February 24, 2006 - No. 23
Propaganda for Global Competition Is
Propaganda for War
• Propaganda
for Global Competition Is Propaganda for War
Hands Off Iran!
• International Campaign: Stop the War on Iran
Before It Starts - StopWarOnIran.org
• No to U.S. Imperialist Aggression: Reject the
Warmongers and War Criminals - Voice of Revolution
• Illegal U.S. Raids Planned Publicly: Pentagon
Prepares Iran Strike
• Bush Administration Finalizes Military Attack
on Iran - Wayne Madsen Report
Propaganda for Global Competition Is
Propaganda for War
The monopolies would like Canadians to believe that the
mania for global competition is good for the economy and positive for
the people. They would have us believe that dragging the Canadian
economy, companies and workers into global competition does not have a
darker side that involves recession, destruction, bombs and death. Yet
the history of monopoly competition for markets and resources is
replete with ruinous recessions, blood and the drums of war. The
prospect for carnage keeps getting worse, as the calls for competition
keep getting louder and the weapons of war keep getting bigger and more
powerful.
The rise of the monopolies at the end of the 19th century soon
saw them using the armies of the state as essential instruments of the
global competition for markets and sources of raw material. Competition
among the monopolies soon turned into the unprecedented killing fields
in the trenches and poison gas of the First World War.
The creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics after the
revolution of 1917 and the removal of its territories and people from
global competition for markets and resources was a stunning example
that another world was possible without empire-building and monopoly
competition. However, the British, U.S., German, French, Japanese and
other monopolies continued their battle for global supremacy developing
new weapons of competition and war, especially airplanes and aircraft
carriers. The competition among the monopolies in Africa and Europe
soon erupted in war between Germany and Britain in 1939. In Asia the
monopoly competition among Britain, the U.S. and Japan exploded in 1941
when Japan tried to destroy the U.S. Pacific naval fleet stationed in
Hawaii.
Also in 1941, Germany launched an unprovoked massive invasion of the
Soviet Union to smash the first nation-building project of the working
class, conquer its territory and bring its enormous industrial
production, resources and markets under German control for use against
its monopoly capitalist rivals and emerge as the most dominant empire
in the world.
Today, competition among the monopolies and U.S. empire-building and
aggression in Asia are dragging the world towards an even bloodier
conflagration unless the people say no and organize to stop the
madness. Canadians and people around the world must unite in opposition
to this irrational and dangerous global competition of the monopolies
that invariably leads to war.
The greater the competition the greater the threat of war. There is
nothing positive about economic competition within Canada or globally.
The drive of the monopolies to compete blocks and negates the naturally
occurring cooperation that emerges spontaneously from modern mass
production of goods and the delivery of necessary services in a social
economy. Economic cooperation based on the free association of the
working class is the foundation of prosperity and peace and the way
forward to guarantee the rights of all in healthy social and natural
environments.
Reject economic competition as ruinous and a deadly precursor to war.
Reject the global monopoly competition for resources, markets and
interference in sovereign economies. Oppose the propaganda for
competition and war that marshals Canadians behind the empire-building
of the United States of North American Monopolies.
Support the right to be of all peoples and their sovereign economies.
Support peaceful coexistence and economic cooperation among Canadians
and the peoples of the world.
International Campaign:
Stop the War on Iran Before It Starts
- StopWarOnIran.org -
It is with grave concern that we observe the growing
threat of a new U.S. war -- this time against the people of Iran. The
media is filled with reports of an alleged nuclear threat posed by Iran
and the assumed need for the U.S. to take military action. These
reports recall the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" stories
issued in the months leading up to the war on Iraq.
In the lead up to the illegal invasion of Iraq, the
Bush Administration asserted that Iraq possessed massive stockpiles of
weapons of mass destruction and that it was capable of launching an
attack -- nuclear, chemical and biological -- on the U.S. within 45
minutes.
President Bush said that the U.S. had to attack
immediately, and could not "wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun
-- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." We all know now
that this propaganda campaign was a complete fabrication created to
justify a war of aggression.
Now we see reports that are all too similar being made
to justify military action against the people of Iran. Taking Iran to
the UN Security Council is a prelude for unilateral action. Just as in
the case of Iraq, none of the claims made by the U.S. government stand
up to unbiased scrutiny. Iran has submitted
to the most intrusive and humiliating inspections, above and beyond
what is required by Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
None of the inspections have found any evidence that Iran is developing
a nuclear weapons program.
