January 31, 2007
by Zen Garcia

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"In a Time of Universal Deceit - Telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act."
- George Orwell

Why an escalation and why now when tens of thousands, up to half a million Americans have taken to the streets to of Washington, DC to implore congress that you cannot oppose the war and still fund it. The citizenry has made it clear that we absolutely do not support Bush's immoral illegal war against Iraq and failed foreign policy in fighting the war o terror. Bush cannot even claim that he has made the American people safer especially since the borders were and are still wide open, our ports are not secure, and his administration failed even to implement the 9-11 commission recommendations for protecting the country.

The BBC released a poll on Jan 23rd, 2007 which clearly shows that the view of the US's role in the world has deteriorated both internationally and domestically. When asked about US military presence in the Middle East, an average of 68% of respondents across 25 countries including the US, answered that our country "provokes more conflict than it prevents". Now that the rubber stamp Republican controlled Senate has been dethroned, members of the President's own party have expressed public concern over the Decider's planned escalation of the war, the real question remains - Why a troop escalation or 'surge' and why now? Is it really to stabilize Baghdad and ease the sectarian violence or does the Decider have something even more sinister in mind like provoking a Greater Middle East War with planned conventional and even nuclear air strikes against Iran's nuclear power infrastructure?

Retired USAF Colonel Sam Gardiner wrote an article entitled, The Pieces Are Being Put in Place, released January 13th, 2007 "The pieces are moving. They'll be in place by the end of February. The United States will be able to escalate military operations against Iran. The White House keeps saying there are no plans to attack Iran. Obviously, the facts suggest otherwise. Equally as clear, the Iranians will read what the Administrations is doing not what it is saying. It is possible the White House strategy is just implementing a strategy to put pressure on Iran on a number of fronts, and this will never amount to anything. On the other hand, if the White House is on a path to strike Iran, we'll see a few more steps unfold."

What are some of those steps? We already have a few clear signs that the United States is provoking dissent and supporting opposition groups in Iran, Syria, and Lebanon, not to mention that our second carrier group has moved into the Persian Gulf something that has not happened since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. On January 25, 2007, Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, gave clear warning that his country was prepared to use military force to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. "Israeli military officials warned this week that Israel - acting alone or in coordination with the US - could launch preemptive military strikes against Iran before the end of this year."

On Jan 15th, Michael Roston released an article about a leaked Jan. 9th memo from the banking division of ING Group entitled "Attacking Iran: The market impact of a surprise Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities." The ING memo was first sent to Raw Story as an anonymous tip and confirmed by staff at the bank's emerging markets office. The full PDF documents can be downloaded at this link for the Jan. 9 report, and this link for the Jan. 15 update. The bank sees February or March as a timeline for an Israeli or US strike on Iran. They were warning their investors that should such an attack take place it could be catastrophic for the world. "Geopolitical tension will likely rise in February/March, impacting on risk appetite and asset prices across the board."

Whether it's Israel or the United States that actually does the initial bombing, the fact is any strikes against Iran whether conventional or nuclear in capability only promises to destabilize the fragile world order even further and force the entire world to unite against the pre-emptive strike doctrine of the United States as outlined by the Project for a New American Century's document "Rebuilding America's Defenses." The Neo-Conservatives currently running this country and still in power, believe "The United States is the world's only superpower, combining preeminent military power, global technological leadership, and the world's largest economy. Moreover, America stands at the head of a system of alliances which includes the world's other leading democratic powers. At present the United States faces no global rival. America's grand strategy should aim to preserve and extend this advantageous position as far into the future as possible."

General Leonid Ivashov, once chief of the Military cooperation department at the Russian federation's Ministry of defense and Joint chief of staff of the Russian armies, and current vice-president of the Academy on geopolitical affairs; wrote in a article called "Iran Must Get Ready to Repel a Nuclear Attack" dated Jan 24th, 2007, in which he said, "The war in Iraq was just one element in a series of steps in the process of regional destabilization. It was only a phase in the process of getting closer to dealing with Iran and other countries, which the US declared or will declare rouge. However it is not easy for the US to get involved in yet another military campaign while Iraq and Afghanistan are not "pacified" (the US lacks the resources necessary for the operation). Besides, protests against the politics of the Washington neocons intensify all over the world." He goes on to say that, "Some people tend to believe that concerns over the world's protests can stop the US. I don't think so.

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The importance of this factor should not be overstated. In the past, I have spent hours talking to Milosevic, trying to convince him that NATO was preparing to attack Yugoslavia. For a long time, he could not believe this and kept telling me: 'Just read the UN Charter. What grounds will they have to do it?' But they did it. They ignored the international law outrageously and did it. What do we have now? Yes, there was a shock, there was indignation. But the result is exactly what the aggressors wanted - Milosevic is dead, Yugoslavia is partitioned, and Serbia is colonized - NATO officers have set up their headquarters in the country's ministry of defense. The same things happened to Iraq. There were a shock and indignation. But what matters to the Americans is not how big the shock is, but how high are the revenues of their military-industrial complex." General Ivashov warned the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week that he expects the US to strike Iran by the end of April.

