Iran Is Not The Belligerent Party
By Linda S. Heard
Gulf News: June 23, 2008
01/07/08 "Gulf News" -- - In recent years Iran has become the target of a
belligerent campaign against it, orchestrated by usual suspects the US,
Israel and Britain. This aggressive nuclear-armed trio has badgered other
nations to back anti-Iranian sanctions without even the flimsiest evidence
that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons.
Since 2006, Iran has been subjected to three rounds of ever-tightening UN
sanctions while the European Union (EU) is preparing to freeze funds and
assets of Bank Melli, Iran's largest bank. And what heinous crime has Tehran
perpetrated to warrant this treatment?
In truth, Iran hasn't done anything wrong. Under the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which it is a signatory, it has an
"inalienable right" to develop, research, produce and use nuclear energy for
peaceful purposes, which includes the right to enrich uranium.
But because Washington harbours old grievances against the Iranian
government and Israel is determined to eliminate potential powerful rivals
within the region Iran is being squeezed to relinquish its rights.
The stance of the US and its allies is not only based on an unfounded and
unfair premise, it reeks of hypocrisy when nuclear-armed Israel has a green
light to continue its ridiculous policy of nuclear ambiguity and is not
being pressed to sign-up to the NPT.
On the rare occasions that Western leaders are asked about this
inconsistency, they deftly change the subject, terminate the interview, or
launch into a tirade, which usually includes Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's "wipe Israel off the map" statement, knowing full well that
his words were mistranslated. They cannot debate the issue because it defies
logic.
When it comes to demonising Iran, the US, Israel and Britain have a unified
message and a compliant media, which has learned nothing from its mistakes
during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, and seems happy to continue to
act as a government propaganda arm in some cases.
Thanks to the dutiful corporate mouthpieces, most Americans and Britons have
no idea that Tehran is acting within its rights under the NPT.
They don't know that in December, a US intelligence estimate stated
categorically that Iran is not currently developing nukes or that the
nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which
monitors Iranian facilities, has no proof it seeks to do so.
The West's propaganda campaign is so effective that the majority of
Westerners believe that Iran is the belligerent even though the facts
support the contrary argument.
For instance, the US President George W. Bush has rarely missed an
opportunity to insult, condemn and threaten Iran throughout his two terms in
office beginning with his puerile "Axis of Evil".
The Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain, made his
feelings known in his "bomb, bomb Iran" ditty. And even his Democratic
opponent, Barack Obama, has vowed to eliminate the threat posed by Iran
whatever it takes.
Israeli leaders have gone a step further. Earlier this month, Israel's
Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said an attack on Iran appeared
"unavoidable". Interestingly, every time the rhetoric is ratcheted up so is
the price of oil, which is good news for Tehran's coffers.
Worse, Israel recently launched a military air exercise over the eastern
Mediterranean involving over 100 fighter jets and helicopters, which,
according to US officials was a prelude to a possible strike on Iran's
enrichment plant at Natanz.
An Israeli spokesperson told the Times that Iran should "read the writing on
the wall" as this was a "dress rehearsal" and Iranians should "read the
script before they continue with their programme" else Israel "will take
military steps to halt Tehran's production of bomb-grade uranium."
In this case, shouldn't this dry run constitute an act of war? It is
certainly a provocative act and should be taken seriously in light of
Israel's recent incursion into Syrian airspace to bomb a military facility
and its 1981 attack on Iraq's Osirak reactor.
When Egypt amassed over 200,000 troops in the Sinai in early June 1967,
Israel struck first, blamed Egypt for initiating hostilities and claiming it
had acted out of self-defence. Surely, Israel's self-confessed rehearsal is
similarly provocative and in the extremely unlikely event Iran struck first,
it could also argue self-defence.
Sabre-rattling
Whether Israel is merely sabre-rattling in an attempt to persuade Iran to
agree to the latest EU package of inducements or whether it is deadly
serious is the subject of debate.
IAEA Chief Mohammad Al Baradei seems to be taking it seriously and if Iran
is attacked he says he will resign.
"I don't believe that what I see in Iran today is a current, grave and
urgent danger. If a military strike is carried out against Iran at this
time, it would make me unable to continue my work," he said, warning that
such an attack would turn the region into "a fireball".
Iran is taking it seriously too. Last Sunday, its Defence Minister Mustafa
Mohammad Najjar told the nation that if attacked Iran would use "all means
available" to come up with a devastating response. Those of us who live in
the neighbourhood can only pray that cooler heads put an end to this madness
before it's too late.
Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be
contacted at [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
----- Original Message -----
From: Ed Pearl
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 12:20 PM
Subject: Re: Donald White, 71; social activist on human rights in Central
America - LA Times 7/2
----- Original Message -----
From: Karen Pomer
To: Ed Pearl
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 8:10 AM
Subject: RE: Donald White, 71; social activist on human rights in Central
America - LA Times 7/2
To the people on Ed's list:
Thanks so much for all the e-mails that you sent to the LA Times obit editors.
It took a village and a letter writing campaign got them to change their minds.
For Don, everything was about organizing so it was very fitting that his loss
would bring us together to accomplish this.
Best, Karen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-white2-2008jul02,0,2839980.story
>From the Los Angeles Times
Donald White, 71; social activist on human rights in Central America
By Mary Rourke
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 2, 2008
Donald White, a former schoolteacher and social activist who helped organize
and coordinate dozens of initiatives involving human rights in Central America
and antiwar efforts around the world, has died. He was 71.
He died of an apparent heart attack June 19 at his home in Los Angeles, said
Blase Bonpane, a longtime friend.
White, who was born in 1937 in Mount Vernon, Wash., studied political science
at the University of the Pacific in Tacoma, Wash.
In the 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, where he began a 30-year career as a
history teacher at Washington Irving Middle School.
White was a charter member of United Teachers Los Angeles, the union
representing public schoolteachers, and was active in union politics until he
retired from teaching in 1997.
A trip to Guatemala with relief workers after a 1976 earthquake led White to an
ongoing involvement with Central America.
In the early 1980s, he helped organize a Los Angeles chapter of the Committee
in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, whose goal was to end U.S.
involvement in the civil war there. White coordinated rallies, spoke at
demonstrations, led teach-ins and lobbied Congress.
White also helped organize protest rallies calling for the closing of the
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly called the
School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, Ga., a U.S. Army training center for
Latin American soldiers. Antiwar activists contend that the school teaches
torture tactics.
In Los Angeles, White joined the "sanctuary movement" of the 1980s. Although it
was against the law, local churches gave refuge to undocumented immigrants from
Central America who fled civil war in their homelands.
"Peace-making in El Salvador was Don's main work," said Bonpane, director of
the Office of the Americas in Los Angeles, which offers educational programs on
American foreign policy.
White was a supporter of public radio and was on the board of KPFK-FM (90.7),
the local Pacifica Network station that features news not necessarily
emphasized in mainstream media. He served as chairman of the KPFK board in the
early 2000s.
"Human rights, peace and justice were so important to Don," said Maria
Amoudian, a KPFK producer and on-air host. "He wanted to find the root cause of
violence."
White never married and had no children, said his brother, Dennis, who survives
him.
A memorial service is planned at 6 p.m. Aug. 10 at Immanuel Presbyterian
Church, 3300 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
###
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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