War Has Begun<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nThe last decade has seen a cyclical escalation of threats and
\nsanctions against Iran by Israel and the United States. The US currently has two aircraft carrier fleets in
\nthe Persian Gulf, while Iranian forces conduct
\ndefensive military exercises in international waters off their own coast. At
\nthe same time, the escalating program of covert sabotage ratchets up pressure
\ninside Iran, and an
\nincreasing stream of accusations comes from the US mainstream press and the Israeli
\nand European press. <\/p>\n
Numerous instances of sabotage and assassination have
\noccurred inside Iran,
\nall attributed to the Mossad, CIA or M16. On January 11, nuclear scientist
\nMostafa Ahmadi Roshan was killed by a magnetic bomb attached to his car from a
\npassing motorcycle. He was the fourth Iranian scientist assassinated in the
\nlast two years; a fifth scientist survived an attack. Last November, an
\nexplosion killed 30 in a Tehran
\nmissile base. A couple of weeks later, another explosion occurred in a nuclear
\nstorage site in Isfahan, and in December yet
\nanother explosion rocked a nuclear site in Yazd. <\/p>\n
These attacks were likely perpetrated with the assistance of
\nthe Mujahedin-e-Khalk (MEK) a terrorist organization that has lived under US protection on a base in Iraq near the
\nIranian border since the beginning of the Iraq War. Shortly after the Islamic
\nRevolution, the MEK bombed the offices of Imam Khomeini\u2019s political party,
\nkilling more than 30 members of the Iranian Parliament and Cabinet, including
\nsenior clerics. The MEK fought with Saddam Hussein against Iran in the
\nIran-Iraq War, and since 2003 has worked openly with the Mossad and the CIA. <\/p>\n
There are also strong indications that the US worked with Israel
\nto unleash the Stuxnet virus on Iran\u2019s
\nnuclear enrichment facilities. Israeli sources have more or less taken credit
\nfor many of these operations, while the US consistently denies involvement.
\nBut George W. Bush designated millions for covert operations in Iran. One might
\nask, \u201cWhere did it go?\u201d The most recent sanctions against Iran include a
\nprohibition against diplomacy with Iranian officials. This leaves us with a
\ncovert war and no mechanism for reconciliation. What could possibly be gained
\nby such a restriction? <\/p>\n
No Iranian Retaliation<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nIt is interesting that Iran has not significantly
\nretaliated for these actions. Iran
\nremains active in regional diplomacy, with a history of encouraging regional
\ncooperation through trade and mutual support systems. The hype in the
\nmainstream press over Iranian terrorism and the dreaded Iranian bomb seems
\noddly disconnected from reality. Even when attacked by Saddam\u2019s chemical
\nweapons during the 80s, Iran
\ndid not reciprocate in kind. Oil is often cited as the reason for this campaign
\nof terror against Iran.
\nAnd, Iran is designated a
\n\u2018state sponsor of terrorism\u2019 for actively supporting and advocating the
\nPalestinian right to self-determination and condemning Israel\u2019s ethnic cleansing in Palestine.
\n<\/span><\/p>\nBut I believe there is something more going on here. The US is a little
\nover 200 years old. Israel
\nis just over 60. Iran
\nhas been around for over 3000 years as a center of culture and civilization. It
\nhas a cultural identity deeply rooted in its society. Over millennia, the Persian Empire has
\nexpanded across the Arab world, India
\nand southwest Asia. Iran has a Jewish population that
\ngoes back to biblical times, supports Kurdish and Arab populations, and has
\nrecently absorbed influxes of Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian refugees.
\nIranians know who they are. This kind of integrity is stunning when you first
\nencounter it. I imagine it is terrifying to the contemporary proponents of
\nAmerican hegemony.
<\/em><\/p>\n
\nJudy Bello, who recently spent 3 days in jail in Syracuse for
\nher role in the Hancock 38 (see article<\/a>), led a Fellowship of Reconciliation
\nCivilian Peace Delegation to Iran last May, her second to that land.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[img_assist|nid=199|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=231|height=234] Image: Judy Bello Cries for war with Iran are again rising. In November, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), under a new director and heavily pressured by the US State Department, released a report implying that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Iran\u2019s civilian nuclear program is heavily monitored by…<\/p>\n
Learn More<\/span><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":5,"template":"","class_list":["post-10207","articles","type-articles","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clients.elainemichele.com\/SPC2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/10207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clients.elainemichele.com\/SPC2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clients.elainemichele.com\/SPC2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clients.elainemichele.com\/SPC2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}