There is only one government that has used nuclear
weapons against civilian populations, and that same nation has the
largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction on the planet. Most
dangerous and incredible, it is at this very moment developing a new
generation of tactical nuclear weapons that
it intends to use, not merely to threaten. That country is, of course,
the United States. Shouldn't any real discussion of the dangers of
nuclear weapons include the weapons stockpiled by the Pentagon and the
history of U.S. aggression and interventions?
Iran has suffered greatly at the hands of the U.S. We
recall the U.S. overthrew the democratically elected government of Dr.
M. Mossadegh and returned the Shah to the Peacock Throne "the proudest
achievement of the CIA." For 25 years the Shah ruled Iran with an iron
fist for the benefit of U.S.
oil corporations before the people of Iran, in the millions, overthrew
his tyranny at a terrible cost of lives. For the past 27 years U.S.
sanctions have impeded Iran's right to development and brought great
suffering to the people.
It is essential that all voices opposed to the
devastation of a new war in the Middle East speak out now. We urge an
immediate end to Washington's campaign of sanctions, hostility, and
falsehood against the people of Iran. We oppose any new U.S. aggression
against Iran. We need funds for human
needs, not endless war for empire.
Initial Signers (add your name)
Signed by hundreds of activists, artists, writers, along with many
others.
No to U.S. Imperialist Aggression:
Reject the Warmongers and War Criminals
- Voice of Revolution, February 20, 2006
-
The promotion and planning of aggression is a crime
against the peace, a crime against humanity. This is the world
standard, achieved as part of the victory against fascism. The U.S.
imperialists are now openly promoting war with Iran, which has
committed no aggression, no crime, nothing but defended its
sovereignty.
Iran has the right to use nuclear energy and pursue nuclear weapons. It
is the U.S. that has no right to continue to maintain its massive
arsenal of weapons and to now threaten to use nuclear weapons in a
first strike against Iran. These are the crimes, these are the dangers
to humanity.
Listen to the warmongers and criminals and know that
their sole aim is to justify their brutal empire-building.
President George W. Bush in the State of the Union:
"The regime in [Iran]sponsors terrorists in the
Palestinian territories and in Lebanon -- and that must come to an end.
The Iranian government is defying the world with its nuclear ambitions
-- and the nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to
gain nuclear weapons. America will continue
to rally the world to confront these threats."
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld:
"All options -- including the military one -- are on
the table."
Richard Perle, a main architect of the U.S. war on Iraq
and former head of the Defense Policy Advisory Committee. He was
speaking to the press at a conference on security in Munich, Germany:
"If you want to try to wait until the very last minute,
you'd better be very careful how long you choose to wait." Perle said
Israel had chosen not to wait until it was too late to bomb a facility
in Iraq in 1981, reportedly part of Iraq's "nuclear weapons program."
Perle continued, "I cannot tell you when
we may face a similar choice with Iran. But it is either take action
now or lose the option of taking action." Asked about a military
strike, Perle said, "I hope that can be avoided but that is always a
possibility. We are talking about physical facilities [in Iran] and
they
are always vulnerable."
Senator Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Leadership
Council:
"Senator Hillary Clinton noted in a speech earlier this
week, it is time now for the United States to strike while the iron is
hot with a tough new strategy to encourage the now-galvanized
international community to push [Iran] to change directions.
"We cannot and should not -- must not -- permit Iran to
build or acquire nuclear weapons," Clinton said in an address at
Princeton University.
"In order to prevent that from occurring, we must have
more support vigorously and publicly expressed by China and Russia, and
we must move as quickly as feasible for sanctions in the United
Nations." Clinton also bluntly suggested the ultimate threat of force
should be maintained and made credible.
"We cannot take any option off the table in sending a clear message to
the current leadership of Iran that they will not be permitted to
acquire nuclear weapons."
"A nuclear Iran is indeed unacceptable. Iran is by any
reasonable definition a rogue state. It subsidizes terrorists
throughout the Middle East; has given safe haven to al Qaeda members;
and is clearly manipulating Shi'a extremists in Iraq who hope to set up
a Tehran- aligned Islamist state. Its current
theocratic regime seems determined to rehabilitate the crudest sort of
Nazi-style antisemitism and use it as a rationale for opposing any
Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. If Iran acquires a nuclear weapons
capability, it will not only further destabilize the world's most
fragile region, it will also trigger a new nuclear
arms race and all but destroy the credibility of global
nonproliferation rules.
