War in Iran? Civil unrest in Europe?

A worrying amount of reports are coming in about the possibility of a new front in the ongoing “war on terror”. The chances of an attack on Iran, who have never attacked anyone outside of its borders for 280 years now, is being increasingly talked about. But who might lead this attack and in what way might such an act further destabilise the world, both externally in the Middle East but also here at home in Europe and the “civilized world”? Bush, Obama or maybe Israel? And who might follow? Sarkozy, Burlesconi, Brown, maybe even Poland, maybe even all of Europe?

Democracy Now reported on June 23rd:

The New York Times reported Friday that Israel recently carried out a major military exercise that Pentagon officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. More than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighter planes took part in the manoeuvres over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece.

If war does break out, what will be the global reaction? If it does happen it is rumoured to be within the next half year, during which time we will see Nicholas Sarkozy become head of the European Union. Surely such an offensive will be quickly supported by France under Sarkozy, with Italy and Britain sure to quickly roll in behind. A more worrying aspect, in relation to Ireland, is that Sarkozy is trying to push on with full ratification of the Lisbon Treaty after its rejection by the Irish public last month, if he is successful might we see Irish troops being pulled into this new war through exactly the things the Irish public voted no against: a less democratic and more militaristic Europe?

Ironically enough, with France soon to be the temporary centre of Europe, and with the social, political climate similar to what it was 40 years ago, might such an outbreak of militarism and war lead to a repeat of the civil unrest that seemed to explode out of nowhere back then, firstly on the streets of France and soon to many corners of the globe? The seeds are already there after 2005’s civil unrest in France, where from Clichy-sous-Bois we saw riots when young people burned 1000 cars in 20 days as well as many public buildings.

Former US Senator Mike Gravel, who is calling for Independent 9/11 Investigation and Prosecution of President Bush and Vice President Cheney over the ongoing war in Iraq, recently said how:

I was with Ramsey Clark over the weekend, and Ramsey joins me in feeling very, very frightened over the possibility that George Bush may go crazy again and do something significant between now and the term. Remember when Sarkozy asked him, “Well, Mr. President, you’ve did a—you know, you’ve done a fine term of office.” He said, “I’m not done yet!” Well, by “not done,” what’s he got in his mind? What more could he do?

The present US political mechanism is such that even if Bush, as commander and chief of US military forces, gives the nod for war only days before his end of term of office there can be no stopping the onslaught.

This is the same George Bush who believes he is waging a religious crusade, receiving his directives from God through his bible belt preachers; the new great battle between good and evil, or the Christian world verses the heretical Muslim world, he’s the man who recently said “I don’t care what people think about me. I gonna do the right thing.”

Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, in a piece in the New Yorker magazine called “Preparing the battlefield: the Bush adminstration steps up its secret moves against Iran.” Has found out more somewhat “classified” information that indeed the lead up to war is well underway, from Democracy Now:
Congress Agreed to Bush Request to Fund Major Escalation in Secret Operations Against Iran:

Congressional leaders agreed to a request from President Bush last year to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran aimed at destabilizing Iran’s leadership…The operations were set out in a highly classified Presidential Finding signed by Bush which, by law, must be made known to Democratic and Republican leaders. The plan allowed up to $400 million in covert spending for activities ranging from supporting dissident groups to spying on Iran’s nuclear program.

But if Bush doesn’t lead the attack, might it actually be more worrying if Barack Obama wins the Whitehouse race, which it seems he is set to do with all his talk of “hope” and “change”, and from there be the one who makes the call. He has given hope to millions in the US: the first black man as head of the country, which surely is a good thing since we see the change since the apartheid days of not too long ago. But what if all those young kids in the US really fall for his words, are woed by his pulpit like presentations and from that buy into the calls for US defense by invasion of Iran. It would almost be if the behind the scenes US policy makers are using Bush and Obama as bad cop, good cop…

Barack Obama’s response to Iran, reported recently on Democracy Now:

We will also use all elements of American power to pressure Iran. I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything..

(To listen to it delivered in his almost Martin Luther King like tones, makes it even more scary)

But like Iraq, before the illegal war began there, all the facts are pointing to the fact that there is no need for attack. There was no threat then, WMD’s turned out to be a big lie, US are still bringing in the oil, and there is no threat now, as alternative hopeful runner for presidency for the US, Ralph Nader states in relation to all this:

Bush is more likely, before he leaves office. The point is that we are exaggerating that threat instead of using diplomacy, number one. Number two, Iran does not have nuclear weapons; they’re nowhere near nuclear weapons, according to intelligence estimates. Number three, Israel has 250 nuclear weapons. Does Iran really want to commit suicide? And number four, two major national security experts in Israel have been reported as saying Iran is not a problem. So why are we beating the drums, and why is Obama falling for this kind of trap?

If war in Iran does breaks out, what will be the reaction in the West? Will we see repeats of F15, the largest mobilisation of people in a single action in the entirety of our recorded history of civilisation, which failed in its request for “no war in Iraq”, or will we see more anger, more unrest, more action to break up the war machine? Some of that fire that enflames Paris and beyond 40 years ago?

