January 30, 2007 7:54

Yikes! "The Clock is Ticking"

Posted by Scott MacLeod | Comments (18) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This

President Bush has been stepping up his focus on Iran. In last week's State of the Union address, he laid off the "axis of evil" talk but nailed Iran as the center of a growing threat from Shi'a extremists intent on dominating the Middle East. The President raised Lebanon as an example of this threat in a statement yesterday, in which he said: "While Lebanon's friends seek to help the Lebanese government build a free, sovereign, and prosperous country, Syria, Iran, and Hizballah are working to destabilize Lebanese society."

An anti-Iran industry of conservatives now seems to be cranking up a campaign to support a fight--if not a war--against the Islamic Republic. To some, it's a scary echo of the drumbeats we were hearing back in 2002 concerning that other big Middle East threat.

Last week as Americans watched the SOTU, a conservative think-tank called the American Foreign Policy Council, which runs something called the Iran Freedom Initiative (an echo of Operation Iraqi Freedom?), was airing ads promoting the Iran-threat idea. I received this press release from AFPC by E-mail:

AFPC LAUNCHES AD CAMPAIGN ON IRAN
Today, the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) begins a week-long advertising campaign aimed at educating the American public about the growing threat posed by a nuclear Iran. The ad campaign consists of two 30-second spots that began running Tuesday on CNN, MSNBC, Headline News and the Fox News Channel in Washington, DC, Maryland and northern Virginia.

ADVERTISEMENT 1:

The nuclear clock is ticking... and time is running out.

Iran is the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism[1] - supporting attacks that have killed hundreds of Americans.[2]

An Iranian group boasts 25,000 members who are ready to become suicide bombers in the US and Europe.[3]

Now, in violation of the UN, Iran is developing a dangerous nuclear capability[4] and has threatened to share it with others.[5]

Stand up for peace. Call the White House and tell them to enforce sanctions against Iran today.

SOURCES:
[1] Pam O'Toole, "Rice: Iran is Terrorism 'Banker'," BBC News, February 17, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4722498.stm.
[2] "Iran Responsible for 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing, Judge Rules," CNN.com, May 30, 2003, http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/05/30/iran.barracks.bombing/.
[3] Ahmad Rafat, "Europe a Target of Iranian Suicide Bombers," Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran, May 26, 2006, http://daneshjoo.org/publishers/currentnews/article_6031.shtml.
[4] "Iran 'Ignores Nuclear Deadline,'" BBC News, August 31, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5303086.stm.
[5] "Iran Prez: I'll Share My Nuclear Technology," CBS News, December 16, 2006, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/16/world/main2274308.shtml.

ADVERTISEMENT 2:

Iran's President denies the Holocaust[1], says he wants to wipe Israel off the map[2] and has supported attacks that killed hundreds of Americans.[3]

Iran sent thousands of children marching to their deaths to clear minefields, armed only with plastic keys to unlock the gates of heaven.[4]

Now, in violation of the United Nations, Iran is trying to go nuclear[5] and has threatened to share the technology with others.[6]

Stand up for peace. Call the White House and tell them to enforce sanctions against Iran today.

SOURCES:
[1] Karl Vick, "Iran's President Calls Holocaust 'Myth' in Latest Assault on Jews," Washington Post, December 15, 2005; "Ahmadinejad: Courting controversy," Al-Jazeera (Doha), December 14, 2005, http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/39AF3EA0-C8E9-456A-99D3-438045D4431F.htm.
[2] David Pryce-Jones, "A Particular Madness - Understanding Iran's Ahmadinejad," National Review, May 8, 2006.
[3] "Iran Responsible for 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing, Judge Rules," CNN.com, May 30, 2003, http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/05/30/iran.barracks.bombing/.
[4] Matthias Kuntzel, "Ahmadinejad's Demons," The New Republic, April 24, 2006, http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20060424&s=kuntzel042406.
[5] "Iran 'Ignores Nuclear Deadline,'" BBC News, August 31, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5303086.stm.
[6] "Iran Prez: I'll Share My Nuclear Technology," CBS News, December 16, 2006, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/16/world/main2274308.shtml.

I admired the way the AFPC brought the press in with the footnotes to support its arguments against Iran's regime; perhaps AFPC is assuming that the media can't be relied on to automatically jump on the bandwagon this time.

The same day, I received in the mail a review copy of a handsome book entitled, The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear Crisis (Palgrave MacMillan: New York)

I guess what this means is, Let the games begin.

--By Scott MacLeod/Cairo

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Reader Comments (18)

matt oummih:

They are at it again. Why is Bush not being impeached? Why has Chenney not been arrested? I thought being a traitor was considered a High Crime?

When you lie to the American Public and trick them into a war with a soveriegn nation... doesn't that make you a criminal?

AIPAC, the JDL and these other terrorist sponsering organizations need to be made illegal. It should be against the law to promote the interests of another country on US National Soil. In Washington, our Congress no longer even represents the interests of Americans...

Is Jimmy Carter the only one with any courage? I am suprised that these zionist traitors in congress even bother to salute the American flag... These traitors have for the past decade or so, actively supported Israeli interests ahead of American interests... for this they should be impeached as well.

No Wonder the world hates our government.

Posted by matt oummih | January 31, 2007 4:01 AM

Anonymous:

It's about time someone emphasizes the threat from Iran. God willing, Iran will provoke the US into a full nuclear strike.

Posted by Anonymous | January 31, 2007 5:18 AM

George Orwell:

Iran is the new scapegoat and excuse for Iraq, as can be seen by the wingnut Anonymous poster's post.

You can't blame everything on Democrats anymore, so BushCo. decides to up the ante on Iran. This is just the usual swill from these people. The problem is is that the Media is already playing into it, with the questions not being whether what The admin says is verifiable, but what we're going to do. It might be nice if the Media would actually find out what's verifiable and what's jsut more verbal diarheea from the administration.

Posted by George Orwell | January 31, 2007 11:15 PM

patriot:

The zionist traitors within want a nuclear strike on Iran. A strike on Iran only serves Israeli interests. AIPAC and anyone who supports the terrorist sponsering apartheid theocracy of Israel is a traitor to America. Israeli and US interests are mutually exclusive. It is time for Congress to go on the record.... Do they support American interests or are they still agents for a terrorist sponsering foreign nation? Welfare to Israel must stop.

Posted by patriot | February 1, 2007 3:00 AM

mir:

Iran IS a treat for the world... how can a nuclear,social unstabil , fundamentalist theocratie not be...but then America is a treat for the entire world too.I agree that Iran should not have nuclear weapons , but why does Israel have 200 bombs????????????????????????If you look at the big picture Iran is only trying to protect itself from an expansionist, apartheid, rasist contry with no respect for human rights. So disarm Israel , or let the iraniens defend themselfs .Personaly I prefer the first option.

Posted by mir | February 2, 2007 4:01 PM

MK:

What Bush wants to do is to protetect Israel, he doesn't care about innocent people and children who die everyday from his crime that he has led in Iraq. Is Iran the only country in the world that has nuclear weapons? I think that if someone wants to change something, he should start by himself, nuclear weapons should be abolished in all over the world including Israel and developped countries.

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