Despite the mounting daily bloodsheds, Iraq is no longer the mainstream news. Iran is the new focus of distorted Western propaganda. The mainstream media appetite for demonising the “Other” as prelude to aggression is in full swing. While the deception is not new, the reality is that Iran doesn’t qualify as a target for U.S. aggression.
If one studies the history of the U.S. countless acts of aggression against sovereign nations, one will find a common trend in all of them – defenceless nations. In the case of Iran; Iran doesn’t qualify. Simply because Iran is not a defenceless nation and the Iranian regime is a popularly elected regime. The recent elections in Iran have shown that the Iranian people are not to be deceived and intimidated by U.S. propaganda. The results were that the nationalist candidate (Mahmoud Ahmadine Jad) was elected and the Western-backed fundamentalist (Hashemi Rafsanjani) was rejected. As a result of countless elections, Iran is not seen as a democracy, unlike the U.S.-protected Gulf states, and will be able to garner national and international support against any U.S. aggression.
Moreover, Iran is doing its best to serve its interests and at the same time helping the U.S.-appointed puppet government in Iraq. The leaders of the Da’wa party and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) have lived in Iran and enjoyed the support of the Iranian regime during their exile. The Iranian dream in Iraq couldn’t be better served. In other words, the enemy (Saddam) was removed and the puppet government in Iraq is more Iranian than American. So, U.S. policy in Iraq is very much in Tehran’s interests. Iranian leaders have been telling the puppet government to do whatever the U.S. telling it to do. Since the U.S. is on the losing end in Iraq, it doesn’t need more enemies, especially in the southern Iraq, where Iran influence is apparent.
There is no question that the U.S. needs Iran in Iraq. Iran influence in Iraq can cause the U.S. lots of troubles. The Badr Brigade, the armed wing of the SCIRI party, is funded, trained and equipped by Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Under the protection of the Occupation, the Badr Brigade is terrorising Iraqi communities of prominent politicians and professionals. Iran can encourage the Badr militia to attack U.S. forces, turning all of Iraq against the U.S. and making the Occupation of Iraq impossible for the U.S. to continue. Hence, the U.S. can’t afford to be so stupid, because the Israeli Zionists are pushing for war with Iran.
On its part, Iran was never on Iraq’s side. In 1991 U.S. war on Iraq, Iran supported the U.S. and helped implement the 13-years genocidal sanctions which destroyed the fabric of the Iraqi society and killed more than a million Iraqis. In the 2003, Iran was a vital ally in the invasion of Iraq. Iran was the only country, after the U.S. and Israel, with a pro-war majority. Furthermore, Iran has no concern for the Iraqi people. The 8-years Iran-Iraq war, where hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi men were killed, was prolonged because of Ayatollah Khomeini categorical refusal of any peaceful solution and his animosity toward President Saddam Hussein. It should be borne in mind also that it was only after Saddam expelled Khomeini out of Iraq; Khomeini was able to achieve his dream and toppled the Shah regime.
Historically, Iran and the U.S. have been closer to each other than many people think. Iran was a major U.S.-Israel ally during the brutal dictatorship of the Shah. The Shah of was the U.S. gendarme to police the Gulf States and promote U.S.-Israel interests. During the 8-years Iran-Iraq war, the U.S. and Israel clandestinely provided Iran with weapons (e.g. anti-aircraft artillery) and intelligence to continue the war with Iraq. In addition, the current Iranian nuclear program was christened by the US administration in 1957 after the U.S.-sponsored coup d’etat against the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. Indeed, Roland Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz have supported Iran in its bid to become a military nuclear power during the Ford’s administration, where the three chicken hawks held high positions. Since 1988, Iran has modernised and strengthened its military capabilities, and is studying carefully the fighting capacity of U.S. forces. In addition, Iran is three times bigger than Iraq, by size and population.
Today’s conflict with Iran over the nuclear “threat”, is nothing more and nothing less than the usual threat the U.S. and its allies use to bully and intimidate nations with independent governments. After Iraq, Iran is the only independent nation left. There is no evidence to prove that Iran has a secret weapons production program, as it has been acknowledged by the West-controlled IAEA. Iran is signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Within the framework of the NPT, Iran is (legally) has the rights to pursue peaceful nuclear technology – in medicine and in energy – program. The nuclear “threat” is also used as a smokescreen to divert attention from the U.S.-Britain criminal atrocity in Iraq, and to provide Israel with a space to pursue its policy of expansion and Palestinians ethnic cleansing.
The U.S.-Europe position amounted to ‘double standard’ – one rule for the U.S. allies, and another for the rest of the world. Unlike Iran, Israel is not a signatory to the NPT, and Israel’s aggressive production of nuclear weapons is a “threat to world peace”. Israel is right in the heart of the Arab World with more than 200 nuclear warheads. Ignoring Israel’s nuclear production program makes the issue a charade. The real U.S. aim is the domination of the Middle East to enhance its corporate interests and promote Israel’s Zionism.
Iran has shown to be more useful as a U.S. friend and ally than a U.S. foe. The best peaceful solution to the current “crisis” is for the U.S. to agree to stop interfering in other nations’ affairs and encourages the establishment of nuclear-free zone in the region that includes Israel. The U.S. should know that Iran’s ability to defend itself makes any act of aggression against Iran a fatal mistake.
Ghali Hassan lives in Perth, Western Australia.
