In the above snippet from a 2007 BBC Newsnight programme, we learn something that reveals the whole War on Terror to be a complete sham and the destabilization of the Middle East by the U.S. and her allies to be intentional. In March 2003, the US launched Operation Iraqi Freedom. While Bush was prancing around the USS Lincoln in a codpiece declaring ‘Mission Accomplished’ in Iraq, something very interesting was taking place in the background. Realising that it was in its interest to prevent Iraq from sliding into all-out civil war, the Iranian government sent a letter to the White House offering the following:
- Iran would use its influence to support stabilization in Iraq.
- Iran would open its civilian nuclear energy program to full international inspections.
- Most importantly, Iran would end its support of Hamas and Hezbollah.
In return, Iran requested the following:
- A halt to US hostile behavior.
- Abolition of all economic sanctions.
- The pursuit of MEK (an Iranian terrorist group in Iraq) leadership and the repatriation of their members.
Then U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney turned down the offer and chastised the Swiss for passing it along.
It was all there; Iran was prepared to cooperate with the US in Iraq, cooperate with Israel and the US in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, and allow full transparency of its nuclear program… if only the US would help them dismantle the MEK. The US State Department wanted to pursue it, but the Neocons torpedoed the deal.
Just think of the ramifications of this US refusal to accept what amounts to an extraordinary olive branch. America’s murderous attack on Iraq killed over one million civilians. With Iranian help in pacifying the Iraqi Shia population, this death toll would, at the very least, have been massively reduced. The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006 would never have happened because Hezbollah would have been finished as a fighting force. Operation Cast Lead would never have happened because Hamas would never have come to power in Gaza. Syria would no longer be a pariah state because of its support for Hezbollah.
But what is really twisted here is that the three specific offers made by Iran in 2003 later became the very same conditions the US said Iran must meet if it is to avoid increased sanctions and the threat of airstrikes on its nuclear installations by the US and allies, followed by certain all-out war.
So why don’t the Iranians and Americans just revisit the original offer and shake on it?
Because, you see, Israel and the US don’t want Hamas and Hezbollah to cease to exist. Israel and the US don’t want the Iranian regime to assist the US in Iraq. Israel and the US don’t want the world to see that Iran has no nuclear weapons program. They need to force a phony crisis with Iran in order to provoke a war with her. They need Hamas and Hezbollah to exist so they can hold them up as a credible threat to their economic and geopolitical interests in the region. They need these enemies to justify their miserable warmongering existence. They need these enemies to justify the War on Terror and the removal of civil liberties at home.
Also, we cannot forget just how profitable war is for the warmongers.