Next stop on drive-by Armageddon
How many
millions of Iranians is Uncle Sam willing to dispose?
January 28, 2005
iranian.com
Attached please find an article I would like to submit
for your reading and, should you find it suitable, for
posting on your website.
I am an Iranian-American who moves between/lives in
three countries, US, UK, and Japan. I am a freelance
writer and researcher, and some of my writings have
appeared on various political websites.
In closing, I thank you for your time. Hopefully you
will find some value in the article I have sent you.
Best of luck to you, and I wish you the best of health
and success.
Yours respectfully,
Rosa Faiz
The era we live in requires that we leave politeness at
home, when talking about the political reality dictated by the
sole super-imperial
power. At times such as these, advice to remain polite usually
means, "Don't rock the boat!" So, please forgive
the rudeness while we speak about the tyrants who are planning
to subjugate us to further pain and humiliation.
Let us begin with Condi "the bitter queen" of foreign
so-called policy, and Gonzales "the legal goon" manning
the door to the torture chambers. Statements made by these two
in their Confirmation Hearings, have now made it absolutely clear
that:
1. CIA is somehow (nobody has explained how) exempt from normal
law and can legally engage in torture. 2. It is OK to torture 'terrorists',
whoever they may be determined to be by the US government.
How convenient! Yet despite the clarity of their positions on
torture, both will be confirmed to head key positions in the Executive
branch and allowed to carry out their plans. Senator Kerry gave
his blessings even before his questions to Condi, forgoing the
pretences required of a charade! In a just society both nominees
would long ago have been tried and sent to jail, as they should
be, for crimes against humanity.
We can conclude without any controversy that it is now official
US Government position that it is OK to torture. Period! Once it
is established that an exception can be made, the principle of 'No
Torture' has ceased to be operative; a case can be made
for applying the 'terrorism' label to any behavior
(example, reading certain books), no matter how innocent, legitimate,
necessary and justified the behavior is.
And as ghastly as that is, it still pales. Official functionaries
who serve tyrannies, and Condi and Gonzales are such, are expected
to defend their aggressive and murderous plans and positions unashamedly.
Not a single tyrant has ever made a confession or felt any guilt.
They have all died proud.
Far worse is the fact that the US corporate
media does no longer even question invasions; without any discussions
having taken place, the policy of invading other nations is treated
as not only normal but productive; ethically, politically, and
even economic-rationally. Why indeed fuss about torture, when
we murder innocents as a matter of daily routine, in order, not
to
save ourselves from weapons of mass destruction that we knew
did not exist; but to take possession of another country's natural
and national resources?
Some, without the slightest intended
irony,
point to the violent chaos in Iraq, and say, "At least now
they have democracy!" Well, excuse me for not taking leave
of my sanity just that quickly!
This new kind of so-called democracy is very strange. Never mind
that the fabrication was hurriedly thrown together after the fact;
the shame lies in that it was fabricated after murdering, initially,
half a million people (by the most conservative estimates) through
the economic sanctions, and, after the full invasion in March 2001,
and since, the vicious taking of one hundred thousand lives by
bombs, and bullets.
The true absurdity of the label is that the 'cost' of
this ' democracy' has been very casually determined,
if need be, as in Fallujah, to include the criminal destruction
of an entire city, home to three hundred thousand people. Such
fantastical labels can only be fabrications dreamed up by a person
delirious on crack cocaine.
In the midst of all this, torture does not find its true significance
in questions such as, "Are ' terrorists' humans?" or "How
effective is torture in ' information gathering'?" Such
reasoning is only for the consumption of the US citizens, hence
the supreme racism that is (not so) implicit in them. Anybody who
even considers such sado-legalisms seriously is either willingly
a fool, simply unaware, or a collaborator in this murderous plan
of Bush and his clan.
Torture is there to rub our noses in it. It is a fundamental
part of the psychological warfare to spread terror in our hearts.
Most of the commentary regarding torture manifestly misses this
point. We, however, who are subjected to warmongering and grow
up with the threat of torture present in our midst cannot but get
the point. The Gate to Hell's Inner-chambers If, as betrayed
by the announced plans of the fanatics dreaming up Another American
Century, Afghanistan and Iraq are the antechambers of hell on earth
in the Middle East, the 'Iranian Campaign' would constitute
the inner-chambers.
Weapons of Mass Destruction present or not, speedily coming up
next on the agenda for another century of barbarity: when (not
if) and how to militarily attack Iran; a nation at peace with its
neighbors, and most of the rest of the world.
No apologies for
belaboring the point that Iran is also a nation that has already
been subjugated to premeditated US aggression, in a 1953 CIA-conducted
coup that overthrew our democratically elected Prime Minister
Mossadegh; an aggression that completely changed the course of
our modern
history, for the worse. More, the invasion of our country by
Iraq in 1980 was completely and actively supported militarily,
financially
and logistically by the successive Reagan administrations. And
now the Americans are back for more mass murder and mayhem in
our country.