"Sen. Clinton is right in challenging the
administration to show leadership on this issue. The president
identified Iran as a charter member of the 'Axis of Evil' in 2002, but
then failed to forge a coherent policy for checking Tehran's nuclear
ambitions or curbing its support of Middle East terror groups.
Preoccupied by its misadventures in Iraq, the administration more
recently decided to back European efforts to find a diplomatic solution
to the crisis. That was the right call. We have few credible military
options at a time when U.S. forces have their hands full in Afghanistan
and Iraq. Moreover, embracing diplomacy
with respect to Iran has helped repair damaged relations with key
European allies and solidify their determination to stop Iran's
flouting of global nonproliferation rules. And finally, while Iran's
regime can't bring itself to make concessions to the United States, it
does fear economic and political isolation.
"But now that it has thumbed its nose at European
negotiators, Tehran must be decisively brought to heel. Sen. Clinton is
right that we should push the U.N. security council to take up the
matter of sanctions and call the bluff of the Tehran bully-boys who
seem to believe that the rest of the world
will turn rabbit at the threat of losing access to Iranian oil. The
current regime in Iran has much more to lose from sanctions --
including,
quite possibly, its own power at the hands of a population that's
already chafing under the mullahs' repression -- than anyone else.
"Just yesterday, Sen. Evan Bayh introduced a resolution
in the Senate calling on the administration to press for U.N.
sanctions. As he rightly said: 'We have wasted valuable time, diverted
resources and ignored this problem at our peril,' Sen. Bayh said. 'No
one wants to forestall the need to use military
force more than I do, but if we are to do so, we must act now. Time is
of the essence.'
"Specifically, President Bush should tap his famous
friendship with Vladimir Putin to press the Russians -- who have
significant influence in Tehran, in part because they have already
agreed to build a nuclear power plant in Iran and supply it with
non-weapons grade fuel -- to support sanctions. If
Russia joins the great power coalition seeking to enforce global
nonproliferation rules, the odds are that China will not use its veto
to thwart sanctions.
"Should Iran persist in its intransigence, the Council
would then have no choice but to impose economic and diplomatic
sanctions. It is essential that the major powers dramatically raise the
costs to Tehran of pursuing the capability to produce nuclear weapons.
If that fails, we will have to seriously
contemplate the use of military force. Only this time, there will be no
doubt that the United States and other leading powers have exhausted
every possible avenue to a peaceful solution."
Illegal U.S. Raids Planned Publicly:
Pentagon Prepares Iran Strike
Pentagon plans to end the Iranian nuclear program with
an air strike were unveiled by the on-line British paper, the Daily
Telegraph. Despite Iran's claims that its nuclear program is for
civilian purposes, the U.S. is assessing targets and planning to use
cruise missiles.
The paper reported on contacts by the Pentagon and the
Central Command with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to attack Iran
should diplomacy fail. Rumsfeld has repeated that "All options,
including the military one, are on the table."
An air strike would include air-refueling B-2 bombers
to take off from an air base in Missouri. The bombing would involve air
bases in east Iraq, west Afghanistan, Turkey, Qatar and south Oman, and
aircraft carriers deployed in the Persian Gulf with fighter planes
armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The U.S. has said it has the capacity to destroy a
dozen nuclear-classified installations in Iran. The most important
sites are underground and have anti-air defenses, like Esfahan and
Natanz plants. The latter has the most sensitive systems 18 feet
underground shielded with reinforced concrete. It is
expected that the U.S. would use its "bunker-busters," which use
radioactive depleted uranium.
Air Force Lt. Col. Sam Gardiner (ret.) said the U.S.
would commence the operation with air raids that would be followed by
other targets, around 125, including air and submarine bases, said
Gardiner.
Other sources consulted by the British paper think that
actions of this nature would generate a new conflict in the Middle
East. Joseph Cirincione, a non-proliferation expert from the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, said it should be diplomacy not the
F-15 missions that stop Iran. In Cirincione's
view "an air strike on the Esfahan plant would ignite Muslim rage and
anti-U.S. feelings among the entire Iranian population."
