Commentary from The World Can’t Wait Writers Group
There is a shared assumption by the Democratic and Republican parties that the
U.S. must control the Middle East, both for its energy resources and
for its strategic location, in order to maintain hegemony over the world.
Iranian regime change is official U.S. policy, just as Iraqi regime
change was official policy. Bush has said repeatedly the military
option is on the table.
Lies to justify war
Toward the end of removing the Iranian
regime, the Bush propaganda machine is churning out lies to justify
war, just as it did prior to the Iraq invasion.
Lie #1: Iran is using its civilian
nuclear program to acquire nuclear weapons.
Truth: The Bush regime’s own
National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) reported that the Iranians do not
have such a program. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
has published numerous reports that indicate there is no evidence Iran
has or is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. IAEA Chief Mohammed El
Baradei recently stated, “I don’t believe that what I see in
Iran today is a current, grave and urgent danger”A military strike,
in my opinion, would be worse than anything possible. It would turn
the region into a fireball.”
Lie #2: Iran has been “linked” to
al Qaeda.
Truth: Al Qaeda is a Sunni group opposed
to the Shi”a Iranian regime. The Iranian regime has actually
arrested al Queda members but refused to turn them over to the U.S.
to be tortured.
Lie #3: Iran arms and trains the Iraqi
“special groups” which attack Americans in Iraq.
Truth: Iraqis are resisting the U.S.
illegal occupation of their country. Despite repeated charges, the U.S.
has been unable to prove that the Iranian regime is arming or training
Iraqis who are fighting the U.S. occupation. It is the U.S. that has
nearly 200,000 troops and “contractors” in Iraq and it is responsible
for the deaths of over 1 million Iraqis.
Lie #3: Israel’s survival is threatened
by Iran
Truth: Israel has one of the most
powerful militaries in the world and has over 100 nuclear weapons. It has made war on all its neighbors and illegally occupies Palestinian
land. The alleged threat by the Iranian President to “wipe Israel
off the map” was a deliberate mistranslation. Recently Israel engaged in a massive military exercise which the media described as
a “dress rehearsal” for attacking Iran.
Lie #4: Iran is destabilizing the
Middle East and arming Hezbollah and Hamas.
Truth: The U.S. has armed reactionary
regimes including Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia with U.S. weapons.
It occupies Iraq and Afghanistan and threatens war with Iran. It has
brought war and misery to the people of the region for decades.
We must act now to prevent this war
These lies are the cover for any attack
on Iran. No matter what the excuse used to justify an attack, this war
must be opposed. Millions could die in Iran and the surrounding
region. The war could even lead to a nuclear holocaust.
Can you live with yourself if you do not do everything possible to prevent
this? You know the truth. Act on it now!
Contact us, 305 Broadway, #185, New York, New York, 10013. info@worldcantwait.org
Dear Editor,
While your organization’s struggle to stop the imperialist onslaught against Iran is deeply appreciated by majority of Iranian people, it is important that your opposition does not imply political support for the reactionary Islamic regime of Iran. Therefore, as an Iranian American woman who cares deeply about Iranian people, I recommend that your action alerts and flyers communicate to that effect. Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, has properly done so by adding the following to the end of an article under similar subject:
“So there is nothing just about any U.S. attempts to bully, weaken, or attack Iran. All are in service of maintaining imperialism’s ability to exploit and control this region of hundreds of millions of people. And Iran’s reactionary Islamic theocrats are no answer for the people either. A different—revolutionary, liberator, communist—way is called for. We have an enormous responsibility to help bring that alternative forward while joining with many others to resist any and all U.S., European or Israeli aggression against Iran, whatever form it comes in.â€
The Iranian government represents an unstable coalition of bourgeois capitalist interests that employs religious demagogy and occasional anti-imperialist sloganeering to maintain a tenuous grip on mass support. It fears above all the renewal support an independent movement of the Iranian working class, which has a long history of revolutionary socialist struggles. The repressive policies of the clerical regime are aimed at suppressing the resurgence of a genuine democratic, socialist and anti-imperialist movement of the Iranian masses.
But a settlement of accounts with the bourgeois regime in Iran is the task of the Iranian working class. In fact, the warmongering of the Bush administration provides the Islamic Regime with the opportunity to divert popular attention from pressing social needs within Iran itself. Moreover, an assault on Iran by the United States would have as its aim not the creation of a democratic regime, but rather the installation of another puppet government and the reduction of the country to the status of a semi-colonial American protectorate.
Regards,
Fariba Azad
Thank you, WCW, for posting this article. It is both very well written and informative! However, I must admit that I become deeply worried when I start thinking about the real possibilities of our corrupted “President”/government carrying out an attack on Iran!
The thing is, my husband is from Iran – (Kerman, to be exact) – and I must say that he is one of the sweetest, most loving, most giving people that I have ever met! Honestly, what am I going to tell him when we turn on the tv or radio one day to hear that Bush has carried out his wicked/corrupted plans to bomb Iran? What am I going to tell him if his aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews die over there because of Bush’s/our government’s lies and abuse of power?
Please people – we have to stop this even before Bush’s plans have a moment to get off the ground! (And his plans are already in the works – by making threats against Iran and making [i]*them*[/i] look like the bad guys in this whole situation!) 🙁