By Kenneth J. Theisen, 11/3/06
This week has been one of escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf even though it has received little media attention here in the U.S. On Monday, October 30th, the U.S. led international naval maneuvers 20 miles outside Iranian territorial waters on the Iranian west coast. Officially it was aimed at fighting weapons proliferation according to the U.S. State Department. The U.S. was joined in these maneuvers by Australia, Bahrain, Britain, France, and Italy. They simulated the inspection of ships carrying illicit weapons-related materials according to a U.S. official. Another 19 countries in the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) took a minor part in the military exercise. There have previously been 24 PSI exercises since President Bush launched the initiative in May 2003, but this was the first one conducted in the Gulf and the first time countries in the Middle East participated.
But this was not just a routine naval practice session. It was held
to intimidate and warn Iran and comes at a time when the U.S. is using
the excuse to prevent nuclear weapons proliferation as a build up to an
attack on Iran. William Munroe, the U.S. ambassador to Bahrain said,
“The message is clear. Responsible countries of the world will not
stand aside as proliferators circumvent their international
obligations. Responsible countries will not hesitate to deny
proliferators a safe haven.” This maneuver was clearly meant to raise
tensions, if not openly provoke a reaction from Iran.
It did provoke such a reaction as Iranian leaders did some warning
of their own. The day before the maneuvers, Muhammad Ali Husseini, an
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman stated, “We do not consider this
exercise appropriate. [U.S. actions in the region] go in the direction
of more adventurism, not of stability and security”. The next day, Iran
warned the exercise’s participants against acts that could destabilize
the region. Western military officials taking part in the exercise said
that Iranian patrol boats had come close to coalition ships in recent
days, inspecting their activities and positions.
And today Iran escalated tensions by test-firing dozens of missiles
in its own military maneuvers which it said were aimed at putting a
stop to the role of world powers in the Persian Gulf region. “We want
to show our deterrent and defensive power to trans-regional enemies,
and we hope they will understand the message,” stated the head of the
Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi. This is the 4th time
this year that Iran has held large-scale military exercises.
These escalating military maneuvers by both sides could easily lead
to an “incident” that would give the U.S. an excuse for war. What would
happen if an Iranian patrol boat was “accidentally” sunk or if they
fired a torpedo or missile in the direction of a U.S. ship. And such an
incident would not even really need to occur. Remember the Tonkin Gulf
episode that led the U.S. Congress to give permission for war against
Vietnam to President Johnson? Supposedly a North Vietnamese patrol boat
fired on a U.S. warship. But it never happened. Several million
people died for that “mistake.” Just what excuse the Bush regime would
use to unleash this war can not be foretold.
But as the reactionary Bush regime faces off with the reactionary
Iranian regime, the people of the world must understand that it is not
in their interests to take sides with either the Christian fascists in
Washington or the Islamic fascists in Tehran. The Bush regime intends
to attack Iran so that it can control the Middle East, both as a
strategic location and for the control of the oil underneath its soil.
It sees this as necessary to dominate the world. This is why it went
to war against Iraq and Afghanistan, and why it will go to war against
Iran unless it is driven from power.
Yes, the Bush regime talks about keeping nuclear weapons out of the
hands of the Ayatollahs, but this is no more than an excuse like that
of keeping WMDS out of the hands of Saddam. The regime needs the
American people to go along with its lies and to support it wars.
And yes, the Iranian regime is reactionary and deserves to be driven
from power, but not by another reactionary power. Expecting the U.S.
to bring freedom to the Iranian people is ludicrous. In 1953, the U.S.
initiated a coup against the elected government of Iran. Then for the
next quarter of a century it supported the bloody dictatorship of the
Shah of Iran until the Iranian people rebelled and threw off the Shah
and American power. Unfortunately, the Iranian fundamentalists came to
power imposing a reactionary regime on the Iranian people. But only
the Iranian people can bring freedom to their country and any
pretensions about bringing freedom to Iranians by the Bush regime is
merely more propaganda.
Any war unleashed against Iran by the Bush regime will be a war
crime of untold dimensions. The war may even involve nuclear weapons,
but even if not, it will bring vast suffering to the people of Iran and
the rest of the world. Neither the American people, nor the Iranian
masses have any interest in supporting such a war by our respective
regimes. Here in the U.S. we can best assist the Iranian people by
driving the Bush regime from power and setting an example for the
people of the world.