Iranian Scientists Die as Bibi’s War Looms

I think the readers are correct on this. The Times hasn’t corrected the story but it should because this is a case of when a shorthand phrase doesn’t do justice to a nuanced set of facts. In this case, the distinction between the two is important because the Iranian program has emerged as a possible casus belli.

In other words: it’s important to get this right, because getting it wrong unjustly promotes the cause of war.

After serving as a major cheerleader for the 2003 Iraq “shock and awe” invasion, the Times appears to have learned its lesson.  Perhaps, finally, it has discovered how US centers of power have moved into foreign hands.

MJ Rosenberg writes in Intifada Palestine that Israel. AIPAC and its US congressional hasbara troops are fighting back:

Wasting no time after its success in getting the administration to oppose Palestinian statehood at the United Nations, and still celebrating the UNESCO funding cut-off, AIPAC has returned to its #1 priority: pushing for war with Iran.

The Israelis have, of course, played their own part in the big show. In the last few weeks, it has been sending out signals that it is getting ready to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities (and embroil the United States in its most calamitous Middle East war yet).

But most observers do not believe an Israeli attack is imminent. (If it was, would Israel telegraph it in advance?) The point of the Israeli threats is to get the United States and the world community to increase pressure on Iran with the justification that unless it does, Israel will attack.

Naturally, the United States Congress, which gets its marching orders on Middle East policy from the lobby which, in turn, gets its marching orders from Binyamin Netanyahu, is rushing to do what it is told. (If only Congress addressed joblessness at home with the same alacrity and enthusiasm.)

Accordingly the House Foreign Affairs Committee hurriedly convened this week to consider a new “crippling sanctions” bill that seems less designed to deter an Iran nuclear weapon than to lay the groundwork for war.

These “crippling sanctions” are intended to remove foreign policy decisions involving Iran from the White House to the US Congress.

The sanctions have been pushed through the House by a bi-partisan pair: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Ranking Member Howard Berman (D-CA). (Shown here.)

Rosenberg explains how this would work:

It means that neither the president, the Secretary of State nor any US diplomat or emissary may engage in negotiations or diplomacy with Iran of any kind unless the president convinces the “appropriate Congressional committees” (most significantly, the House Foreign Affairs Committee which is an AIPAC fiefdom) that not engaging with Iranian contacts would present an “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the vital national security interests of the United States.”

To call this unprecedented is an understatement. At no time in our history has the White House or State Department been restricted from dealing with representatives of a foreign state, even in war time.

On May 20, 2011. Prime Minister Netanyahu came to Washington for a victory lap around Barack Obama’s track.

Philip Giraldi described Netanyahu’s May 20, 2011 visit for the website Uprooted Palestinians (see the photo at the top):

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in the United States today for a much anticipated visit. He will do a little fund-raising, will speak before Congress and at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual conference, and will meet with President Barack Obama.

Netanyahu can expect the visit to go smoothly, with an adoring joint session of congress rising to its feet to applaud him and more adulation from the AIPAC gathering.

The “adoring joint session of congress” outdid itself with thunderous applause and 29 standing ovations.

The revealing picture of the Prime Minister of Israel smirking in triumph at the President of the United States, was taken during Netanyahu’s visit with President Obama in May, 2011. It was taken by Jim Watson for Agence France-Presse. And this is the man who expects President Obama to join him in his war against Iran.

In the video below, Mark Perry is interviewed by Al Jazeera. The interview focuses on a column Perry published this weekend for the Foreign Policy web site. The report describes CIA memos from 2007 and 2008 that accuse Israel of running a “false flag” operation against the US. A “false flag” operation is an action in which Israeli agents pretend to be CIA agents conducting attacks against Iran.

The Firedoglake web site reported on Perry’s column:

A provocative article in Foreign Policy magazine suggests that Israeli Mossad officers recruited members of the Pakistani terrorist organization Jundallah to aid in the covert operations against Iranian targets, including bombings in the Baluchistan region and potentially the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists.

The Mossad officers, according to Mark Perry, posed as American intelligence agents during the recruitment, using US passports.

In his Foreign Policy column, Perry expressed a special concern for the damage a “false flag” can do to the US:

The report sparked White House concerns that Israel’s [assassination] program was putting Americans at risk,” the intelligence officer told me.

“There’s no question that the US. has cooperated with Israel in intelligence-gathering operations against the Iranians, but this was different. No matter what anyone thinks, we’re not in the business of assassinating Iranian officials or killing Iranian civilians”

Iran claims to have proof that this was not a “false flag” operation. Rather, Iran accuses the US of actually engaging in assassinations. The US “categorically”–to use Hillary Clinton’s term–denies the charges.

Perry’s interview suggests that if there any merit to the “false flag” operation,  Bibi Netanyahu may have finally pushed Barack Obama too far by employing a”false flag” operation against the only friend Israel has left in the community of nations.

As Chris Matthews finally acknowledged on his MSNBC program, the role of Israel as a deceptive partner could emerge as a political issue during the 2012 presidential campaign.

The picture above of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan and his son, is an Iranian Fars News Agency Photo.

Editing: Debbie Menon