Times are strange indeed. There are some Iranian weasels among
us, who would like to lend a hand to the invading rapists. Such
Iranians both inside and outside Iran are rubbing their miserable
and well-manicured hands together, salivating over the prospects
of the rewards for being a US poodle dog. These Iranians are happy
now. Count in this group Reza Pahlavi and his monarchist allies,
who are well known to be (and this can be studied and documented
-- eager PhD students of cognitive sciences, start writing proposals)
among the most mentally-retarded sections of Iranian society.
There are other types of Iranians, too, some of whom we can safely
and accurately call fools, who think that the US will fire a few
shots allowing them to storm the streets and overthrow the tyrannical
regime, and once the Iranian tyrants are overthrown, the US tyrants
too will go back home, only to send postcards from afar, with X
marks signifying kisses next to the goodbyes. These Iranian fools
are nervous these days, yet impatiently excited and yearning for
action. Count in this group some (not all) sections of the student
movement inside Iran, as well as the Mojahedin-e Khalq-e Iran parked
in Iraq and their friends scattered around the globe.
Then there are, of course, those Iranians inside and outside
Iran who constitute the business classes, and they are nervous
too. But only to a degree. They are mostly busy counting these
days. Counting their assets, for one, to see how much is liquid
and how much solid, and how quickly the solids can be liquefied.
They are also counting the possibilities, and counting the costs
of each possibility. And, lastly, they are counting the ways to
avoid each and every possible cost in the event of each and every
possible outcome.
And, not the least, there are the Iranian tyrants running the
state apparatuses, who are very nervous right now. They know that
their particular political leaning, religious orientation, or actual
plans of possible actions are not at issue, and that is why they
are very nervous.
They know that Mossadegh was a secular, liberal, anti-communist,
law-abiding citizen who defended the Iranian constitution, and
was elected by the people's parliament to be the Prime Minister,
in a constitutional monarchy, much like England. He became an enemy
of the US administration not because he was planning to cross the
oceans and militarily attack the United States. No.
Mossadegh became an
enemy of the US and the UK because he wanted to reclaim Iran's
resources for Iran, while upholding bourgeois liberal democracy.
So, the mullahs in Tehran know fully well that, although their
garb
and ideological speech patterns render them into more-easily-hated
targets, it is in fact their independence and lack of kissing
American and Israeli ass that has made them an enemy of the Bush
administration
and their handy ideologues, the so-called neo-conservatives.
The mullahs know this particular enemy particularly well.
Yet, in all their nervousness, the tyrants are uplifted as well.
Partly because they can once again puff up their chests, brandish
their armor, get the public to tighten up their lips and shut the
f*#k up, and sing macho songs of war in defense of Dear Islam.
Back in 1980, when Iraq invaded Iran, Khomeini is well known
to have called it a blessing, for it provided the perfect opportunity
for the good Ommat-e Islam to march all the way to Basra, Najaf,
Karbala, and beyond to Baghdad, to bring about a bigger, more
powerful
Islamic Republic (he may yet achieve this posthumously thanks
to the Yanks). Internationalism was writ large into the spirit
of
Khomeini's designs, and here was a genuine chance for actual
international gains. In the cause of heavens what matter that
people die in unimaginable numbers?
Does this not sound like the 'moral' calculations
espoused by the Bush Administration? The two are made for each
other, and are in fact from the same cloth. And both are taking
all of us for a vicious ride. The other reason for the more frequent
smiles on the mullahs' faces these days is more sinister,
and involves, again, the same calculative morality that gives Bush
and his gangster fellows their biggest hard-on. Some of the more
adventurous indeed calculate:
About 70 million people live in Iran. Most people simply wish
to be left alone and not harassed, therefore a politically unknown
factor. We do know, however, that about 15-20% of the population
is solidly with the regime; as in, their status, privileges, petty-powers
and income -- hence physical and social survival -- depends on this
theocratic state apparatus. A further 10-15% may also be bought
or coerced into cooperation through a carefully designed regime
of carrots and sticks.
So, what does that come to? Well, it comes to at least 10 million
people whose lives physically and literally depend on the existence
of this regime; no mere conscripts. And then, there is also the
regular army. So, as pertains to the mere quantitative side of
things, on top of all the military equipment, the Iranian regime
can count on at least a few million hardcore supporters to cushion
the blows dealt by Uncle Sam. For the mullahs therefore the question
is very crude yet basic: How many millions of its citizens is Uncle
Sam willing to stake on this bet? And it will be a bet, with no
guarantees whatsoever.
The Iranian mullahs may look even gleefully upon American soldiers
in Iraq trembling at the thought of another patrol, another foray
into the chaotic hell that they themselves (at the order of their
superiors) have created. They see the American soldiers already
fatigued. Some look upon the American soldiers breaking down at
the mere thought of going back to Iraq for another tour of duty,
or even for another day, and think, "Bring it on then! We'll
make things into such a hell that they will wish they had never
left their mama's home!"