Recently (Jan 13) the Bush administration ordered a raid on an Iranian office in Irbil and detained five people to investigate whether they were involved in "illegal or terrorist" activity. More recently (Jan 23rd) Bush authorized U.S. forces in Iraq to take "whatever actions are necessary to counter Iranian agents deemed a threat to American troops or the Iraqi public." Think the Decider is trying to provoke Iran into attacking US forces so that he will have the pre-text to broaden the war with Iran? The same thing happened in the lead up to the invasion in Iraq. The bombing campaign against Iraq began long before the start of the official war. The US had pretty much wiped out all radar facilities annd air defenses before the official invasion. Bush was hoping that Saddam Hussein would retaliate so that he would have an 'easier' time justifying his war. because Saddam would not retaliate, Bush was forced into making up lies to cojure public support for the war.

On Jan. 22nd, an article appeared in the Dubai paper called the Gulf News entitled "Is Bush planning war against Iran?" which opeed with "It is now clear that the US President George W. Bush has decided to confront Iran - politically, economically and militarily - rather than engage it in negotiations, as he was advised to do by James Baker and Lee Hamilton in their Iraq Study Group report." The Guardian of London just released an article called, "Iran Warned As Troop Surge Begins." The article cofirms the Gulf News article as stated, "The Bush administration rejected calls last month by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group led by the former secretary of state, James Baker, to open dialogue with Iran and has opted instead for a new confrontational approach."

The mainstream news in all parts of the world outside of the US has been widely reporting that many intelligence services from many countries believe that the White House plans to strike Iran before Bush and Cheney lose power and leave office in 2008, and before Blair leaves office in April of 2007. In fact, the World Economic Forum opened January 24 with discussion and a warning from the Secretary General of the League of Arab States Amr Moussa, "There is a 50/50 chance the United States will attack Iran and any such strike would risk spreading sectarian violence through the Middle East... we hope that it won't happen. Attacking Iran would be counterproductive." Moussa also said - the United States needs to move from use of military force towards dialogue, both to resolve the violence in Iraq and to reduce U.S.-Iranian tensions. He added that he favoured proposals for talks with Iran and Syria. "If there were to be a war, other genies will get out of the bottle. You cannot imagine the impact on the Gulf countries, on the Mediterranean."

Paul Craig Roberts, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration, wrote an article called - Bush Is About To Attack Iran - Why Can't Americans See It? "...bankers and businessmen from such US allies as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates all warned of the coming attack and its catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and the world... Rather than winding down one war, Bush is starting another. The entire world knows this and is discussing Bush's planned attack on Iran in many forums. It is only Americans who haven't caught on. A few senators have said that Bush must not attack Iran without the approval of Congress, and postings on the Internet demonstrate world wide awareness that Iran is in the Bush Regime's cross hairs. But Congress and the Media--and the demonstration in Washington--are focused on Iraq."

If you still don't believe that the US or Israel will attack Iran, please check out William Thomas' story released Ja 25th, 2007 called "Wrestling With The Devil Behind The Story Of Israel's Aborted Nuclear Strike." Thomas asserts in his article that Israel as recently as Jan. 7th attempted to send fighters ito Iran to bomb the its nuclear facilities. The bombing did not take place because Us fighters intercepted them enroute over Iraq and forced them to turn back without their payload delivery. "According to this very reliable source, on two previous occasions Israeli fighter-bombers armed with nuclear bombs have headed "downtown" before being turned back over Iraq. The January 7th mission, which trespassed beyond 160 station before being recalled by Israeli authorities, comprised three IAF F-16s. Each carried conventional munitions - as well as a single 20-kiloton nuclear bomb. The atomic detonation that razed the city of Hiroshima and killed 140,000 people outright was a 13-kiloton blast. [Agence France-Presse Aug 6/05]"

We are living in very serious times. The American public is being kept in the dark so that the Decider can get away with enflaming World War III which started after the staged attack of September 11th, 2001. Call your Congress people and tell them to force the President to stop his insane pursuit to 'escalate' war with Iran. The troop surge is about provoking and preparing war with Iran and has nothing to do with stabilizing Iraq. The plan is to escalate tension further so sectarian violence divides the Middle East along ethnic lines. It has always been divide and rule. Wake up people and take America back for our children and our childrens' children. We are running out of time but time enough remains for us to act.

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Zen Garcia [send him email] is an activist and writer in Athens, GA.  Find more of his writings at www.endeavorfreedom.org/ and http://independentfreepress.org