Washington Preparing for More War
by Stephen Lendman
Already embroiled in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and numerous proxy wars in Pakistan, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, central Africa, and elsewhere, evidence suggests Obama’s preparing for more.
Washington-generated Syrian violence rages out of control. Efforts for nonviolent resolution are systematically subverted. Saturday’s Damascus terrorist attacks and a Sunday Aleppo one reveal America’s true intentions.
At least 27 Damascus lives were lost. Around 140 others were wounded, many seriously. Two deaths and about 30 injuries occurred in Aleppo, Syria’s commercial hub and largest city.
On Saturday, cars packed with explosives detonated outside Syria’s air security intelligence center and police headquarters. Heavy damage was caused besides the human toll.
The attacks came two, then three days after millions around the country rallied supportively for Assad on the uprising’s one-year anniversary. It showed Washington won’t tolerate peaceful resolution. Regime change is planned by any means, including war. Expect it.
Outrageously, major media scoundrels spuriously accused Assad of targeting his own facilities. Al Jazeera quoted opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) member Bassma Kodmani saying:
“I don’t think any of the opposition forces or the Free Syrian Army has the capacity to do such an operation to target these buildings because they are fortresses. They are very well guarded. There is no way anyone can penetrate them without having strong support and complicity from inside the security apparatus.”
Al Jazeera shamelessly lost all credibility. Run by Qatar’s pro-western regime, propaganda replaced truth and full disclosure. It’s legitimacy no longer exists. It’s no different from BBC and other Western media scoundrels.
Michel Chossudovsky said Western media shifted their usual blame game to calling Al Qaeda responsible. However, they say its operatives “switched sides.” They now support “the secular government of Bashar Al Assad against an opposition, largely integrated by Islamists, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafi groups and Al Qaeda operatives.”
Chossudovsky called it “(a)n absurd proposition…Theater of the absurd….Media lies galore.”
It’s also more evidence that Washington’s preparing for war, but not just on Syria.
According to analyst Dominique de Kevelioc de Bailleul:
“Reports of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier battle group setting course to join battle groups USS Lincoln and Vinson in the Arabian Sea and today’s back-to-back announcements regarding the complete termination of Iran’s financial transactions through SWIFT, as well as the announced joint agreement between the U.S. and the UK to release strategic oil reserves into the oil market (NYSEArca:USO) spells war with Iran.”
“After 30 years of various sanctions and hostile rhetoric aimed at Iran, for the U.S. to turn back now, it would have to admit defeat, thus sending a powerful signal that U.S. dollar hegemony is imminently unraveling.”
“Allowing Iran to make the rules concerning payment for its oil will surely embolden other oil producers to follow in step—a step other OPEC members would gladly take if it meant ridding themselves of the hopelessly inadequate U.S. dollar as recompense.”
Others agree with him. Moreover, worrisome signs grow. On March 16, Obama signed an Executive Order (EO) on National Defense Resources Preparedness.
Likely preparating for more war, it involves seizing national resources, including energy, food, transportation, private property, and whatever else is considered vital to America’s defense.
It also provides for conscripting people for a National Defense Executive Reserve. It followed Obama’s March 13 “Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Iran” text sent to House Speaker John Boehner, saying:
“The crisis between the United States and Iran resulting from the actions and policies of the Government of Iran has not been resolved. The actions and policies of the Government of Iran are contrary to the interests of the United States in the region and continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
“For these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared with respect to Iran and maintain in force comprehensive sanctions against Iran to respond to this threat.”
“Crisis,” “unusual and extraordinary threat,” “national emergency?” None exist now or earlier.
On March 18, Haaretz headlined, “Mossad, CIA agree Iran has yet to decide to build nuclear weapon,” saying:
Israeli and US intelligence agree. No evidence suggests Iran’s pursuing a nuclear weapons development program.
On March 17, The New York Times reported the same thing, with tongue in cheek, headlining, “US Faces a Tricky Task in Assessment of Data on Iran,” saying:
“While American spy agencies have believed that the Iranians halted efforts to build a nuclear bomb back in 2003, the difficulty in assessing the government’s ambitions was evident two years ago, when what appeared to be alarming new intelligence emerged, according to current and former United States officials.”
Of course, no new evidence whatever existed then or now. Times writers know it. So does US and Israeli intelligence.
In 2010, 2011, and again in 2012, the “Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community” found no evidence of an Iranian program.
On January 31, 2012, it said:
“We assess Iran is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons, in part by developing various nuclear capabilities that better position it to produce such weapons, should it choose to do so. We do not know, however, if Iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons.”
“Iran’s technical advancement, particularly in uranium enrichment, strengthens our assessment that Iran has the scientific, technical, and industrial capacity to eventually produce nuclear weapons, making the central issue its political will to do so. These advancements contribute to our judgment that Iran is technically capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon, if it so chooses.”
On February 16, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper told Senate Armed Services Committee members it’s “unlikely” Iran intends to build nuclear weapons. He also called “a mass attack by foreign terrorist groups involving a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) weapon in the United State unlikely in the next year.”
At the same Senate meeting, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, CIA director General David Petraeus, and Joint Chiefs head General Martin Dempsey concurred. The alleged Iranian threat is spurious. Yet it persists to hype fear and enlist public support for war.
The prospect and potential consequences are chilling. Yet rogue US and Israeli leaders risk leading their nations, the region, and perhaps world into an abyss they can’t control.
America wants Iran and Syria run by pro-Western regimes. All means are employed to achieve it, including war. Risks, human lives, and rule of law principles are secondary to objectives.
As a result, anything ahead is possible, including global war if major powers Russia and China intervene to protect their interests.
America, Israel, and rogue NATO partners want unchallenged world dominance. They’re willing to risk destroying it in the process. It’s shocking leaders think this way. It’s appalling more people don’t understand.
The threat’s too real and chilling to ignore. It’s up to mass public outrage to stop it. Our lives, welfare and futures literally hang in the balance.
A Final Comment
In America’s Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson said:
“Governments….deriv(e) their just powers from the consent of the governed….whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Clear evidence shows America’s leaders are “destructive of these ends.” As a result, its up to ordinary people to change things.
Margaret Mead said “thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. It’s the only thing that ever has.” Today, she’d likely say we better get about doing it because no one should accept the alternative.
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/.