And the scary thing is the
US administration of George Bush and his gang of high-stake
rapists count on this kind of thinking. Hence the open talk of
attacks
on Iran. And hence the handy leaks for Seymour Hersh's article,
"The Coming Wars: What the Pentagon Can Now Do in Secret",
in The New Yorker (Jan 24, 2005), which constituted the opening
salvo
in the psychological phase of the 'Iranian campaign'.
So, do expect an attack on Iran, either directly by the US or,
as Vice President, Dick 'Slaughter' Cheney, recently
remarked, "Israelis might well decide to act first and let
the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess
afterwards." Or is the US trying to convince Pakistan to
start a war with Iran, 'inviting' the Americans to
fight along with them?
The possibilities, and their cost-benefit studies, must be delectable
to consider and mull over! New Opportunists on the Hill And hence,
also, the opening for all manner of upstarts in the Congress to
prove their politeness toward the Israeli lobby, and to engage
in overt discourse regarding 'surgical' strikes on
Iran; discourse that makes for vomit-inducing thoughts, especially
when told that the speakers of such foulness call themselves 'progressives',
'liberals', and 'new stars of Democratic Party USA'.
Yes, such
trash is now spewed up by the likes of the dishonorable Barack
Obama (see "Democrats Support Bush's Iran Policy", by Joshua
Frank, Press Action, January 19, 2005). Does the Congressional
Black Caucus too now endorse 'surgical' attacks against
Iran? Is the entire official political class as represented in
US Congress now openly endorsing an attack on Iran? Are we now
merely going through the legal-formal motions? Is the American
nation suddenly, and without even a pretense of a discussion,
unified over this?
Would Mr. Obama discuss so openly the bombing of poor black neighborhoods
in the inner cities? Well, why not? In terms of politico-economic
relations that his advocacy of bombing of Iran reproduces, he is
reinforcing a very particular social contract that requires random
destruction of innocent communities everywhere, including the inner-urban
areas of the metropolises of the USA.
How would Mr. Obama feel to find that he could tune into any
number of radio stations, or choose any number of TV programs in
numerous countries around the globe, and hear pundits, experts,
journalists, doctorate of philosophy holders in various academic
departments, volunteer workers from various fields, and countless
regular citizens being interviewed -- all freely discussing the
next (as in, it has already become normal) military campaign to
invade poor black neighborhoods 'riddled with gangs and fanatics' who
refuse to 'play by the rule'? He would doubtless not
only consider such talk or behavior prejudiced to put it mildly,
he would call it racist, in the least.
More to the point, he would
recognize it as full slavery for those affected black communities,
when their lives are treated with such utter disregard for their
humanity. After all, what is slavery? It surely must include
seeing legally distributed notices for your own auction, posted
up openly
in the daily papers, advertised abundantly on the evening news,
and discussed shamelessly and with no embarrassment in the officially
recorded Congressional proceedings.
What is slavery, if not being told that because some people do
not like the officials of your community, they will simply destroy
your communities, and continue to do so for as long as they deem
necessary, and subject you to infinite destitution for as long
as they like and can get away with? Slavery is alive and doing
very well! It has achieved normalization, if the Western media
is any indication. Hell Abroad and at Home For those who dislike
old paradigms we need go back only a few months to remind that
it is on the streets that matters are settled. Any leftist who
does not understand this is viciously fooling him-or-herself.
Just for one item: how was a semblance of democracy fought for
in Ukraine just very recently? By bodies on the streets; by bodies
that occupied and stayed on the streets, and refused to allow business-as-usual
to proceed! By contrast, how were the US Presidential Elections
of 2000 and 2004 stolen? By lack of bodies on the streets; by the
active and historically-enforced designs of the US ruling class
to keep people off the streets and glued to their TVs.Here is an
easy number to remember: 1 billion a week.
$1 billion a week is the price of true "caring and compassion" for
those running the US state. That is how much they are spending
on "fighting terrorism." So, you see, in areas that
truly matter for furthering their interests, they lavish plentifully
and generously from the tax funds entrusted them by the suckered
population in the US.
But, knowing the price of true caring, the suckered citizens
can confront their government with demands for accountability.
How many billions of dollars a week does the US government spend
on keeping its citizens healthy, educated, clothed, housed, and
fed? Look upon your communities! If you see wreckage among your
neighborhoods, it has the same root-cause as the ash-heaps of Fallujah.
And the ruinous state of the educational and health facilities
serving your children in the inner-urban areas of the US share
grounds with Caterpillar-bulldozed classrooms and hospitals of
Jenin, and Ramallah in the Occupied Palestine.
If there is injustice, murder, and brutality reigning in one
corner of this globalized village, it is because murder, pillage
and mayhem have beset other corners of the village as well. And
if you find yourself in tiny pockets of shrinking islands of 'security',
know that you are living with increasing amounts of denial, and
denial is an exhausting affair to carry for long.
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