Upping the Ante in Iraq and Iran

This is a one hour program from Taking Aim, broadcast on 9th January 2007. Taking Aim is weekly radio show — "Uncompromising, fact intensive exposés of the hidden workings of a capitalist system addicted to permanent war" from veteran activists Ralph Schoenman and Mya Shone.

Widening the War

This is a one hour interview with Webster Tarpley, broadcasted on 17th January 2007, from Guns and Butter, they describe it in the following way:

Interview with author and historian, Webster Tarpley. The ramifications of Bush's speech to the nation on U.S. policy in the middle east, new political appointments, military maneuvers, and the crisis in Iraq are discussed. Tarpley compares today's crisis in Iraq, particularly the city of Baghdad, with historic battles, most specifically with the German siege of Stanlingrad in WWII.

It ends with Webster Tarpley calling for a general strike to end the war with Iraq and stop the looming war with Iran.

Articles on the looming war with Iran

Some selected articles on the planned war with Iran, latest first.

• 25.01.2007 Iran Must Get Ready to Repel a Nuclear Attack, Leonid Ivashov, Today, the probability of a US aggression against Iran is extremely high. It does remain unclear, though, whether the US Congress is going to authorize the war. It may take a provocation to eliminate this obstacle (an attack on Israel or the US targets including military bases). The scale of the provocation may be comparable to the 9-11 attack in NY. Then the Congress will certainly say "Yes" to the US President.
• 24.01.2007 New Report Challenges Blair's Views on Iran, Campaign Iran, The report, 'Answering the Charges', drafted by Campaign Iran, sets out 21 of the most popular charges that have been levelled at Iran and answers each of them in turn. Relying on the facts as they are currently known, the report challenges the accuracy of many of the key claims commonly made against Iran.
• 24.01.2007 International Mobilization To Stop U.S. Attack on Iran , Muriel Mirak-Weissbach, Anyone, including those in Iranian political circles, who cherished the illusion that the Cheney-Bush cabal was not committed to a new war in Southwest Asia, has had to abandon such dreams in the wake of George W. Bush's Jan. 10 speech on his 'new' policy for Iraq. The so-called 'surge' in troop strength for Iraq which Bush announced, was recognized, correctly, by all in the region, as a commitment to open a new war front, this time against Iran or Syria..
• 23.01.2007 Global Research: Selected Articles on the Proposed US-Israeli Nuclear War on Iran, Michel Chossudovsky, We bring to the attention of our readers a selection of Global Research articles, which document various aspects of US-Israeli war preparations. It is essential that this information reaches the broader public. We invite our subscribers and readers to distribute and forward these articles far and wide.
• 18.01.2007 Iran: Pieces in Place for Escalation, by Colonel Sam Gardiner, introduced by Michel Chossudovsky, To reverse the tide requires a massive campaign of networking and outreach to inform people across the land, nationally and internationally, in neighborhoods, workplaces, parishes, schools, universities, municipalities, on the dangers of a US sponsored war, which contemplates the use of nuclear weapons. The message should be loud and clear: It is not Iran which is a threat to global security but the United States of America and Israel. Even without the use of nukes, the proposed aerial bombardments could result in escalation, ultimately leading us into a broader war in the Middle East.
• 08.01.2007 Israel has plans for nuclear attack on Iran, Peter Symonds, A report in yesterday's London-based Sunday Times revealed that the Israeli military has been training to use tactical nuclear weapons against Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and other nuclear facilities..
• 24.12.2006 A Terrible Day for International Diplomacy, Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII). This is arguably the first time in history of the Security Council that an entire nation is being punished based not on actual violations of international law, but on pure speculation on the part of some powerful countries, regarding its hypothetical future conduct. As Seymour Hersh reported in The New Yorker, both the CIA and the Israeli intelligence have been unable to substantiate any nuclear weapons program in Iran.
• 16.11.2006 Targeting Iran?, Saman Sepehri, The United States has already started a campaign of destabilization through fomenting ethnic unrest. There have already been a series of explosions and bombings targeting mostly civilians, in Khuzestan and Kurdish cities bordering Iraq, and raids on government vehicles and even civilians in Baluchestan, on the Pakistani border, by small groups which have surfaced calling for independence.
• 17.10.2006 Nuclear Strike on Iran Is Still on the Agenda, Jorge Hirsh, No nuclear country is likely to intervene when the U.S. uses nuclear weapons against Iran, so there is no military deterrent. The U.S. has now achieved vast nuclear superiority and is about to demonstrate to the world that its $5 trillion nuclear arsenal is not "unusable."
• 05.09.2006 The Next Phase of the Middle East War, Michel Chossudovsky, US military sources have confirmed that an aerial attack, pursuant to a sanctions regime on Iran, with or without UN approval, would involve a large scale deployment comparable to the US "shock and awe" bombing raids on Iraq in March 2003.
• 27.07.2006 US Plans to Use Nuclear Weapons against Iran, Michel Chossudovsky, a video of the presentation by Michel Chossudovsky to the Perdana Global Peace Forum Conference, "Criminalise War, Stop WW4", held in Kuala Lumpur, 20-22 June 2006.
• 23.07.2006 Middle East: Cradle or Graveyard of Empire?, Ardeshir Mehrdad, No, the abysmal failures in Iraq have not dissuaded Washington from embarking on yet another adventure. George W. Bush and his warmongering allies are preparing themselves for another major incident in the Middle East. This time Iran is the main challenge in the establishment of the new world order and a direct target.
• 23.07.2006 UK Govt Sources Confirm War With Iran Is On, Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, Govt sources confirm war with Iran is on before the end of the year. Multiple global crises are converging in the next few years, and we are faced with systemic collapse within the following 10-15 years.
• 09.02.2006 Bush's War Plan Includes use of Nuclear Weapons, Jack A. Smith, The Bush Administration is preparing for an eventual nuclear war with an expressed preemptive first strike option against even non-nuclear countries.

See also GlobalResearch.ca's articles, Iran: The Next War? and the US confrontation with Iran Timeline for more on the history of the impending war and William Clark's article, Hysteria Over Iran and a New Cold War with Russia: Peak Oil, Petrocurrencies and the Emerging Multi-Polar World, is essential reading as it explains the economic threat to the petro dollar presented by the Iranian oil bourse — this war will be, as usual, about oil.