Mainstream Media Leads the Charge to a War with Iran

President Obama pretends to reign in the war hawks, but is just waiting for the next election. If re-elected he will go to war with Iran; he has received his marching orders.

Courtesy: beyondthecurtain.wordpress.com

(JAMESTOWN, RI) - One has to question the integrity of mainstream media. The charge that Iran is producing nuclear weapons, emanating primarily from Israel but constantly echoed in this country by mainstream media has persisted, despite the facts.

Mainstream media can no longer be relied upon for factual news. It has forsaken its role as the fifth estate or the 4th branch of government, and of presenting a perspective other than governments, or bringing truth forward to challenge government assertions.

One major mission of journalists is to constrain the power of government with truth. In the case of Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons program the facts are resoundingly clear, however the US public has been shielded from truths by mainstream media who causally repeat false accusations put forward by extreme right wing Israelis and echoed by members of Congress.

There is not the slightest factual evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran, yet polls indicate the US public is absolutely convinced of Iran’s non-program. One poll has 87% of registered voters believing that Iran’s program represents a threat to the US, which, if it were not so serious, would be laughable.

Even if Iran had one nuclear weapon, it lacks the capacity to deliver such a weapon to the US; not even close, but of course this is one of the many pertinent truths being denied the public. You cannot make an intelligent decision without the facts, and the public is being cheated by mainstream media.

Another recent poll has 49% of the public advocating the use military force to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, despite the evidence there is no such program. Why would the public call for bombing a nation on a false pretense, unless mainstream media has ignored the truth and relied on false information to convince the public of the need to make war?

President Obama pretends to reign in the war hawks, but is just waiting for the next election. If re-elected he will go to war with Iran; he has received his marching orders.

A quick review shows the US Intelligence Estimate, which is a summary of all US spy agencies, has twice stated there is no evidence that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, a significant item under reported and distorted by media.

The IAEA, which monitors Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, has monitored Iran more closely than any nation in the history of the world, with both human eyes and electronic surveillance of Iran’s peaceful nuclear sites.

It has not found a shred of evidence of any nuclear weapons program, yet the public believes a weapons program exists. Why?

Media is now distorting the reluctance of Iran to allow inspectors into the Parchin military site. The public has not been told, nor will it, that Parchin is a military base and not a nuclear site and as such, is legally beyond the reach of inspection by the IAEA.

According to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which Iran is a member, “military” bases are not within the IAEA’s jurisdiction. Iran is well aware of the UN forcing Iraq to allow inspectors into its military bases searching for non-existent WMD. Inspectors found no WMD because there were none, but inspectors took advantage of their searches by recording GPS positions of all defense installations in Iraq.

When the inevitable war, based on lies and encouraged by such media as the New York Times began, US airstrikes were easy, because we had all the GPS coordinates of their military bases. Iran has been reluctant to allow inspectors into their military bases for this very reason. Despite this they have agreed to allow inspectors into Parchin.

The accusation that Iran is delaying so they can sanitize Parchin before inspections is also being ridiculed by experts. The accusation is allegedly based on satellite photos, but the US has denied it had such photos, or provided anyone with such photos.

Investigators cannot find anyone who actually has even seen any photos, but have been referenced by anonymous sources, most likely from a foreign country. Shades of the forged Niger documents which charged Iraq with trying to buy “yellowcake” uranium, a scam that helped bring about the Iraq war.

Before deciding to bomb Iran, should voters know Leon Panetta one month ago in testimony before Congress, stated Iran has not even made the decision to build a nuclear weapon? Most of the public never heard this.

Two months ago James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence stated in testimony, that Iran had not yet decided to develop a nuclear weapon. Why do we wish to bomb something that does not exist?

Both Russia and China have stated there is no evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran, and have both rejected the claim by the US and Israel of such a program.

The former Director of the IAEA recently said, in his twelve years as head of the IAEA he has not see “a shred of evidence” that Iran is building a nuclear weapons program.

Every bit of Iran’s uranium has been monitored over the years, and to make a nuclear weapon Iran would have to divert some uranium to its weapons program, yet every bit of Iran’s uranium is accounted for and not one gram has been diverted.

The facts are clear; there is absolutely no evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran, but the public believes there is one. Obviously the public has been misled by mainstream media, just as it was in the run-up to the war with Iraq. Mainstream media can fool most of the people, most of the time.

Salem-News.com Writer Joe Clifford, lives in historic Jamestown, Rhode Island, and has contributed a number of articles relating to foreign policy to newspapers in the Rhode Island area for years.

He graduated from Providence College where he earned an undergraduate and graduate degree. After a lengthy career as a high school teacher he turned to the study of US foreign policy, and then to writing, as a means of expressing an alternative perspective. His reading and research on foreign policy is broad and extensive, especially as the policy relates to the Middle East. His interest in foreign policy was inspired by the American misadventure in Vietnam. You can write to Joe at this address: jc21131@gmail.com