There Is No Threat From Iran

Marc Ash / Reader Supported News

 (May 16, 2019) — The Trump White House and the US commercial media are following precisely the Bush White House formula for making war on a nation that is no threat and wants no conflict.

“Tensions” are not mounting. The aggression and threat to peace are entirely of US origin. The provocation is US provocation, and it is intended to set the stage for a US military operation that is unwise, unnecessary, and will likely lead to a situation worse by orders of magnitude than the US war on Iraq that continues to this day, more than 16 years after the US started it.

Donald Trump, who as candidate Trump preached endlessly about the folly of “stupid wars,” now considers this ill-advised plan, ginned up for him by the notoriously unhinged crackpot masquerading as National Security Advisor John Bolton, to divert attention away from his own personal quagmire at home.

Would Donald Trump drag the US into a catastrophic conflict in the Middle East to boost his approval ratings to a level that could give him a chance of winning reelection? 

If he needs it to save himself from financial, political, and legal ruin, the odds are he will do what he thinks he needs to do to protect his interests. It has always been his pattern to do so. 

Effectively, this proposed war with Iran allows Trump to hold all of his domestic political enemies at bay. The mere threat of being dragged into a conflict so destructive to US interests and national security is enough to, in effect, hold every member of Congress hostage to his demands.

There is no provocation from Iran. There is no threat. The nuclear agreement signed by the US and ignored by Donald Trump and his camp has worked as intended. Any discussion of war is completely irresponsible and invites disaster. 

This is a madman. Any members of Congress who do not do everything in their power to remove Trump from office are abdicating their duty to the Constitution and opening the door to the devastating consequences that will surely follow.

US Fibbing about Iran “Threats”?

By Gar Smith / Environmentalists Against War

BERKELEY, Calif. (May 16, 2019) — On the May 15 edition of the NBC Nightly News, anchor Lester Holt repeated the White House’s rumors of “unspecified” yet “credible threats” that “Iranian proxies” could maybe be possibly planning to attack US forces somewhere on the ground inside Iraq.

But unlike most of the corporate media, NBC did more than simply reiterate rumors pushed by a leader who is a serial liar. (According to the Washington Post—citing statistics compiled by The Fact Checker database—as of April 26, 2019, Donald Trump had “crossed the 10,000 mark” for uttering presidential falsehoods — pronouncing provable fibs at an average clip of nearly 23 lies a day over a single seven-month period.)

NBC began its pro-truth push-back by featuring a public statement delivered on May 14 by “a top British General [who] yesterday directly contradicted US warnings of a new threat from Iran.”

Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika stated, for the record: “There has been no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria.”

NBC reporter Richard Engel then followed up on the May 15 newscast by noting:

“Germany and The Netherlands made clear they want no part in a possible conflict, suspending military training missions in Iraq. Spain went so far as to pull a warship from the US aircraft carrier battlegroup sent to the region earlier this month while, tonight, the US is still investigating those mysterious attacks on oil tankers near the Persian Gulf. Iran has denied responsibility.

“Responding to the skepticism, State Department officials tonight insisted that the threats are real and came within the last week. But it also shows how this crisis with has become a real test of the trump administration’s credibility among our allies.”

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