________________________________ WHO REALLY WANTS WAR IN IRAN? AIPAC – ‘The mega-force in shaping US policy in the Middle East’
If the Pentagon, which is the authority in the waging of wars, is not recommending an invasion of Iran; if the American Intelligence Community is of the same perspective, as Pat Buchanan says, who really is asking for war?
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is regarded as the most powerful lobby group in Washington today. Incorporated in 1963 by Isaiah Kenen, a former Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, AIPAC today boasts of 100,000 members. When AIPAC has a national convention, it invites two thirds of the House, half of the Senate, and Vice President Dick Cheney.
continued In 2005, a Pentagon analyst admitted passing confidential US government information to AIPAC staffers, who were subsequently fired, but were quietly released later. In 1984, the FBI investigated Israeli Minister of Economics Dan Halpern who passed on to AIPAC classified documents on commercial trade information on major US industries lobbying against the US-Israel Free Trade Area. No charges were filed. The clandestine espionage activities of AIPAC is today’s preparation for pressuring the US to attack Iran.
AIPAC’s huge coffers from billionaire American Jews have given a staggering P56.8 million to Federal candidates since 1990, according to Center For Responsive Politics. Fifty members gave $72,000 each between 2000 and 2003 for US election campaigns. Hinting to an answer to the question “Who really wants war?”, the AIPAC lobby group succeeded in removing provisions in the Iraq War Fund Bill requiring Congressional approval for war. So as not to offend friendly Arab nations, AIPAC cheered silently when the US declared war on Iraq.
In return for funds AIPAC gave to winning candidates, the US appropriated $2.775 billion in military and fiscal aid to Israel in 2010 alone. The ROI on campaign donations was in the vicinity of 100,000%. There exists a Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Israel for the appropriation of $30 billion over ten years forged in 2007. Total aid to Israel since 1949 is estimated by the Washington Report on Middel East Affairs at $108 billion. US has given $30 billion over ten years. All of this money can be the infrastructure to World War III.
Israel, through AIPAC, in truth, has Obama under its thumb to start a war against Iran. The New York Times brands AIPAC as “a mega-force in shaping US policy in the Middle East”. Obama is to Iran as Bush was to Iraq. How such a small nations can manipulate a superpower’s foreign policy and have the White House under its thumb, how a tiny nation can have in its hands the destiny of the planet is mind boggling. (Sources on AIPAC data – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Israel_Public_Affairs_Committee
But why would Israel want a pre-emptive strike on Iran? Obviously, it has a gnawing misplaced fear that Iran is building a nuke bomb. The IAEA has not given a report to this effect. It has reported the plutionium enrichment plant, but this is openly admitted by Iran to be for peaceful energy production. It is not a clandestine affair. Israel and AIPAC are pressuring the US to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran to save itself from a counter-strike by the Arabs.
Pat Buchanan says there is really no hard evidence that Iran is a threat to the West. It is an illusion orchestrated by those who want war, who have manipulated the American media to believe and carry out this line in their headlines. These handful of people who want war are influential elements within the US and Israel governments. They are telling everyone of the Iran threat when there is none. They speak of nuke weapons, which are in truth still non-existent.
Pat Buchanan reports that the CIA has been feeding misinformation to the IAEA. Obviously, the intent is to justify an invasion based on wrong information, just like the ghost WMDs in Iraq. The CIA has decided to discredit Iran on false charges, just as they did in Iraq with reports of ghost WMDs. On top of this, the IAEA reports subtly ‘suspicions’ and ‘possibilities’ as facts.
Israel is afraid that if Iran gets the nuke, there would be rapid escalation among Arab nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Jordan, and Egypt. In truth, sooner or later, the Arabs will have nukes because Israel has nukes. It was actually the greatest strategic blunder for Israel to think superiority through nukes will save it from future wars. It is in fact inviting war. The logic of deterrence through superiority does not apply to nukes. Nukes are the logic for escalation. If you have a gun, I have no choice but to get one in the name of survival. Nukes are the absolute equalizer. A small nations with nukes is actually at par with the US. Nukes wipe out conventional superiority. In this sense, it invites a war without winners, which World War III will become.
To prove finally that it is more Israel, than the US, which wants a war with Iran, Nethanyahu recently asked US Defense Minister Panetta to reconsider the approval for the sale of bunker-busting bombs and the GBU-28, an advanced refueling aircraft that can triple the range of strategic bombers, which Bush rejected in fear of massive Arab retaliation.Nethanyahu believes he has psyched Obama enough towards a war with Iran. Israel is toying with the idea of using these BBBs against a suspected Iranian underground plutonium enrichment plant. But there are also doves among the Israelis who will not permit the beginnings of World War III. They know such a pre-emptive strike will invite retaliation against its underground nuclear siloes in the Negev Desert, which is an open secret. Israel is reported to have 300 warheads beneath the Negev sands, maybe more.
Powerful elements in the US also wants to invade Iran not so much for its potential nukes but for its oil and gas. It is a repeat of the modus operandi in Iraq. The powerful Wall Street, the Oil Multinationals they support, which drives the US economy,
Is the war against Iran inevitable? No one really knows, not the most astute analysts. Some say it is around the corner. Others say no one will dare attack a well-armed Iran. But Israeli fear and American greed may be the final catalysts to Armaggedon. If there is a war in Iran that would polarize the US-UK-EU versus China-Russia, World War III then would be just around the third or fourth corner.
bernie lopez eastwind journals Opinyon Magazine, march 20, 2012 redgate77@gmail.com
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