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04.12.04, 12:33
or known in some quorters as The Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the "Mullahs"
By SASAN FAYAZMANESH
The international community now realizes that Iran--with missiles that can
reach London, Paris, Berlin and southern Russia - does not only pose a threat
to the security of Israel, but to the security and stability of the whole
world.
Indeed, Iran has replaced Saddam Hussein as the world's number one exporter
of terror, hate and instability.
(Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom speech at the U.N. General Assembly
September 23, 2004)
In reference to a deal being worked out between Iran and the EU negotiators,
Britain, France and Germany, over Iran freezing uranium processing, Deputy
Secretary of State Richard Armitage said on November 20, 2004 that "my view
would be that the incentives of the Europeans only work against the backdrop
of the United States being strong and firm on this issue . . . In the
vernacular, it's kind of a good-cop bad-cop arrangement. If it works, we'll
all have been successful"
(New York Times, November 21, 2004).
Instead of the "good-cop bad-cop" scenario, it would have been more apt for
Mr. Armitage to use the good, the bad and the ugly scheme, since Iran faces
not two characters, but three. The third character, the "ugly," is played by
Israel. Mr. Armitage conveniently left out the important role of this last
character. But this is quite expected. Israel, as the late Edward Said used
to say, is the last taboo. It is sacrosanct. No mention of it in the context
of the US foreign policy is possible. It is the Teflon state. Nothing sticks
to it, not even the charge of spying.
It was only a few months ago-to be exact, late August 2004-when it was first
reported that the FBI had discovered a spy network in the Department of
Defense which passed confidential documents, particularly those detailing the
Bush Administration's policy toward Iran, to the main Israeli lobby group in
the US, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC-whose
website proudly states that through "more than 2,000 meetings with members of
Congress - at home and in Washington - AIPAC activists help pass more than
100 pro-Israel legislative initiatives a year"-brought out its heavy
artillery. All the AIPAC men and women, including its top leadership, the
leadership of other Israeli lobby groups, Congressmen, Israeli officials, and
even the officials in the current Administration, went to work and used the
O.J. Simpson defense- i.e., anti-Semitism of the FBI agent involved-to put an
end to the whole sordid affair in a few days. Indeed, the representatives of
both Presidential candidates, namely, Condoleezza Rice and Richard Holbrooke,
appeared at AIPAC's "Largest-Ever National Summit" on October 24-25 in
Hollywood, Florida, to pay homage to an agency that was accused of
involvement in spying. Soon after, AIPAC's usual website, which was
temporarily halted by the cries of we are "loyal U.S. citizens," went back to
what it does best, i.e., trying to lead the US to wage another war in the
Middle East, this time against Iran:
Today, AIPAC has 65,000 members across all 50 states who are at the forefront
of the most vexing issues facing Israel today: stopping Iran from acquiring
nuclear weapons, fighting terrorism and achieving peace. And above all,
ensuring that Israel is strong enough to meet these challenges. (AIPAC
website)
As I have shown in CounterPunch and elsewhere, Israel, its lobby groups, its
Congressmen, its friends in the Administration-both the cons and the neocons-
as well as its Chalabi-like mercenaries, who are in the business of
fabricating lies, have been trying for sometime to repeat in Iran what they
did in Iraq. That is, by accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons, they
have attempted to get the UN to pass economic sanctions against Iran. Once
the sanctions are imposed, Israel and its cohorts believe, Iran will be
weakened sufficiently to make a military operation against it succeed. That
would destroy yet another supporter of the Palestinians and would make
Israel's rule over the entire land between "the river of Egypt to the great
river, the Euphrates" possible.
Smelling blood, in recent months Israel and the gang increased their attacks.
As the above quotation from Silvan Shalom shows, Iran was said to
have "replaced Saddam Hussein as the world's number one exporter of terror,
hate and instability," and Iranian missiles were ready to reach "London,
Paris, Berlin and southern Russia." Similarly, Ariel Sharon said on October
25, 2004 that "Iran is making every effort to arm itself with nuclear
weapons, with ballistic means of delivery, and it is preparing an enormous
terrorist network with Syria and Lebanon." This was, of course, the same
Sharon who as far back as February 5, 2002, had told The Times of London
that "Iran is the center of 'world terror,' and as soon as an Iraq conflict
is concluded, he will push for Iran to be at the top of the 'to do list'".
Even though the "Iraqi conflict" is not yet concluded, Sharon was doing his
best to push the US in the direction of destroying Iran. In other words, the
tail was once again trying to wag the dog.
The cons and the neocons also went on a massive campaign to assist the leader
of "the only democracy" in the Middle East, or as some know him, the "butcher
of Sabra and Shatila." On August 2, 2004, in reference to the EU's attempt to
engage Iran in a dialogue concerning processing uranium and to prevent
another US-Israeli (USraeli) war in the Middle East, the national security
adviser Condoleezza Rice warned: "The Iranians have been trouble for a very
long time. And it's one reason that this regime has to be isolated in its bad
behavior, not quote-unquote, 'engaged'" (Reuters, Aug 2, 2004). This was, of
course, the same Condoleezza Rice who on September 8, 2002, warned the world
about Iraq's non-existing nuclear weapons by saying "We don't want the
smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
Similarly, on August 17, 2004, the Undersecretary of State John Bolton-who
after discussing the Iran case with the EU and Russians often stops in Tel
Aviv before returning to Washington-said at a neocon event held at the Hudson
Institute:
"Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons capability is moving it further and
further down the path toward international isolation. We cannot let Iran, a
leading sponsor of international terrorism, acquire nuclear weapons and the
means to deliver them to Europe, most of central Asia and the Middle East, or
beyond. Without serious, concerted, immediate intervention by the
international community, Iran will be well on the road to doing so." (US
Department of State)
Then, of course, there are the USraeli mercenaries and hirelings who, like
the old Iraqi National Congress, are in the business of cooking up evidence
for sanctioning Iran and ultimately attacking it. One such group is the
Mujahideen-e Khalq Organization, the "good terrorists" who used to work for
Saddam, but now work for the USraelis. Every few weeks these Chalabi-like,
men-in-black characters-and also Fox News commentators-come up with some "top
secret satellite photos" showing non-existent nuclear weapons sites in Iran
(how a US designated terrorist organization gets top secret satellite photos
is, of course, beyond one's imagination).
It was apparently one of these men-in-black characters who was behind Colin
Powell's embracing revelation on November 17, 2004. According to the
Washington Post, "a 'walk-in' source approached U.S. intelligence earlier
this month with more than 1,000 pages purported to be Iranian drawings and
technical documents, including a nuclear warhead design and modifications to
enable Iranian ballistic missiles to deliver an atomic strike" (November 19,
2004
