IS IRAN `NEXT`?

George Bush’s discredited `war on terror ` is unpopular the whole world over. It is now even opposed by the majority of American people who see the attack on Iraq as a `mistake` - it was more than that it was a crime. The destruction of Fallujah which journalist David Aaronovitch called a `grim necessity` was a war crime, which would have made the Nazis puke.

Some two and a half years after the invasion of Iraq basic services like electricity and water have still not been restored. The spin about bringing democracy to Iraq is now seen as entirely phoney. The media did their best to sell the January elections as somehow a historic milestone but the latest referendum in October was so fraudulent that there was little more than an embarrassed silence in the mainstream media. Here is a report by Independent journalist Dahr Jamail:
 http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/dispatches/000302.php

Iraq is proving difficult for the occupying forces to handle and that’s putting it rather mildly. Yet, incredibly, there is serious talk of attacking Iran and/or Syria. Why? The war on Iraq we were told was `nothing to do with oil` yet the first thing the invading armies did was to seize the oil fields and the first building the US army took control of in Baghdad was the Ministry of Oil.

Could the attack on Iran have anything to do with oil? Iran has huge supplies of both oil and gas, Syria does not have significant oil reserves but it could be useful for building an oil pipeline across and also of course it would be strategically important in helping an expanded Israel, which already illegally occupies the Golan Heights.

Here is a profile of Iran:
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/790877.stm

So who is `next`? The `crazies` in Washington have been on the back foot for a while now with Lewis `Scooter` Libby charged with 5 counts of perjury. He is likely to take Karl Rove and maybe even his boss Dick `Lon` Cheney down with him.

Condoleeza Rice and Jack `man of ` Straw were issuing threats against Syria – only two weeks ago!  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4369038.stm
Then just one week later the emphasis had changed from Syria to Iran. Last weekend the tabloids screamed ` The Most Evil Man in the World` and `Maniac Plots World war 3` - referring to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. So, who is `next`? The man who was fond of using that expression “You’re next!” was of course the old Prince of Darkness himself Richard Perle. Here is an interview with him:
 http://www.cdi.org/russia/266-7.cfm
However, when he was interviewed on BBC Radio Four’s `The World this Weekend` on Sunday 30th October 2005, he sounded very subdued and not at all his usual cocky, arrogant self. Perhaps he is worried that after Scooter Libby’s demise he himself may be `next`! Mr Patrick Fitzgerald is getting at the truth and is getting uncomfortably close as far as the crazies are concerned.


US writer Gore Vidal has spoken of the `enemy of the month club` but now it seems we have the enemy of the week club!

So, once again who is next? It will probably be either Iran or Syria but with over 50% of Americans now against the occupation of Iraq and with Tony Blair now a lame duck Prime Minister it’s hard to see how such an attack could be sold to the public. The US people, badly informed though they may be, will not fall for the same pack of lies again.

The people of Iran and of Syria may yet be spared. Inshala.


Paul O’Hanlon (Edinburgh Stop the War)


10 labelled photos and press cuttings are attached.









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