The finest military modern thinker, Maj Gen. J.F.C. Fuller, stated that the true object of war is not victory but the peace that follows the conflict. By that standard, the Trump-Netanyahu war against Iran and Lebanon is an embarrassing political failure and an economic disaster.
Trump hastily entered the Middle East, a region where more prudent leaders refrained from intervention, encouraged by his Israeli ally, Netanyahu. Trump boasted of a grand triumph over Iranian-Saracen forces and even permitted his followers to liken him to Jesus.
At the same time, Trump and his administration continued asserting that their campaign against Iran aimed to stop the country from obtaining nuclear weapons. None have yet been discovered. According to officials in Washington, this absence is due to Iran cleverly concealing such arsenals. Iran acknowledges possessing some mid-level enriched uranium for civilian energy purposes but denies having any nuclear arms.
Last year, Trump claimed to have ‘obliterated’ Iran’s enriched uranium using B-2 stealth bombers; nevertheless, he repeated similar claims this year about destroying Iran’s nuclear stockpile that had previously been severely damaged.
While much hysteria circulates about Iran’s nuclear program, the lone real nuclear power in the region, Israel—the co-belligerent in this conflict—is conspicuously absent from public discussion. Israel’s substantial influence over American and British media has effectively suppressed this topic from appearing in the news. Trump might refer to this as `invisibleness.’
Israel possesses over 200 nuclear warheads, deployable via strike aircraft, short- and medium-range missiles, as well as a growing arsenal of submarine-launched medium-range missiles, supplied in part by a conscience-stricken Germany.
This scenario echoes the 2003 Gulf War coverage, where the US and its Arab allies confronted Iraq based on claims that Baghdad was developing nuclear weapons targeting America, necessitating preemptive action.
In reality, the George W. Bush administration, heavily influenced by neoconservative Dick Cheney and pro-Israel advocates, promoted the invasion of Iraq. Iraq had no nuclear arsenal. Reporting from Baghdad, I uncovered that the US was in fact providing Iraq with chemical and biological weapons to use against Iran.
Had Iraq possessed nuclear weapons then, the large deployment of 309,000 US and British soldiers preparing to invade would have been an ideal target for Iraqi nuclear strikes—but Iraq lacked any such weapons. The entire narrative was fabricated. Today, the US forces assembling near Iran present a prime nuclear target. Naturally, Iran would retaliate with nuclear arms.
Currently, propaganda machines continue pushing false claims. While Iran may have some basic nuclear materials, those are strictly for civilian energy production. The late Ayatollah Khomeini issued a Fatwah prohibiting all nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, demanding that other nations dismantle their nuclear stockpiles, the US has modestly reduced its own nuclear arsenal—slashing it by 30% would be a reasonable initial step.
Original article: ericmargolis.com
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