This is a no brainer. Of course Britain will support it, we have already done the spadework to prepare public opinion.
The Foreign Office is definitely gung ho. The recent BBC news reporting that the Iranians could cause attacks in Britain was worrying, not only because of the impact if the poor Londoners get hurt again, but that “Foreign Office sources ..” (said they might). Who said? Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary at the time, was interviewed playing down such a scenario, not sacking the war mongering “source.” Blair, of course, is lunatic enough to support it, so if he remains Prime Minister then we be in the supporting cast for “Shock and Awe… the Return.”
Israel took out a reactor in Iraq and everyone assumes they will do the same again in Iran. More difficult this time as they have to fly over Iraq and will embarrass the US if they do. No, the US will do it. They are aware they will be even more hated if they start another war but fear running out of oil more. People who think the US administration are looking to honourably withdraw from the region, have not been taking their medication.
The US is now successfully operating the Flypaper Theory.. meaning that all the flies that are anti-American are sticking to them in Iraq. Sure they are losing troops but they can, more and more, fill these spaces by 3rd Worlders, when they run out of young patriots and poor kids. Mexico has a huge reserve of young men who are being offered US citizenship, of a degree, if they take Bush’s silver shilling.
Poor people and uneducated, voiceless people are essential, otherwise how could they get the coffins back without any fuss? Lt.Todd Dollar would likely have parents who have contacts with the press, which might ask why we are hiding this brave lad’s body away? Are we ashamed of our policies? A few thousand poor kids dying in a foreign land can be passed off as protecting freedoms but make sure they stay abroad where they can safely be attacked rather than risk problems at home.
The BBC story coming at the same time as Bolton, the farcical American UN representative, was also threatening Iran, is a big concern and comparisons with the Iraq build up are obvious. Bolton was previously described as a “Kiss ass up, kick ass down” manager, which I liked. He was an obvious choice for Bush, as he had a long history of disliking foreigners.
The UN and the States have still to recover from Colin Powell using it as a platform for his detailed description of a large ice cream van as a military vehicle for vanilla-flavoured missiles. He is able to sleep at nights apparently. He had been widely tipped as the US’ first black president rather than as their most prominent embarrassment.
As for Iran, the Iranian president must be forced to stop his stupid remarks about Israel, denying the holocaust etc., and his obvious hatred of the US. However this must be done by robbing him of any reason, not by the ludicrous Bolton’s threats.
The same news programme said that Israel was helped by Britain, mainly, to become a nuclear power in the 60s. Us. . .Britain, who is now so worried about the spread of nuclear weapons.
I have previously argued that Iran will make a bomb. Their denials are silly. I hate the bomb and curse the day it was dreamed up, but I am Scottish. Our oil has already been plundered and we have already been defeated in that sense. If I were an Iranian. I would look around. Saddam attacked them for ten years because of their oil. America and Britain changed the region’s history, politics and shape to suit their greed.
Only a dumpling or a Bolton would not see. They are scared. They think the west is not to be trusted. “They are interfering in Iraq’s affairs” was Jack Straw’s priceless justification for the build up of tension. The irony was lost on Straw. We are some 5 thousand miles from the area. Iran is next door. We need oil to power our lifestyle, Iran has it. Lots of it.
The plan? Get rid of some of our nuclear weapons. Then get Israel to talk about their need for 200 bombs. We must engage both Israel and Iran in dialogue. The “infant state in the surrounding sea of hostility” is the historic reason that Israel was treated differently. This no longer holds. It is not brave Israel defending itself anymore.
Iran and Iraq, the only possible enemies fought each other to a standstill. (Egypt has no oil to spend on arms.) It makes you wonder about Saddam’s motives for attacking Iran and not Kuwait then. My brother says it was because he was a CIA spy, partly funded by Israel and the world’s arms industry. However, my brother also thinks “The Beach Boys” were cool. God only knows why.
Israel is a powerful, dynamic country and not at risk of destruction from anyone. But we can easily pressurise Israel to lighten up, have you been to a supermarket recently? Israeli produce everywhere. Why not have some bombs publicly destroyed? “Hey Faisal.. Israel only has 100 bombs..now is just the time to strike!” The good will this would generate, in terms of lessening tension and generating trust would be helpful.
And as for Iran… well the good-guy-shock-troops are already there. The wonderful British news anchor Jon Snow conducted Channel 4 news programmes for a week from Iran and we saw ..people.. women.. dissidents.. sensible Ayatollahs.. doctors..children. No flagellants beating themselves as is apparent in countries that lose moral authority. Repression, yes, but we cannot exactly hold our heads high after our support for Guantanamo. I believe that Snow was being devious by showing us the people before the killing starts. It’s harder to kill people who seem…a bit like us.
PS I also love the Beach Boys.
'Hamish ' is an antiwar writer socialist- scientist and musician living in Scotland.
Kudos, Hamish, from a Yank who wholeheartedly seconds your analysis - but hopes against hope that reason may yet win out, and prevent the onset of another needless bloodbath.
by
Bob Portune (13 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments)
on Thursday, June 15, 2006 at 9:20:02 AM
And we still do not know the reason on why Britain is so blindly following the US. Of course we can talk 'oil' or old Churchullian 'high seas',but it is more here. Everyone, even very stupid and very mean understand that attacking Iran means WWIII and Britain is not in the position of gaining anything. So, why?
I have a theory. I do believe that politicians currently especially in the 'democratic' countries actually had lost any sense of control. Neither do they control anything or are they controlled by the people. Thus what we see is irrational- say, Blair has to follow the US because.. his nice US folks explained to him and his cronies that that was the best way for... white Anglo- Saxons. I am not kidding. Again, if you look into the history thread you surely will find out that what US is doing ideologically now Great Britain did in the 19th Century. Same methods, same idiocy, same cruelty.
The only difference is that now we all will be dead. As for Israel, whatever, they do not recognize that they have nukes. And the first thing to do would be to verify that. But Britain will not do that. They preferred to bomb Jugoslavia.
So, back to the basics: we see nuttiness. And the reason for this nuttiness is a very old one- racism and stupidity.
by
Mark Sashine (53 articles, 19 quicklinks, 249 diaries, 3574 comments)
on Thursday, June 15, 2006 at 2:50:31 PM
2 comments
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