PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS, who served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration, warns of the impending danger of Bush’s escalation of the war in not only Iraq but to the entire Middle East, and the need for this to be stopped before it’s too late. Originally published on CounterPunch.org, 1/15/07.
When
are the American people and their representatives in Congress and the
military going to wake up and realize that the US has an insane war
criminal in the White House who is destroying all chances for peace in
the world and establishing a police state in the US?
Americans
don’t have much time to realize this and to act before it is too late.
Bush’s “surge” speech last Wednesday night makes it completely clear
that his real purpose is to start wars with Iran and Syria before
failure in Iraq brings an end to the neoconservative/Israeli plan to
establish hegemony over the Middle East.
The
“surge” gives Congress, the media, and the foreign policy establishment
something to debate and oppose, while Bush sets his plans in motion to
orchestrate a war with Iran. Suddenly, we are hearing Bush regime
propaganda that there are Iranian networks operating within Iraq that
are working with the Iraqi insurgency and killing US troops.
This
assertion is a lie and preposterous on its face. Iranian Shi”ites are
not going to arm Iraqi Sunnis, who are more focused on killing Iraqi
Shi”ites allied with Iran than on killing US troops. If the Iranians
wanted to cause the US trouble in Iraq, they would encourage Iraqi
Shi”ites to join the insurgency against US forces. An insurgency drawn
from 80 per cent of the Iraqi population would overwhelm the US forces.
CBS
reports that the news organization has been told by US officials “that
American forces have begun an aggressive and mostly secret ground
campaign against networks of Iranians that had been operating with
virtual impunity inside Iraq.” To manufacture evidence in behalf of
this lie to feed to the gullible American public, US forces invaded an
Iranian consulate in northern Iraq and kidnapped five consulate
officials, claiming the Iranians were part of plans “to kill
Americans.” In typical Orwellian fashion, Secretary of State Condi
Rice described Bush’s aggression against Iran as designed to confront
Tehran’s aggression.
Iraqi
government officials in the Kurdish province and the Iraqi foreign
minister have refused to go along with Bush’s propaganda ploy. Iraqi
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced that the Iranian officials
were no threat and were working in a liaison office that had Iraqi
government approval and was in the process of being elevated into a
consulate.
The
Iraqi foreign minister said that US troops tried to seize more innocent
people at the Irbil airport but were prevented by Kurdish troops.
The
Kurds, of course, have been allies of the US forces, but Bush is
willing to alienate the Kurds in the interest of provoking a war with
Iran.
If
Bush is unable to orchestrate war with Iran directly, he will
orchestrate war indirectly by having US troops attack Iraqi Shi”ite
militias. Bush has already given orders for US troops to attack the
Iraqi Shi”ite militias, who oppose the Sunnis and have not been part of
the insurgency. Obviously, once Bush can get US troops in open warfare
with Iraqi Shi”ites, the situation for US troops in Iraq will quickly
go down hill. Bush will be able to blame Iranian Shi”ites for arming
Iraqi Shi”ites that he can say are killing US troops.
Bush
has also ordered the Persian Gulf to be congested with TWO US aircraft
carrier attack groups. There is no military or diplomatic reason for
even one attack group to be in the Persian Gulf. If Bush fails to
orchestrate a war with Iran by kidnapping its officials or by attacking
Shi”ite militias, he can orchestrate an event like the Tonkin Gulf
incident or have the Israelis pull another USS Liberty incident and
blame the Iranians.
The
Tonkin Gulf incident was used by the Johnson administration to deceive
Congress and to involve the US in the Vietnam war. Johnson alleged a
North Vietnamese attack on US warships.
In
1967 Israel attacked and destroyed the US intelligence ship Liberty,
because Liberty’s crew had picked up proof that Israel had initiated
the war with Egypt and intended to attack Syria the next day. Some have
speculated that Israelis hoped their attack on the Liberty could be
blamed on Egypt and used to draw the US into the war against Egypt.
In
2003 the Moorer Commission, headed by Admiral Tom Moorer, former Chief
of Naval Operations and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, concluded:
“That in attacking the USS Liberty, Israel committed acts of murder
against American servicemen and an act of war against the United
States.”
“That fearing conflict with Israel, the White House deliberately
prevented the U.S. Navy from coming to the defense of USS Liberty.”
