[Posted by parallel]

Anyone else notice the rhetoric against Iran is being ratcheted up again? What doesn’t get mentioned is whether President Bush’s $400 million covert action to “destabilize” Iran’s government is still running.

Senior Stratfor analyst Reva Bella said, “With cooperation from the United States, Israeli covert operations have focused both on eliminating key human assets involved in the nuclear program and in sabotaging the Iranian nuclear supply chain.” Apart from top scientist Ardeshire Hassanpour, other recent deaths of important figures in the procurement and enrichment process in Iran and Europe have been the result of Israeli "hits" intended to deprive Tehran of key technical skills at the head of the program, according to Western intelligence analysts. Apart from this wet work, even the proposed sanctions, and particularly the blockade to enforce them, are acts of war.

Representative Ron Paul put it plainly on April 23rd: “I object to this entire push for war on Iran, however it is disguised. Listening to the debate on the Floor on this motion and the underlying bill it feels as if we are back in 2002 all over again: the same falsehoods and distortions used to push the United States into a disastrous and unnecessary one-trillion-dollar war on Iraq are being trotted out again to lead us to what will likely be an even more disastrous and costly war on Iran. The parallels are astonishing.

“We hear war advocates today on the Floor scare-mongering about reports that in one year Iran will have missiles that can hit the United States. Where have we heard this bombast before? Anyone remember the claims that Iraqi drones were going to fly over the United States and attack us? These "drones" ended up being pure propaganda – the UN chief weapons inspector concluded in 2004 that there was no evidence that Saddam Hussein had ever developed unpiloted drones for use on enemy targets. Of course by then the propagandists had gotten their war so the truth did not matter much.

“We hear war advocates on the floor today arguing that we cannot afford to sit around and wait for Iran to detonate a nuclear weapon. Where have we heard this before? Anyone remember then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice’s oft-repeated quip about Iraq, that we cannot wait for the smoking gun to appear as a mushroom cloud?

“We need to see all this for what it is: Propaganda to speed us to war against Iran for the benefit of special interests.”

Mr. Paul was being polite here. We know the “special interests” are the Israeli government, as well as our senators and congressmen looking over their shoulders for AIPAC to help them, or at least not fight them, in coming elections. Then we have some representatives who might charitably be described as having dual loyalties as well as dual citizenship. Senator Joe Lieberman, Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, one of the most powerful men in Washington DC – and therefore the world – has declared that the "world is at [a] turning point" and that the US must make plans to attack Iran.

The sanctions won’t work, as anyone with half an eye can see. There are ten projects to expand existing refineries in Iran that will allow them to nearly double their production of gasoline by 2012. So, as Ron Paul points out, the idea behind the sanctions is largely to say, just as with Iraq, “We tried sanctions and they didn’t work, so we have to bomb them.” Voting for sanctions is really voting for war.

President Obama has ruled out the use of a nuclear first strike against most countries, but not Iran. Why should Israel be allowed to have 200 nuclear weapons and not join the Non Proliferation Treaty, yet Iran, who has not attacked another country for more than a century is not allowed to pursue peaceful nuclear power? There is no proof Iran is making nuclear weapons; even the CIA says so, and common sense would tell you they wouldn’t attack Israel even if they had a handful of such weapons as they would then be quickly vitrified.

It’s all because Israel wants a change of regime in Iran. I don’t like the Iranian government myself, but it will pass with a new generation growing up. Starting another trillion dollar war, with consequences no one can see, not to mention the slaughter of thousands of innocent lives, is close to the bottom of my “to do” list. There is nothing we can do to stop it except vote out the warmongers and hope that it is not too late.