Teach Peace Moment: Preparing the battlefield of public opinion?

Many peacemakers are rejoicing that the latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) finds Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003. This Teach Peace Moment is to caution peacemakers that much work remains to prevent an attack on Iran.

My interpretation of the NIE is it is not a sign of peace on the horizon but part of an effort to prepare the battlefield of public opinion for war with Iran in 2008. The conditions now appear to be perfectly aligned for a false flag incident (i.e., when a country creates a scenario to start a war) sometime before President Bush leaves office.

One key objective of the Bush administration, prior to starting a new war with Iran, would naturally be to restore the credibility of the intelligence services (especially if a false flag operation were planned). History tells us President Bush could have prevented embarrassing revelations in the NIE as information that is embarrassing can easily be kept classified for "national security purposes." You and I would not know this happened or if we did learn about it, it would likely be many years after President Bush left office. So why is he willing to let subordinates release personally damming information?

I submit that President Bush is willing to be criticized on the lesser point that Iran’s nuclear bomb program stopped in 2003 to gain widespread acknowledgement that they have a nuclear bomb program and enable US intelligence services to appear credible. This is required so that the current and future administrations will not suffer from a credibility gap when they need to convince the public to use force. Building the credibility of the intelligence services has been a priority ever since the public was sold the prior false intelligence about Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) program. This is especially true as President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld repeatedly pointed the finger at the intelligence services for providing bad WMD information (even though we now know the intelligence analysts at the CIA tried to report Iraq did not have WMDs but were overruled by Bush administration intervention such as Cheney's repeat visits to the CIA).

If the NIE is part of a broader propaganda campaign, what is next? The new "trigger" flowed from President Bush's words on December 4th when he said Iran must be prevented from acquiring the knowledge for developing a bomb. What the public appears not to know is Iran developed the knowledge in the 1980s and 1990s for an atomic bomb. Iran's nuclear experts worked directly with Pakistan's global nuclear proliferator, A.Q. Khan. The A.Q. Khan relationship, certainly known by President Bush and part of the classified version of the NIE, is likely being held for release in the upcoming months when the public needs to be convinced Iran has the necessary knowledge. Even the unclassified version of the NIE, available by clicking on the above picture, states Iran has or will have the scientific, technical, and industrial capacity to build a nuclear bomb.

The NIE finds that Iran’s doves had an active nuclear bomb program in 2003.  I expect the media will ask you to consider that Iran’s hard-line Ahmadinejad team has been in power since 2003, and if the doves had a nuclear bomb program, how in the world can we believe the hawks do not. The unspoken conclusion is the nuclear bomb program continues and is simply a better kept secret. I mention this not because it is incorrect, but because it is a distraction from the point that Iran, even with a nuclear bomb, will not attack the US or Israel.

The biggest piece of war propaganda currently in play is Iran's President Ahmadinejad has threatened to attack Israel with nuclear weapons. The fact is Ahmadinejad has never threatened to attack the US or Israel. You can learn much about the US media by simply doing the research and learning Ahmadinejad never called for Israel to be wiped off the map (see http://www.counterpunch.org/tilley08282006.html for one of the many sources of what he really did say and how a nonviolent call for regime change was twisted into a threat of using nuclear bombs. Iran's news service, the Islamic Republic News Agency, has also confirmed the "wiped off the map" statement was never said by President Ahmadinejad).

Students of history will remember: If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State. Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels taught the world this point and Karl Rove has proved it still works in modern times.

So who wins with the latest NIE disclosure that puts the intelligence services back on a pedestal? President Bush finally has “proof” of a nuclear bomb program planted in the minds of many Americans. The threshold for war is no longer the internationally legal activity of enriching uranium but the much lower standard of possessing the knowledge of making a nuclear bomb. In addition, President Bush and team are well positioned to prove Iran has the knowledge as this is indeed true. President Bush can even cite the NIE as justification for acting now as if he waits even two years, it may be too late. We should not be surprised that President Bush has already said he sees the NIE as justification for acting sooner rather than later.

There are now many countries in the Middle East that have started “nuclear programs.” Kuwait (a source of funding for Osama bin Laden), Saudi Arabia (the adopted home of Osama bin Laden), and even Yemen (the birthplace of Osama bin Laden) are just a few. President Bush and team, more interested in international weapon sales than US national security, have sold countries like Pakistan aircraft equipped to deliver nuclear bombs and upgrade their existing nuclear bomb capabilities.

Why are so many nations in the rush to go nuclear? Israel’s arsenal of a few hundred hydrogen bombs, enough to produce a nuclear winter for the planet, is certainly one reason. The even greater reason is the message the Bush administration sent by invading Iraq. The incorrect and unfortunate message is the only insurance both allies and enemies have of not being attacked by the US is to possess nuclear bombs such as North Korea.

In summary, peacemakers must continue to work to prevent a war with Iran. Over a million lives may hang in the balance and President Bush said on October 17th that war with Iran could mean World War III.

Iran has not started a war in centuries. There has not been even one documented case of a suicide bomber that has come from Iran. We must teach peace for peace to be possible. Preventing war with Iran is an absolute requirement if we are to live in a world without an American or Global Hiroshima.

Sincerely, Dave Dionisi

PS. Suggested questions to discuss with friends and family.

1. If Iran did have a nuclear atomic bomb, would they use it against countries with vastly more powerful and numerous hydrogen bombs?

2. Did President Bush lower the bar for making the case to attack Iran by shifting enriching uranium to knowledge to build a nuclear bomb?

3. Why is the NIE silent on the key question of whether Iran is likely or even remotely considering attacking the US?

4. Why does the media repeat President Ahmadinejad said Israel should be attacked with nuclear weapons when this and the "wiped off the map" statements never happened?

To read the unclassifed version of the NIE, click here.

To Take Action, click here.

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