Another middle east viewpoint: “Diplomacy,” the smokescreen for savagery

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Fri, 28 Apr 2006 16:59:00 -0400 (EDT)

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Another middle east viewpoint: " Diplomacy, " the smokescreen

for savagery

 

 

 

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_742.shtml

 

" Diplomacy, " the smokescreen for savagery

By Ghali Hassan

Online Journal Contributing Writer

 

Apr 27, 2006, 00:32

 

 

 

Open any Western newspaper and you are struck by the abundant use of

the word " diplomacy. " It is the second most used word after

" democracy. " However, careful analysis shows that U.S. version of

diplomacy has become the favourite smokescreen of U.S. wars of

aggression. Iraq and Iran provide the best cases.

 

In relation to Iran, the Bush administration alleged that it is using

" diplomacy " to convince Iran to give up her rights to nuclear

technology. President Bush frequently says that " we are working with

European allies " to use diplomacy to avert a nuclear impasse with

Iran. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that a " diplomatic

solution " will be found to the Iranian nuclear crisis. The reality is

the opposite. By accusing Iran of intending to manufacture nuclear

weapons, the U.S. and its European vassals are using the so-called

" diplomacy " to coerce as many nations as possible to report Iran to

the UN Security Council and pave the way for sanctions and most likely

war of aggression against Iran.

 

The U.S. version of diplomacy is accompanied by a vicious propaganda

campaign to demonise and portray the Iranian president, Mahmoud

Ahmedinejad, in a very unfavourable way. Western mainstream media, led

by the New York Times, the BBC and the Washington-based neo-fascist

organisation, Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), have

fabricated allegations against President Ahmedinejad. They alleged

that President Ahmedinejad denied the Jewish holocaust took place and

threatened to " wipe Israel off the map. " Of course, it was a

fabricated lie and President Ahmedinejad did not say anything like

this. In fact, none of President Ahmedinejad' speeches (in Farsi)

contain anything close to what has been magnified.

 

However, without any proof, Western leaders, led by Bush and Blair,

Western journalists and the intellectual elites were quick to take

advantage of the lie and unashamedly use it to justify their attacks

on the Iranian president. The cliché of " anti-Semitism " provided the

perfect bullying tool not only for Israeli Zionists but also for those

who follow in their footsteps. (See Fikentscher & Neumann). President

Ahmedinejad is now threatened with assassination by Israeli-sponsored

state terrorists. The threat against a democratically elected head of

state passed without condemnation in Western capitals.

 

Furthermore, President Ahmedinejad was democratically elected and

contrary to Bush and Blair's allegations, Ahmedinejad is not a

Western-imposed " tyrant " or a " dictator. " By comparison with the U.S.

presidential elections in which Bush was appointed president by the

Supreme Court, the elections in Iran were far more superior to those

of the U.S. In addition, Iran had a democracy from 1951-1953 before

the U.S.-staged a coup d'etat against Prime Minister Muhammad Mossadeq

and imposed the vicious dictatorship of the Shah on Iran. The U.S.

version of " democracy " is a colonial dictatorship masked with

fraudulent elections.

 

For its part, Iran tried very hard to discuss all issues

diplomatically, however the U.S. and its vassals continue with the

language of bullying. While accusing Iran of aspiring to produce

nuclear weapons, the U.S. turns a blind eye to Israel's violence

against the Palestinian people, Israeli threats in the region and to

Israeli's huge arsenal of nuclear weapons. Other countries such as

Brazil and Japan, all have advanced nuclear programs ready to produce

nuclear weapons within short notice. It seems, the U.S. has become

obsessed with Muslims' independent development, and prefers to keep

Muslim nations under its imperialist thumb.

 

The Iran nuclear issue is nothing more and nothing less than a pretext

used by the U.S. against Iran. The current U.S.-engineered crisis is

reminiscent of the fabricated pretext of Weapons of Mass Destructions

(WMD) that the U.S. used to instigate a war of aggression against

Iraq. Iran is a signatory to the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and

has the right to acquire nuclear technology for peaceful use. Indeed,

the NPT encourages other nations to assist Iran in its quest for

nuclear technology. However, this doesn't stop the U.S. from accusing

Iran of " aspiring " to possess WMD and interfering in Iran's domestic

affairs; instead, the U.S. rejects diplomacy and continues to beat the

drums of war. The alleged threat posed by Iran is a falsehood. An

attack on Iran would be an unprovoked act of aggression in violation

of international laws.

 

Throughout the U.S. history of imperialism, the U.S. has always

concentrated its war propaganda on one individual in the target

nation. For example Presidents Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein and Hugo

Chávez are made the epitomes of hatred. They are demonised to the

highest point in order to make the American people feel obliged to

support war against the target nation. The U.S. creates an illusion

that the native population are suffering and helpless, and they need

" our " help. As American author Stephen Kinzer writes; " Americans love

to have a demon, a certain person who is the symbol of all the evil

and tyranny in the regime that we want to attack. " For example, Saddam

has become synonymous with evil and provided justification to commit

greater evil against the people of Iraq. The U.S. administration

writes Kinzer, " play on the American compassion to achieve support

for interventions " and commits war crimes against the Iraqi people.

In 1991, the U.S. rejected every peaceful proposal to resolve the

Kuwait-Iraq crisis. The U.S. flatly rejected all proposals advanced by

Yugoslavia, the USSR, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, France, Jordan and Iraq.

Instead, the U.S. used the diplomacy of coercion to bribe those who

voted for the war and punished those nations who insisted on

diplomacy. In the end, Kuwait was just a pretext for premeditated mass

murder and gross war crimes against the Iraqi people. The war followed

by a 13 years long criminal sanctions that needlessly killed more than

1.6 million Iraqi civilians, a third of them were children under the

age of 5 years old.

For more than 13 years, the U.S. rejected all diplomatic solutions to

end its war on the Iraqi people. Annoyed by the severity of the

sanctions, France and Russia introduced a peaceful resolution to end

the sanctions against Iraq in return for Iraq's continued cooperation

regarding WMD, but the resolution was vetoed by the U.S. In March 2003

and after outright rejection of all diplomatic solutions, the U.S.

illegally invaded Iraq on the pretext of WMD, which were nonexistent.

Since then, U.S. forces and mercenaries have indiscriminately killed

-- in cold blood -- hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi men women

and children. In addition to the deliberate and planned destruction of

Iraq as a functioning state, the U.S. is turning Iraq into a purely

sectarian state and encouraging the erosion of Iraqi national identity

that prevailed throughout Iraq's history.

Furthermore, the U.S. continues to occupy Iraq against the wishes of

the majority of the Iraqi people. The U.S. also continues to impose a

victor (American) culture on the Iraqi people. In addition, the U.S.

is denying Iraqis their democratic rights by imposing (by force) a

puppet regime consisting of a collection of thugs and criminals

programmed to serve U.S. corporate interests.

Like the U.S. version of " democracy, " the U.S. version of " diplomacy, "

has become the favourite smokescreen for U.S. foreign policy. There

can be no doubt that democracy is the perfect alibi for state

repressive powers. It is used to serve U.S. corporate interests. The

U.S. version of " democracy " in Iraq meant to ignite war and bloodshed.

Iran must be encouraged to reject U.S. diktats and pursue her own

development for the benefit of the Iranian people.

While the U.S. and its European vassals pretend to solve the Iranian

nuclear crisis through " diplomacy, " they are embarking on a path that

leads only to a war of aggression against Iran. Resistance to U.S.

imperialism through peaceful struggle is the only way to stop U.S.

aggression and violence.

Ghali Hassan lives in Perth, Western Australia.

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