Charley Reese (ex-Orlando Sentinel) has written an interesting piece for AntiWar.com about Iran. He makes the following points:
I don’t see how any honest man can believe that Iran is a threat to the United States or its neighbors. Iran has not invaded anyone in the past 100 years. Iran has from the beginning insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes, and there has been no evidence – I repeat, no evidence – to the contrary. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty explicitly authorizes countries to enrich uranium. In other words, Iran has not done anything illegal.
Iran has no intercontinental missiles, and the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons is Israel. Please note that the United States flatly refuses to endorse the idea of a nuclear-free Middle East. Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel has refused to sign it. Iran admits international inspectors. Israel flatly refuses to allow international inspectors. The only country in today’s Middle East with weapons of mass destruction and a history of invading and occupying other people’s countries is Israel.
So why are the US so interested in Iran? According to Wikipedia:
Iran ranks second in the world in natural gas reserves and third in oil reserves.
Or course, the US has been trying to get its hands on Iran for decades. The Iran-Iraq war was started when Saddam Hussein, backed by the USA, invaded Iran in 1980.
According to Robert Parry there was a secret encouragement by the US administration (President Jimmy Carter, conveyed through Saudi Arabia) which was embroiled in a dispute with the new Islamic Republic of Iran. In the words of Alexander Haig, secretary of state from 1981, “It was also interesting to confirm that President Carter gave the Iraqis a green light to launch the war against Iran through Fahd.”
(Source: Wikipedia)
Robert Parry, btw, was the journalist who broke the Iran-Contra scandal involving Oliver North. For those of you too young to remember,
It involved several members of the Reagan Administration who in 1986 helped to illegally sell arms to Iran, an avowed enemy, and used the proceeds to fund, also illegally, the Contras, a right-wing insurgent organization in Nicaragua.
(Source: Wikipedia)
They also turned a blind eye to the Contras raising money by exporting crack cocaine to the US.
Ever wondered what happened to the people in the US administration that were convicted in the Iran-Contra affair? Most got away with it, pardoned by George H. W. Bush when he was President. Many of the people involved are now working for the current Bush administration. Including Robert Gates, the guy who replaced Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense.
He served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1991–1993 under George H.W. Bush. During Iran Contra he was Deputy Director of Central Intelligence. In 1984, as deputy director of CIA, Gates advocated that the U.S. initiate a bombing campaign against Nicaragua and that the U.S. do everything in its power short of direct military invasion of the country to remove the democratically-elected Sandinista government.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Where does that leave us?
It’s important to understand that the people running the US at the moment have a history. And anyone who thinks these things are “conspiracy theories” only need to read a couple of books. The Iran-Contra affair wasn’t a conspiracy theory. It happened. Ronald Reagan admitted his involvement in it (after first denying it). He admitted George H. W. Bush knew about it as well.
These things happened.
Israel, on the other hand,
has received substantial direct economic aid from the United States, including approximately $1.2 billion per year since the mid-1970’s, although that regular annual amount has been being tapered off by $120 million per year beginning in 1998.
(Source)
Israel’s relationship with the United Nations is pretty bleak.
From 1967 to 1989 the UN Security Council passed 131 resolutions directly dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict. Of the 131 resolutions passed, 43 could be considered neutral while the remaining 88 either criticized and opposed the actions of Israel or judged against its interests. Nearly half of the 88 resolutions against Israel “condemned,” “censured,” or “deplored” the member state or its actions. During this time, in the UN General Assembly, 429 resolutions against Israel were passed, and Israel was condemned 321 times.
(Source)
It makes you wonder.