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Will calls for military confrontation with Iran develop their own momentum?

At Time, Tony Karon worries that “military action” rhetoric against Iran will develop its own “momentum.” And who is driving this bus, Netanyahu or Obama?

It has, of course, become par for the course over the past five years for Israel and its allies to imply that war is imminent whenever the international community’s schedule turns to Iran. With Obama Administration officials, speaking anonymously, hyping the IAEA report as a “gotcha” moment that will leave little doubt of Iran’s intentions, the saber-rattling fits a familiar pattern of seeking to scare reluctant international players into adopting tougher sanctions on Iran as the lesser evil necessary if only to restrain Israel from launching a war that could set the Middle East ablaze.

The messages coming from Israel are mixed: Intelligence correspondents in the Israeli media make clear that war talk is part of a strategy to raise pressure on Iran, while a number of senior security establishment figures have denounced the talk of bombing, and what they see as Netanyahu’s alarmist rhetoric….

Still, Netanyahu’s rhetoric could create its own momentum. There’s no easy way back from preparing the Israeli public for a war against what they’re told is an implacable exterminationist threat. And it appears unlikely, right now, that the revelations in the IAEA report are likely to persuade Russia and China to back the escalation of sanctions that Washington will demand at the Security Council. Moscow and Beijing believe that the route of sanctions and pressure is unlikely to produce a positive outcome.

 
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I haven’t heard much about the possibility that Iran has biological weapons. Even with the assurance of Uri Avnery’s Column this is still a very dangerous game. It could become the war that no one wanted.

I don’t think so. I think at this point, the world will be willing to let Israel commit national suicide – that’s why there is “reluctance” among international players to appease Israel, the world is tired of being held hostage.

Peter Hartcher is doing his bit.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/beware-the-ticking-iran-time-bomb-20111107-1n3ru.html

But the comments show that he hasn’t sold it to everyone.

RE: “who is driving this [bomb Iran or bust] bus, Netanyahu or Obama?” ~ Weiss

MY COMMENT: Or Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, Libby, Wolfowitz, Abrams, etc.

ALSO SEE: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Iran: Secrets of the Troika ~ by Michael Teitelman, Counterpunch, 11/03/11

(excerpts)…In 2003, the Iranian government made a formal diplomatic proposal for direct, comprehensive negotiations about all major issues, grievances, and conflicts that fueled the hostility in their dealings with each other. This was a critical juncture in Iranian-American relations. It offered the possibility of exiting the impasse that began with the overthrow of the Shah and the occupation of the American embassy in 1979.
Bush did not respond to the Iranian offer. Not for the first time in his dealings with the Middle East, he eschewed diplomacy. His decision went unannounced and unexplained. Eight years later, it is still a non-event. Instead, he chose to intensify the long standing policy U.S. policy of vilification, distrust, isolation, sanction, and threat of military attack…
…Amazingly, there was apparently no serious deliberation in the U.S. government about how to respond to Iran. Colin Powell was reportedly dumbfounded by Bush‘s decision to ignore the proposal…
…There is one rationale that the troika could not express publicly, then or now. It is easy conjecture that they punted because they knew that talking directly with Iran, irrespective of the outcome of negotiations, would undermine pursuit of their superpower fantasies of pre-emptive attack and regime change…
…So now the U.S. is beleaguered throughout the Middle East and stuck in a tense, fruitless standoff with Iran…

SOURCE – http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/03/secrets-of-the-troika/

I posted in another article, but I strongly expect them to develop their own momentum. This is for several reasons:

1) It’s an organized campaign. There are hundreds of voices in the commentator class pushing this meme.

2) The campaign is in both Israel and the US, with voices playing off each other, including using the classic meme that the US must attack Iran in order to head off Israel doing something worse (it’s better for everyone, including the Iranians).

3) Obama is doing nothing to resist it. He’ helping the campaign be spreading the most absurd anti-Iran storylines, including the Scary Iran Plot (car dealers and Mexican assassins) and the Iran nuclear program (being steadily smashed by b at Moon of Alabama, but I don’t expect facts to get in the way).

4) Much of the media appears complicit, framing the discussion using the Administration’s and warmongers’ framing. You could call this complicity or simply weak journalism, but the practical effect is the same.

5) We’re in a political season. No one can appear soft right now (including Obama, whose only real advantage is foreign policy), and endlessly stepping up the rhetoric is a good way for every politician to stay in the news.

6) Obama’s mike caught him saying he has to deal with Netanyahu “every day.” Speaking as someone who wants Israel and Palestine to be a much bigger issue, WTF? The President gets a daily brief on terrorism threats, not on Israel. If Netanyahu is that central American planning, it involves issues outside Israel, meaning that at an absolute minimum an attack on Iran is under serious discussion at the presidential level at this very moment.