The February 15, 2003 anti-war protest was a coordinated day of protests across the world against the imminent invasion of Iraq. Millions of people protested in approximately 800 cities around the world. According to BBC News, between six and ten million people took part in protests in up to sixty countries over the weekend of the 15th and 16th; other estimates range from eight million to thirty million.

As successful Ploughshare activist Ciaron O'Reilly, who succeeded in a direct action at Shannon Airport, put it in a march in London to mark that famous day:
“After Yet Another March - What is Relevant Anti-War Activity 5 Years In?”

The recent film put film put together by IMC-IE’s Eamonn Crudden “Route Irish” captured both the short lived hope in Ireland that her people could change the government policy of allowing Shannon airport to be used as an integral part of the international “war on terror”, but more so the fizzling of that hope due to internal bickering between anti war groups, the argument of protest versus action. If this war does indeed erupt in Iran, what lessons can be learned from the resistance to war in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Bush’s course of office will soon come to an end, what will happen to him and his crew of war mongerers after? Renowned US Attorney Vincent Bugliosi Seeks “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder”, Vincent Bugliosi states:

Well, in my book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, I set forth an airtight legal case against George Bush that proves beyond all reasonable doubt that George Bush took this nation to war under false pretenses, on a lie, in Iraq, and therefore, under the law, he is guilty of murder for the deaths of over 4,000 young American soldiers in Iraq fighting his war, not your war or my war or America’s war, but his war.

Others are harsher as to the depth of damage done by Bush during his two terms of office and what should happen to this Rogue; as 2 famous and celebrtated US authors comment on Democracy Now:

Veteran Journalist Robert Scheer on “The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America”:

You either have a republic, in which people have control, or you have the empire. And what Jefferson and Washington up through Eisenhower and McGovern warned us against is the empire. If you have an empire, the people cannot have the basic information, they will be lied to, they will be deceived. You know, that’s what the weapons of mass destruction and everything. And the reason that Washington in his farewell address, that Eisenhower in his farewell address, warned us about empire is they knew it was incompatible with democracy.

Yes, if we’re on a local level, I’ve written locally, local columns. If I say you should have a traffic light there or close that school there or the police are corrupt, people can get the information. They know what you’re talking about when it’s kept local. When you have an empire, you don’t get that information for what? Twenty, thirty, forty years, if ever. They can lie to you with impunity. People have no basis of challenging them. So what we’re really talking about is, if we are wedded to an imperial model, if we are wedded to a permanent war economy, to permanent expansion, you can forget democracy.

And finally, cousin of nearly eleced US president Al Gore, legendary author Gore Vidal on the Bush Presidency, History and the “United States of Amnesia”:

“You can see little Bush all along was just dreaming of war, and also Cheney dreaming about oil wells and how you knock apart a country like Iraq and of course their oil will pay for the damage you do. For that alone, he should have been put in front of a firing squad.”

Related links:

Democracy Now:

Is Israel Preparing to Bomb Iran?
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/23/is_israel_prepari..._iran

Hersh: Congress Agreed to Bush Request to Fund Major Escalation in Secret Operations Against Iran
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/30/hersh_congress_ag...quest

Bush continues to plan for war with Iran
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYsjgJUKfdQ

Ralph Nader on Barack Obama: “It is Quite Clear He is a Corporate Candidate from A to Z”
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/18/ralph_nader_on_ba...ma_it

Former Senator Mike Gravel Calls for Independent 9/11 Investigation and Prosecution of President Bush and Vice President Cheney
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/17/former_senator_mi...s_for

1968, Forty Years Later: Tariq Ali Looks Back on a Pivotal Year in the Global Struggle for Social Justice
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/29/1968_40_years_lat...q_ali

1968, 40 Years Later: Student, Worker Protests Sweep France, Leaving Indelible Mark on the Country and the World
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/14/1968_40_years_lat...orker

Citing Iraq War, Renowned Attorney Vincent Bugliosi Seeks “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder”
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/13/citing_iraq_war_r...ncent

Veteran Journalist Robert Scheer on “The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America”
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/30/veteran_journalis...n_the
Scheers website: http://truthdig.com./

Legendary Author Gore Vidal on the Bush Presidency, History and the “United States of Amnesia”
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/14/legendary_author_...n_the

Wider context:

Sarkozy, Lisbon Treaty and desire for ratification despite Irish vote NO
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0630/eulisbon.html

2005 civil unrest in France
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_civil_unrest_in_France

La Haine Est Dans La Rue
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/72841

February 15, 2003 anti-war protest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_15,_2003_anti-war...otest

Ciaron O'Reilly: After Yet Another March - What is Relevant Anti-War Activity 5 Years In?
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/86738

BitTorrent Now Available: 'Route Irish' Documentary - Come and Seed
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85188

Mai ’68:

40 years ago this month in Paris….Mai 68
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87672

Where has all the rage gone?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/22/vietnamwar

Iran:
International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI)
http://www.workers-iran.org/

If you like war in Iraq, Youll love war in Iran : US people call for communication and no war

If war starts in Iran, what level of rage will erupt in Europe?