Israel Experts Back Strikes on Tehran's
Nuclear Sites
With the Iran nuclear imbroglio showing no sign of an
early resolution, Israeli defense experts have claimed that their air
force has the ability "to cripple" Tehran's nuclear program by striking
at the "weak" spots.
Hitting and destroying two or three key facilities
would probably be sufficient, Shlomo Brom, a former Israeli armed
forces chief of strategic planning was quoted as saying by Newsweek
magazine here.
He identified the Natanz uranium-enrichment complex and
the conversion plant at Esfahan as critical targets.
"You need to identify the bottlenecks. There are not
very many. If you take them out, then you really undermine the
project,"
a senior unnamed military source said.
But there is also the realization that these attacks
are not going to be easy. "They are dispersed, underground, hardened,"
the senior Israeli military source has said and American analysts are
making the point that each facility would require multiple hits before
serious damage was done, the magazine
reported.
The Israelis, according to the report, are insisting
that they have the firepower necessary for the mission including more
than 100 U.S.-made Blu-109 "bunker buster" earth-penetrating bombs.
"I think they could do the job," the senior Israeli
source has told the magazine.
The Newsweek
report speaks of yet another hurdle in the
plans -- logistics and the imperative of each target in Iran being
assigned a small fleet of aircraft that would include not just the
strike force but an accompaniment of plans that would include mid-air
refueling aircrafts and radar jamming systems.
"To get there and bomb the facilities, that's the easy
part. The difficult part is how to get back. We're not making Kamikaze
runs," Brom said.
A senior unnamed U.S. administration official has said
that the best that can be hoped for in any strike is the delaying of
the nuclear capability of Iran.
"The real question is what you achieve if the best you
can do is to delay the project for a few years," the senior official
has said.
Bush Administration Finalizes Military Attack on Iran
- Wayne Madsen Report, January 2, 2006 -
Intelligence and military sources in the United States
and abroad are reporting on various factors that indicate a U.S.
military hit on Iranian nuclear and military installations that may
involve tactical nuclear weapons, is in the final stages of
preparation. Likely targets for saturation bombing are the Bushehr
nuclear
power plant (where Russian and other foreign national technicians are
present), a uranium mining site in Saghand near the city of Yazd, the
uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, a heavy water plant and
radioisotope facility in Arak, the Ardekan Nuclear Fuel Unit, the
Uranium Conversion Facility and Nuclear Technology
Center in Isfahan, the Tehran Nuclear Research Center, the Tehran
Molybdenum, Iodine and Xenon Radioisotope Production Facility, the
Tehran Jabr Ibn Hayan Multipurpose Laboratories, the Kalaye Electric
Company in the Tehran suburbs, a reportedly dismantled uranium
enrichment plant in Lashkar Abad, and
the Radioactive Waste Storage Units in Karaj and Anarak.
Other first targets would be Shahab-I, II, and III
missile launch sites, air bases (including the large Mehrabad air
base/international airport near Tehran), naval installations on the
Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea, command, control, communications and
intelligence facilities. Secondary targets would include
civilian airports, radio and TV installations, telecommunications
centers, government buildings, conventional power plants, highways and
bridges, and rail lines. Oil installations and commercial port
facilities would likely be relatively untouched by U.S. forces in order
to preserve them for U.S. oil and business interests.
There has been a rapid increase in training and
readiness at a number of U.S. military installations involved with the
planned primarily aerial attack. These include a Pentagon order to Fort
Rucker, Alabama, to be prepared to handle an estimated 50,000 to 60,000
trainees, including civilian contractors,
who will be deployed for Iranian combat operations. Rucker is home to
the U.S. Army's aviation training command, including the helicopter
training school.
In addition, there has been an increase in readiness at
nearby Hurlburt Field in Florida, the home of the U.S. Air Force
Special Operations Command. The U.S. attack on Iran will primarily
involve aviation (Navy, Air Force, Navy-Marine Corps) and special
operations assets.
There has also been a noticeable increase in activity
at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms,
California, a primary live fire training activity located in a desert
and mountainous environment similar to target areas in Iran.
From European intelligence agencies comes word that the
United States has told its NATO allies to be prepared for a military
strike on Iranian nuclear development and military installations. [...]
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