“The Captain and surviving crew members were later threatened with
court-martial, imprisonment or worse if they exposed the truth; and
were abandoned by their own government.”
“That due to the influence of Israel’s powerful supporters in the
United States, the White House deliberately covered up the facts of
this attack from the American people.”
“That a danger to our national security exists whenever our elected
officials are willing to subordinate American interests to those of any
foreign nation, and specifically are unwilling to challenge Israel’s
interests when they conflict with American interests.”
On
the 30th anniversary of Israel’s destruction of the liberty, Admiral
Moorer said that Israel attacked the Liberty because Israel knew that
the intelligence ship could intercept Israel’s plans to seize the Golan
Heights from Syria, an act of Israeli aggression to which the US
government was opposed. Admiral Moorer said, “I believe Moshe Dayan
concluded that he could prevent Washington from becoming aware of what
Israel was up to by destroying the primary source of acquiring that
information–the US Liberty. Moorer reports that after a 25 minute air
attack “that pounded the Liberty with bombs, rockets, napalm and
machine gun fire . . . three Israeli torpedo boats closed in for the
kill . . . the torpedo boats” machine guns also were turned on life
rafts that were deployed into the Mediterranean as well as those few on
deck that had escaped damage.”
Admiral
Moorer says, “What is so chilling and cold-blooded, of course, is that
they [Israel] could kill as many Americans as they did in confidence
that Washington would cooperate in quelling any public outcry.” The US
invasion of Iraq and the looming US attack on Iran are proof that
Israel has even more power over the White House today.
Bush
has many ways to widen his war in the Middle East. His brutal
aggression against Somalia has largely escaped criticism for the war
crime that it is. On January 11 the US National Intelligence Director
told Congress that Hezbollah in Lebanon may be the next US threat. Just
as he lied to the entire world about Saddam Hussein and Iraq, Bush is
lying about Iran. Bush and the neoconservatives are frantic for war
with Iran to get underway before the US Congress forces a US withdrawal
from the failed adventure in Iraq.
Bush’s
entire “war on terror” is based on lies. The Bush Regime, desperate to
keep its lies covered up, is now trying to prevent American law firms
from defending the Guantanamo detainees. The Bush Regime is fearful
that Americans will learn that the detainees are not terrorists but
props in the regime’s orchestrated “terror war.”
On January 13 a New York Times
(editorial) said that “Cully Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of
defense for detainee affairs, tried to rally American corporations to
stop doing business with law firms that represent inmates of the
Guantanamo internment camp.” Stimson alleged that it was “shocking”
that American law firms were “representing detainees down there.” He
suggested that when corporate America got word of if, “those C.E.O.’s
are going to make those law firms choose between representing
terrorists or representing reputable firms. We want to watch that play
out.”
The
only reason for the Bush Regime’s policy of indefinite detention
without charges is that it has no charges to bring. The detainees are
not terrorists. They are the Bush Regime’s props in a fake war that
serves as cover for the Regime’s hegemonic policy in the Middle East.
The
only action that can stop Bush is for both the Democratic and
Republican leadership of the House and Senate to call on the White
House, tell Bush they know what he is up to and that they will not fall
for it a second time. The congressional leadership must tell Bush that
if he does not immediately desist, he will be impeached and convicted
before the week is out. Can a congressional leadership that lives in
fear of the Israel Lobby perform this task?
All
the rest is penny-ante. Revoking the Iraqi War Resolution as Rep. Sam
Farr has proposed or requiring Bush to obtain congressional
authorization prior to any US attack on Iran simply lets Bush and his
Federalist Society apologists for executive dictatorship claim he has
commander-in-chief powers and proceed with his planned aggression.
Cutting off funding is not itself enough as Bush can raid other
budgets. Non-binding resolutions of disapproval are meaningless to a
president who doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.
Nothing
can stop the criminal Bush from instituting wider war in the Middle
East that could become a catastrophic world war except an unequivocal
statement from Congress that he will be impeached.
Bush
has made the US into a colony of Israel. The US is incurring massive
debt and loss of both life and reputation in order to silence Muslim
opposition to Israel’s theft of Palestine and the Golan Heights. That
is what the “war on terror” is about.
Paul Craig Roberts
was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration.
He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and
Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny
of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com