Beating Up on Iran

Stephen Lendman

After Washington bogusly accused Iran of an implausible terror plot on US soil, America's media brazenly regurgitated official lies. It's nothing new. It's what they do instead of providing real news, information and analysis. Long ago they stopped trying, especially on television. It's little more than a worthless sinkhole no one should waste time on watching.

They don't inform. They lie, distract, entertain, and provide a platform for corporate America to sell people junk they don't need. Or as media critic George Gerbner once said, "they have everything to sell and nothing to tell."

In his book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death," Neil Postman said "Americans are the most entertained and least informed people in the world." As a result, they know little or nothing about what they most need to know.

No wonder they believe official lies, especially about alleged homegrown or foreign instigated terror plots. Iran's a favorite, beaten up on at well chosen strategic moments.

What better time than now. Main Street's in Depression. Public anger's raging across America because millions lost work and can't find jobs.

Millions more lost homes. Washington's doing nothing to help, and working households have to bite the bullet so bankers get paid, and Obama's free to wage multiple imperial wars with others planned and ready when fake reasons convince people about new nonexistent threats.

Strategically timed, new enemies are invented or old ones resurrected to incite fear, distract, and divert people from what matters most - fast disappearing social justice when it's most needed.

On October 11, Media Matters writer Brian Powell headlined, "Right-Wing Media Reflexively Politicize Alleged Iranian Terror Plot," saying:

Attorney General Holder was still speaking when "Rush Limbaugh, CNN contributor Dana Loesch, and Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin began politicizing the announcement."

It's what they do instead of giving listeners, viewers, or readers real information. They like other corporate media scoundrels, of course, are paid to lie and entertain, not inform. As a result, listeners and viewers lose out by not tuning out.

On October 12, a Washington Post editorial headlined, "Alleged assassination plot serves as a warning about Tehran," saying:

Skeptics wondered what Iran had to gain by "undertak(ing) such a brazen attack....Perhaps the doubters are right, (but it's) prudent to reserve final judgment until all the facts of the case are known."

Fact check

So-called "facts" are official lies major media commentators accept as truths, including WP ones.

"(T)he alleged plot is not a large leap from Tehran's past acts."

Fact check

Where's the proof? None was given because there isn't any. More official lies were repeated, including alleging Iran bombed US Saudi Arabia-based military barracks in 1996, use roadside bombs against US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and fire rockets at America's Baghdad's embassy.

"The Obama administration can hardly be suspected of manufacturing this story to seek out a confrontation with Iran. In fact, (it's eager) to curtail US military operations abroad and cut the defense budget...."

Fact check

Like in Bush and earlier administrations, Obama officials manufacture lies to incite fear. They're repeated to justify multiple imperial wars and start new ones against nonbelligerent countries.

America's defense budget rises annually. At about $1.5 trillion annually with all categories included, it exceeds the rest of the world combined at a time Washington has no enemies except ones it invents.

Obama is a serial liar. All his major campaign pledges were broken. He heads a rogue administration waging wars on manufactured enemies, rule of law principles, democratic values, and truth. Nothing he or those around him say can be believed. Nor is anything from Congress reliable from either party.

"The administration is rightly seeking to mobilize new multilateral action against Iran, including through the United Nations....(T)he scheme's discovery should serve as a warning of the escalating threat posed by Iran - and the need to act more forcefully against it."

Fact check

Iran hasn't attacked another country in over 200 years. It never threatened America and doesn't now. It's tried unsuccessfully to establish diplomatic relations. Washington spurns all efforts.

In contrast, America wages permanent wars against nonbelligerent nations. The business of America is war and grand theft.

It operates death squads in dozens of countries globally, assassinating suspected enemies extrajudicially, including US citizens.

It imprisons and tortures others indefinitely without charge. It wages war on humanity for wealth and power. Its contempt for rule of law standards and ruthlessness is unmatched. So is the appalling state of America's media, supporting the worst of its crimes.

An October 12 New York Times editorial headlined, "The Charges Against Iran," saying:

Justice Department charges "are chilling and bizarre. If true - and American officials insist they have strong evidence - this is only the latest reminder of why the United States and its allies must use all possible diplomatic and economic pressures to isolate Tehran and block its nuclear ambitions."

Fact check

If Washington has "strong evidence," reveal it. It has none so can't. Iran's no threat. America is and should be pressured, denounced, and isolated to block its imperial ambitions.

The Times repeated the official lie about Iran bombing America's Saudi Arabia barracks in 1996 despite no evidence then or now proving it.

"....(W)ho in Iran is behind the plot and why (would they) try something so reckless and do it so clumsily. (Obama) and his aides will have to figure out how high the responsibility goes."

It's "a relief that Mr. Obama will be the one to weigh the evidence and make the decisions....He has proved his mettle with the raids that killed Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders."

WP and Times editorials didn't explain that Iran has nothing to gain and everything to lose by attempting a terror attack on US soil. Nor did they question the implausibility of brazen accusations against a nonbelligerent country and instead pointing fingers where the belong.

Moreover, it's ludicrous suggesting Obama, an unindicted war criminal, will pass fair final judgment on fake charges his administration made for political advantage.

