Behind the Deepening Crisis with Iran: The Real Story Versus the Cover Story

By Mark H Gaffney

February 21, 2012 "Information Clearing House" --- Recently, President Obama imposed new sanctions on Iran which according to reports have been very effective, causing a sudden major devaluation of Iran's currency. The Iranians correctly understand that they are under attack, and have threatened to respond by closing the strait of Hormuz, through which a large percentage of oil from the Mideast flows to the global economy.

If the crisis deepens and Iran makes good on its threat to close Hormuz, there is little doubt that the US will intervene to reopen the strait. This will lead to a shooting war for which Iran will be blamed, even though the recent US sanctions were tantamount to overt aggression.

I believe the US will exploit the situation to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. But, even more importantly, the US will target Iran's conventional missiles. Indeed, I believe this is the real reason for US sanctions in the first place, and for the buildup of tensions in recent days. Despite public perceptions, and all the rhetoric about nukes, the present crisis has nothing to do with Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program. In my opinion, that is just a cover story.

The real issue is the fact that Iran has upgraded its medium range conventionally-armed missiles with GPS technology, making its missiles much more accurate. This means Iran can now target Israel's own nuclear, bio and chemical weapons stockpiles, located inside Israel, as well as the Dimona nuclear reactor.

In short, Iran has achieved a conventional deterrent to Israel. Therefor, statements by Iranian officials that Iran has no nuclear weapons program are in my view probably correct. Presently, Iran does not need nukes to deter Israel. It can do so with its GPS-guided medium range missiles. The Israelis are no doubt gnashing their teeth over this, because they now find themselves threatened by their own WMD stockpiles, and by their own nuclear reactors, especially Dimona, all of which have become targets.

A few direct hits by Iran could cause a toxic plume, killing thousands of Israelis. A worst case might signal the end of the Jewish state.




It is important to realize that Iran would never launch a pre-emptive strike on Israel because the Iranians know that the US/Israeli response would be devastating. However, if Iran comes under attack first, all bets are off. Iran will defend itself. A counter attack on Israel cannot be ruled out because Iranian leaders understand clearly (even if the American people do not) that the crisis has been manufactured, on Israel's behalf.

From the Israeli standpoint, the present Iranian deterrent (though conventional) is simply unacceptable. Israel's military strategists have always insisted on total freedom of movement. This is why Israel refused a US offer many years ago to sign a defense pact with the US. Such a treaty would have limited Israel's freedom of movement, and this was unacceptable. Israel's leaders preferred to remain independent. Israel has always insisted on the "freedom" to intimidate its neighbors, whenever and howsoever it chooses. Iran's conventional missiles now curtail that "freedom." Israeli officials probably worry, for example, that Iran's conventional missiles would limit its freedom to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon, in a future conflict. Hezbollah is closely allied with Tehran.

I believe the present crisis has been manufactured to create the pretext for a US air campaign to take out Iran's conventional missile sites. The US will also target Iran's nuclear facilities, but the primary target will be Iran's conventional missiles. The US will be doing Israel's bidding. The Zionist tail will be wagging the servile US dog.

Obviously, you can't generate public support for such a bombing campaign, on Israel's behalf. Hence the cover story about nukes and the alleged Iranian threat to wipe Israel off the map, all of which is untrue but very effective propaganda nonetheless.

The problem for the US is that depriving Iran of its conventional deterrent will not be easy to accomplish. Indeed, it will be even more difficult than taking out all of Iran's nuclear facilities. Iran's conventional missiles are probably dispersed widely. If they come under attack, the purpose of the air campaign will be transparently obvious to the Iranian leadership. Faced with the prospect of losing their deterrent, the Mullahs may well decide to fire their conventional missiles. If they do and manage some direct hits on Israel's nuclear-bio-and chemical weapons stockpiles, the ensuing disaster will prompt an Israeli response. Israel may even resort to the Samson Option, and attack Iran with nukes. Words cannot describe the horrific scale of such an outcome. Unfortunately, it is all too possible.

Early in the war, US naval  forces in the Gulf will also come under attack. No mistake, Iran has enough anti-ship cruise missiles to pose a grave threat to the US naval presence in the Gulf. Thousands of US sailors are now in harm's way, and at risk.

We must rally to prevent such a war. Peace activists must now marshal every asset for peace that we possess. The American people need to know the truth. This is a phony crisis. Yet the danger is very real. Now is the time to speak out with all of our strength. Tomorrow could come too late.

In support of Iran

By Izeth Hussain

February 1, 2012 

I get voluminous and valuable material in support of Iran written by those who are clearly sympathetic to Iran. But I would rather not base my own case for supporting Iran on that material because it may be regarded as biased and covertly partisan. Instead I will base my case on a brief article written by someone who is right within the British Establishment, whose bias if any can usually be expected to be against Iran. The article which was by Peter Jenkins was originally published in the Daily Telegraph of London and was reproduced in the World View Supplement of the Island of January 25.

It is widely supposed that Iran is on the brink of a war that is about to be unleashed by the US, Israel, and their Western allies, a war that will have incalculable consequences for the world as a whole. I will not go into the details as they have been much publicized. