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<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-210313.html">http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-210313.html</a><br>
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<div class="entry-date"><big><big>March 21, 2013</big></big></div>
<div class="subheadlinestyle"><big><big>Real Liars Go to Tehran</big></big></div>
<h1 class="article-title"><big><big>Return of the Living Dead</big></big></h1>
<div class="mainauthorstyle"><big><big>by PEPE ESCOBAR</big></big></div>
<div class="main-text"><big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>Uncle Marx never thought about this one: history repeating
itself as double tragedy after already being a farce in the first
place. Let’s examine the case in hand. First of all, take a close look
at this Wall Street Journal op-ed from September 2002, in the
hysterical run-up towards the invasion of Iraq.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Title: <a
href="http://www.potomac-airfield.com/netanyahu.htm"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.potomac-airfield.com']);">The
Case for Toppling Saddam</a>. Author: Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu – then
out of the Israeli government.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>It’s all here: a “dictator who is rapidly expanding his
arsenal of biological and chemical weapons” and “who is feverishly
trying toacquire nuclear weapons”; the Saddam equals Hitler parallel;
the portrayal of (de facto nuclear power) Israel as helpless victims of
Palestinian “terror”; the claim that Saddam could produce nuclear fuel
“in centrifuges the size of washing machines that can be hidden
throughout the country – and Iraq is a very big country”; the
cheerleading of a unilateral pre-emptive strike; and the inevitable
conclusion that “nothing less than dismantling his regime will do”.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Fast-forward over 10 years to this week in Israel. The
scene: press conference of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and
visiting US President Barack Obama. Anyone watching it live on
al-Jazeera, from the Middle East to East Asia, must have thought they
were watching a geopolitical <i>Back to the Future </i>- and frankly,
Michael J Fox at least oozed charm.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>No charm here; this was more like an eerie, suit-and-tie <i>Return
of the Living Dead</i>. Bibi and Obama were at pains to stress the
US-Israel bond was “eternal”. Actually Bibi preferred to stress that
Iran’s (non-existent) nuclear weapons posed an existential threat to
Israel. He repeated, over and over again, that Obama was adamant;
Israel was entitled to do anything to defend itself, and its security
would not be anyone’s responsibility, even Washington’s.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Obama, for his part, once again stressed that Washington’s
official policy towards Iran was not containment – but to prevent Iran
from acquiring a nuclear weapon. He stressed the “window of
opportunity” was getting narrower; and, of course, that all options
were on the table.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The thought that the president of the United States
(POTUS) willfully ignores the verdict of his own alphabet soup of intel
agencies on Iran might raise eyebrows in a rational world. But this is
not reality; more like a trashy reality show.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><b>Dream, dream, wet settler dream</b></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The powers that be in Israel – neocon-infested US
corporate media avalanche of denials notwithstanding – were absolutely
essential in the whole Iraq War cheerleading operation; Ariel Sharon,
at the time, boasted that the strategic coordination between Israel and
the US had reached “unprecedented dimensions”.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Bibi was just a cog in the wheel then – as Jim Lobe
details <a
href="http://www.lobelog.com/lets-all-for-a-moment-remember-bibis-wisdom-on-iraq-10-years-ago/"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.lobelog.com']);">here</a>
– quoting Bibi’s pearls of wisdom dispensed to a
misinformed-to-oblivion US Congress in 2002.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Every usual “Israeli official” suspect at the time was
breathlessly spinning that Saddam was only months away from a nuclear
weapon. The bulk of WMD “intelligence” presented to Congress and
faithfully parroted by corporate media was filtered if not entirely
fabricated by Israeli intelligence – something duly detailed, among
others, by Shlomo Brom in his study An Intelligence Failure, published
by the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies of Tel Aviv University in
November 2003.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Of course it didn’t matter that UN inspectors found no
nuclear weapon program evidence on site. Of course it didn’t matter
that Saddam son-in-law Hussein Kamel, who had defected to Jordan in
1995, had told UN inspectors in detail there had been no WMDs
whatsoever since 1991.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Now it’s double tragedy, and double farce, all over again.
Yet even Nepalis building glitzy towers in Dubai know that the ”Bomb
Iran” hysteria is Tel Aviv’s tactic to change the subject from the
relentless land confiscation/ethnic cleansing in slow motion in
Palestine and consequently the de facto total impossibility of a
two-state solution.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><a
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/20/will-israeli-settlers-receive-obamas-blessing/">Here</a>,
Jonathan Cook succinctly details the frankly scary political
configuration in Israel after the recent elections. The Israeli website
Ynet has reported that Israeli settlers can’t stop hailing their brand
new “wet dream” cabinet. Translation: the ultimate nail in the coffin
of the already dead and buried “peace process”.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>So here’s a modern geopolitical parable that would puzzle
Aesop. Bibi publicly insults POTUS. He unabashedly supports Mitt Romney
(who?) in the US presidential elections. He hits the “peace process”
with a barrage of Hellfire “facts on the ground” (with loads of
Palestine “collateral damage”). He sticks to his one and only message;
Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran. And then POTUS, in theory the mighty
Double O Bama with a license to kill (list) but actually behaving like
an accidental tourist, lands in Israel with his kill list between his
legs, to bask in Bibi’s glory.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>No wonder the rabid American neo-con/Israeli firster/Bomb
Iran crowd is gloating. Over 10 years ago their mantra was “Real Men go
to Tehran”. The question now is whether POTUS will be able to grow a
set of proper cojones and stare them down.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><em><b>Pepe Escobar</b> is the author of <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0978813820/simpleproduction/ref=nosim"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.amazon.com']);">Globalistan:
How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War</a> (Nimble
Books, 2007) and <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/Red-Zone-Blues-snapshot-Baghdad/dp/0978813898"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.amazon.com']);">Red
Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge</a>. His new book,
just out, is <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/Obama-Does-Globalistan-Pepe-Escobar/dp/1934840831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233698286&sr=8-1"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.amazon.com']);">Obama
does Globalistan</a> (Nimble Books, 2009). </em><em>He may be reached
at <a href="mailto:pepeasia@yahoo.com">pepeasia@yahoo.com</a>. <br>
</em></big></big></p>
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