http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?aid=16834
(1)
Never Mind the Facts, Let’s Have
a War…
Published in GlobalResearch.ca on December 23, 2009
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By Finian Cunningham (2)
Global Research, January 08, 2010
Gulf Daily News (3),
23 December 2009
A missile test-fired by Iran last week was reported on the BBC World
Service as being “capable of striking Israel”.
The choice of words was not unusual. On previous occasions when Iran
has test-fired a long-range rocket, the BBC and other western news
media dutifully inform us that the said device is “capable of striking
Israel”. The well-worn phrase is so reliably heard in these news
bulletins that its use betrays a coded script. The not-too subliminal
implications are that Iran is: a) a hostile state; b) doing something
illegal in test-firing a long-range missile; and c) gearing up to
deliver on its alleged threat to wipe out the state of Israel.
Within hours of these reports last week, the US government weighed in
with the pious accusation that the test-firing “undermines Iran’s
claims of peaceful intentions”.
This is a propaganda system at work: the choice of words and framework
of logic designed to condition people into accepting certain options.
In this case, the pre-determined option is a unilateral military strike
on Iran either by the US or Israel. In that event, it will of course be
reported by the BBC and other western media as a “pre-emptive” military
measure to “prevent” Iran from attacking western interests in the
region. Reported too, no doubt, will be the “collateral damage” of
civilian casualties – unfortunate victims in an otherwise “just cause”
to bring a “hardline regime” to abide by “international norms”. This is
classic thought engineering that British political essayist George
Orwell exposed so brilliantly – the official use of sanitised words to
cover the sordid truth.
So let’s rewind and play back the news with some pertinent facts and
context that are routinely omitted in western media reporting.
Iran has test-fired a long-range missile – within its sovereign
borders. The US and its western allies carry out such weapons testing
all the time, as is their sovereign right. One of the US’ allies,
Israel, has a stockpile of nuclear weapons in contravention of the
Non-Proliferation Treaty. This same ally has previously committed acts
of aggression (war crimes) by launching air attacks on neighbouring
countries. Israel, with overt approval from Washington, has repeatedly
said that it is prepared to militarily strike Iran “soon”, The US
itself has warned several times that it reserves the right to use a
military option in its relations with Iran. The US is waging illegal
wars in three of Iran’s neighbours: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. A
dynamic of fear and distrust between Gulf countries is fuelling a
regional arms race. This dynamic is being pushed by the US with, what
should be, obvious self-serving interests (massive arms sales,
geopolitical influence) that are instead disguised by its bogeyman
illusion of Iran, which, unfortunately, Gulf states appear to buy into.
All told, these facts actually do “undermine US claims of peaceful
intentions”.
Here are some other facts that the western media curiously underplay.
Iran is not at war with any country, although it is routinely accused
in the western media, without supporting evidence, of covert subversion
across the region. Iran is conducting a nuclear energy programme, which
it has repeatedly said is for civilian power supply. After a decade of
close monitoring by UN inspectors, which would never be permitted in
its territory by the US or its western allies, the inspectors have
reiterated that there is no evidence of Iran building a nuclear weapon.
Nevertheless, this conclusion does not restrain Washington and London
in their dogged assertion that Tehran is building nuclear weapons (cue
more arms sales).
Given these facts, the test-firing by Iran of a long-range missile is
far from being a quasi-criminal act laden with hostile intentions. It
is the action of a country that needs to show it can defend itself amid
relentless provocations from proven and much more greatly armed
aggressors, whose arsenal also includes a propaganda system that Nazi
spinmeister Joseph Goebbels would have marvelled at.
Finian Cunningham has
written extensively on international affairs, with articles published
in several languages. Many of his recent articles appear on the
renowned Canadian-based news website Globalresearch.ca. He is a
Master’s graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific
editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before
pursuing a career in journalism. He specialises in Middle East and East
Africa issues and has also given several American radio interviews as
well as TV interviews on Press TV and Russia Today. Previously, he was
based in Bahrain and witnessed the political upheavals in the Persian
Gulf kingdom during 2011 as well as the subsequent Saudi-led brutal
crackdown against pro-democracy protests.
Copyright © Finian Cunningham (2),
Gulf Daily News (3), 2010
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