iran as WWI in Europe, Iran has had every reason to avoid war.
Despite the religious extremes of the state - something, by the way,
very much present in Israel too with its nasty ultra-orthodox groups -
Iran has not been aggressive towards any of its neighbors.
Iran is not even heavily armed if you take as a standard of
comparison Israel, the world's most heavily armed country on a per
capita basis, its spending beyond all reason for the size of its
economy.
Indeed Israel, as we all now know, is armed with nuclear weapons,
the very thing it daily shamelessly accuses Iran of working towards.
It is sickening to hear Israel threaten day after day a people who do no harm.
And of course Israel doesn't just threaten by itself, it pushes the
United States through a lobby the like of which exists no where else to
threaten and make ominous moves and demand extreme sanctions.
The United States keeps two to three aircraft carrier groups off the
coast of Iran, an immense and terrifying presence which Iran has done
absolutely nothing to deserve.
Israel itself now has at least one submarine there, likely equipped
with American Harpoon missiles it illegally fitted up with small nuclear
warheads a few years back.
What could be more threatening than this presence accompanied by the frightful rhetoric we hear and read from Israel?
There is one sad truth in this matter, and that is the inordinate influence of the Israel Lobby on U.S. politics.
The United States committed a world-scale atrocity invading Iraq,
killing hundreds of thousands and setting back a vibrant Arab land
decades.
And the only real reason for that crime was to flatten Israel's most
unflinching opponent. While the U.S. has never admitted that formally,
both analysis of the situation and an inadvertent blubber from George
Bush confirm it.
Now Israel wants Iran flattened, under the flimsy excuse Iran is
developing nuclear weapons, something every single expert who knows
anything says is not so.
What Israel actually wants is Iran flattened because of its growing
influence in the region. Israel, quite simply, wants to be hegemonic
power in the region, a miniature replica of the United States in the
world at large.
And we are fed an endless series of lies and distortions to assist
Israel in achieving that. Look at every Republican presidential
candidate, and you will find people receiving massive campaign
contributions to promote nonsense from "there are no Palestinians" to
"I'd attack Iran immediately," none of which is fair or ethical.
And in Canada, we have an American Republican wannabe as our prime
minister now who tailors his statements to precisely the same purposes
and for precisely the same reasons.
Insanity.