"Proved his mettle killing bin Laden?" It was theater, staged hokum killing a corpse long dead since December 2001 from likely kidney failure. Times commentators know it or should, including about forensic evidence showing his alleged post-9/11 videos and audios were fake.

Moreover, he was advantageously used as both a CIA asset and "Enemy Number One," the same way Al Qaeda operatives become rebel fighters in Libya and targets elsewhere.

"The administration should also use this moment to press hard for a new round of sanctions at the United Nations."

"Five years after the Security Council ordered it to halt, Iran is still enriching uranium and clearly betting that the world will forget or acquiesce. This regime must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon."

Fact check

What right does America, a global hegemon, the world's most lawless state, have to order sanctions on others breaking no laws or threatening other nations?

What authority does it have to deny Iran's legal right to commercial nuclear power? Why does it turn a blind eye to Israel's nuclear arsenal and stated intention to use it preemptively if threatened?

Iran complies with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and allows inspections. Israel's a nuclear outlaw. It never signed it, refuses inspections, and isn't held accountable.

Washington signed it, but disregards NPT mandates. Moreover, it prohibits inspections on all its suspect activities.

Notably, America is the only nation ever to use nuclear weapons. It claims a unilateral right to preemptively against non-nuclear states, and has, in fact, done so in every war since attacking Iraq in 1991 in depleted uranium (DU) form.

As a result, vast parts of Iraq, Serbia/Kosovo, Afghanistan, Libya and other countries are irradiated and unsafe. Known cancer epidemics in Iraq alone prove it.

Times, WP and other corporate media scoundrels ignore vital truths crucial to reveal. They also play fast and loose with facts. They manipulate them to support imperial interests at the expense of fair and full disclosure. US major media consumers lose out.

A Final Comment

Voice of Russia's Volkhonsky Boris said Iran's "under US propaganda attack."

"(L)et's look at what we have: no murder attempt was carried out. Evidence of the plot and its masterminders are indirect: only the ethnic origin of the arrested and their alleged claims. This case seems to lack the presumption of innocence as the suspects were pled guilty even before the trial."

Announcing accusations now was strategically timed, he added. "Thus, even if no plot existed at all it should have been invented not to miss this ideal moment to launch a propaganda attack on Iran."

Russia Today asked if character assassination is involved. Voice of Russia host and analyst Kim Brown said:

"Let's hope the United States government is not trying to instigate a possible conflict, especially a military conflict. Is the best way to react to this to send American troops (to) yet another country thousands of miles away? I don't think so."

Tehran University Professor Foad Izadi discounted Justice Department accusations, saying:

"It doesn't make sense for the Iranian government to hire someone who has been in jail in the US and has been an informant to the US government. And why would Iran want to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador in the US with all their security apparatus and the level of intelligence existing in the US?"

Nothing about alleged charges makes sense. He reminded viewers about a similar fake plot Saddam Hussein was accused of to kill George Bush.

Tehran University Professor Mohammad Marandi told Press TV that Iran has nothing to gain from this scheme. "The only country that really gains out of this is the United States by making these accusations."

Moreover, never once have "Iranians attack(ed) a single Saudi anywhere in the world" despite years of difficult relations. In addition, why attack a low level official? "There are many more important than him. Why in the United States" where security is extremely high, especially in Washington.

"It is obvious that Iranians were not behind this, because A, Iranians have no motive, and B, it would be completely irrational."

America is in "serious trouble at home and abroad, and it is basically trying to distract attention away from its own problems."

The entire scheme is preposterous, he added. Why would the accused tell an alleged hit man in Mexico his Iranian cousin is a general? Why in custody would he call him? Why would a senior Iranian commander OK an assassination on an unsecured international line?

Why would $100,000 be wired, especially from Iran, when any amount over $10,000 comes under close scrutiny and is easily traceable?

Moreover, Mexican drug lords have their own agenda making billions of dollars. They'd never risk disrupting it for any amount, let alone $1.5 million amounting to little more than pocket change.

Nonetheless, America's media accept official lies, repeat them, and most people getting news from disreputable sources believe them.

It's why Washington gets away with murder on a global scale at the expense of vital homeland needs gone begging.

What better time for a national awakening for real change. Hopefully street protests across America show enough sustained resolve to accept nothing less.
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Stephen Lendman: I was born in 1934 in Boston, MA. Raised in a modest middle class family, attended public schools, received a BA from Harvard University in 1956 and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of PA in 1960 following 2 years of obligatory military service in the US Army. Spent the next 6 years as a marketing research analyst for several large US corporations before becoming part of a new small family business in 1967, remaining there until retiring at the end of 1999. Have since devoted my time and efforts to the progressive causes and organizations I support, all involved in working for a more humane and just world for all people everywhere, but especially for the most needy, disadvantaged and oppressed. My efforts since summer 2005 have included writing on a broad range of vital topics ranging from war and peace; social, economic and political equity for all; and justice for all the oppressed peoples of the world like the long-suffering people of Haiti and the Palestinians. Also co-hosting The Global Research News Hour, occasional public talks, and frequent appearances on radio and at times television. Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Lendman News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday - Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening. Stephen's new book "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War" can be ordered HERE.
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