------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the June 5, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
EDITORIAL: RECYCLING PRETEXTS FOR WAR
["It now appears that the so-called 'clear and present danger' of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, did not exist and that French and German critics were correctly skeptical of the U.S. argument for the use of force."
--Former senior CIA analyst Melvin A. Goodman, May 26, Baltimore Sun.]
ix weeks of U.S. untrammeled search of Iraq have turned up nothing close to WMDs. But this hasn't stopped War Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others in the Pentagon from rehashing the same lie, this time against Iran, as they discuss the next "regime change."
Perhaps the Bush tax cuts have caused some budgeting problems for the war makers. To cut corners, maybe they decided they could avoid hiring a public relations firm to sell another war. They will buy all the new weapons from their arms-merchant buddies, but they are recycling the old lie used to sell the last war.
What contempt the gang in Washington must have for the population of the United States. They are not even making an effort to find a new ploy to pawn off on the people.
Beyond the shamelessness of the U.S. rulers, there's another important question here. Iran is a sovereign nation. After seeing what happened to neighboring Iraq, the Iranians might well believe they'd better get their hands on whatever weapons they can if they want to remain a sovereign nation. They have every right to do that.
And they also certainly have the right to develop nuclear power plants to run their industry. So does North Korea. So does any sovereign nation intent on developing its industry. Until the most developed countries invent and perfect efficient alternate energy sources, those trying to advance will have to use what exists.
Yet Washington's current policy is that no nation with any trace of independence has the right to develop nuclear power, let alone seek a way to defend itself against U.S. military threats. If they do, the Bush administration will announce plans to intervene against alleged weapons of mass destruction.
The Pentagon now has 23 million people in Iraq living unhappily under its occupation, and another 23 million in Afghanistan. There are 66 million Iranians, who in 1979 made it clear they wanted no part of the last U.S. client ruler. Can Washington sell a war against them using the same old tired lies? Or will the anti-war movement that arose before the invasion of Iraq spring back even quicker when the empire again shows its fangs?
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