By Donald A. Collins | 18 March 2013
Church and State
This point of view about a possible US invasion of Iran from Foster Gamble of Thrive (http://www.thrivemovement.com) struck me as frighteningly likely. Why, when other so called rogue nations have nukes are we drawing a line in the sand! See his recent blog text below.
I have for some time been very upset at the USA’s continuing imperialism. Let me offer some introductory thoughts before you read what Mr. Gamble says below.
Whatever your religious, political or cultural orientation, all Americans are now caught in the undertow of the immoral and frightful way our country now extends its tentacles of power into the world.
It so pains me, an American citizen, and as an octogenarian of moderate views who served his time in the military to have to feel ashamed at the way our country’s leaders behave with respect to us and the world at large. The late Chalmers Johnson and other voices such as Andrew Bacevich have earlier explained this deplorable descent, which could of course be argued as a continuation of our 19th Century territorial surge proudly dubbed “Manifest Destiny”. But cementing our coast to coast continental integration seems vastly different than our post WWII incursions in Vietnam and the Middle East.
What real security and stability have these wars achieved? Endless war and the hatred of millions? Johnson’s final 2006 opus, “Nemesis” rings truer now than ever.
Thus when I found this February 13, 2013 blog from Gamble it really rang a bell!
Foster Gamble:
“If we follow the money [behind the saber-rattling of the US and Israel in threatening a war with Iran], it turns out that Iran is already starting to trade their oil for gold, rather than dollars. With India, China and Russia lining up to do the same thing.
“Well, that would seriously undermine the US dollar, since it’s propped up only by confidence and military power — not by any commodities or strength in the international market.
“So, if we look back at history, we find that Saddam Hussein had also talked about selling his oil for Euros, rather than dollars — and it was shortly after that, that he was invaded…
“This propaganda around Iran sounds eerily similar to what happened in Iraq. What I often do is look through the lens of “Problem-Reaction-Solution.” It’s also called the “Shock Doctrine” or the “strategy of tension” but basically, it’s a technique to create a problem and bring in a solution that would otherwise be unacceptable to the people. So, in this situation, the problem is the idea that “Iran’s going to be too dangerous with a nuclear bomb”…and now, just recently, Obama has come out with a second type of problem which he’s identified, which is the “Threat of Iran undermining the international community in its global economic policy.”
“Now what he’s referring to, a little more blatantly is [Iran’s tactic of selling petroleum] for gold, rather than dollars. So — this is “the problem” — we’re being set-up again.
“So, often times, when there’s a problem, there’s a false-flag operation attached to it — like there was in the Gulf of Tonkin, 9/11 — and many other incidences…but what I want to encourage people to look for, which is something like the USS Enterprise — a big but old aircraft carrier, which has been moved to the Straits of Hormuz — it’s scheduled for decommission next year, so it could be very convenient it if were attacked and sunk. It has three nuclear reactors on it, so the waste would go there, they’d avoid the $billion + costs associated with decommissioning it and use it as an excuse to get into a war with Iran.
“So, what’s the ‘Reaction’ they’re looking for? Fear among Americans that oil prices are going to rise or that our friends in Israel are going to be attacked.
“And what’s the ‘Solution’ they’re looking for? I think it’s the justification to invade Iran [and their] undermining the sale of oil for dollars, prop-up the dollar a little bit longer and justify the taking over of [Iran’s] oil and trade routes.
“So, what can we do, as individuals? I suggest that you continue to “translate”, as effectively as you can, any news you’re listening to into what you think is really true.”
The suspense of another Presidential election has passed. Now we are in another era of suspense, one in which all eyes are on the serious future problems all elections leave untended. Think about it! How different are the military expenditure policies of Democrats and Republicans? How different are they in their support of a military budget which surpasses the amounts spent in total by the next 9 biggest spending military nations in the world. No member of Congress wants to see military cutbacks in his or her district! We are truly on a mad path to villainy and bankruptcy.
We are deep in debt as a nation, having incurred bills now to be repaid of over $16 trillion, which exceeds our 2011 domestic gross national product (GNP) of about $15 trillion. Our governments at all levels seem unable to take any action to curb more spending, deemed by some including Nobel Economist Paul Krugman as highly desirable, at least in the short term. Others demur and I only cite this crisis without the wisdom to offer a solution. All agree, however, this overspending cannot go on indefinitely and that we have already spent much of our children’s and grandchildren’s patrimony.
Since the middle of the last century, ironically beginning in Iran, America has been aggressively empire building. Our military buildups make us the most highly armed country on the planet, a status which some including me feel has contributed dangerously to the aforementioned fiscal crisis. While the end of our cul de sac wars in the Middle East may be in sight, expenditures to keep our massive military presence overseas and at home will likely continue. Could it be that our leaders are thirsting for Iran’s oil and the excuse for more militarism.
Foster Gamble could well be right. His case is very plausible. I have been saying for years that IRAN would never attack with nuclear weapons, Israel or anyone. Many others as noted above including N. Korea have nukes and they know would be equally foolish to use them.
America, without its status as the world’s reserve currency, would have been declared bankrupt already, but as Gamble notes our military power and the belief by many nations in our dollar are currently sustaining that status, but the question is for how long. Will we attack peremptorily as we did with Iraq? And this time Iran might actually have WMDs!!!! Stay tuned and alert and willing to question the militaristic route we have chosen, allegedly to maintain our national security.
Oh, and by the way, Huffington just put out this March 18 story on its powerful web site:
“Much of the world has long assumed that Dick Cheney longed for war in Iraq in order to gain reliable control of the nation’s oil resources. But it’s not often that evidence has emerged of Cheney himself talking in that vein. A new reflection by Bush speech writer David Frum in Newsweek does just that:
I was less impressed by Chalabi than were some others in the Bush administration. However, since one of those “others” was Vice President Cheney, it didn’t matter what I thought. In 2002, Chalabi joined the annual summer retreat of the American Enterprise Institute near Vail, Colorado. He and Cheney spent long hours together, contemplating the possibilities of a Western-oriented Iraq: an additional source of oil, an alternative to U.S. dependency on an unstable-looking Saudi Arabia.
Are you alert yet?
Former US Navy officer, banker and venture capitalist, Donald A. Collins, a free lance writer living in Washington, DC., has spent over 40 years working for women’s reproductive health as a board member and/or officer of numerous family planning organizations including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Guttmacher Institute, Family Health International and Ipas. Yale under graduate, NYU MBA. He is the author of From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013.Be sure to ‘like’ us on Facebook
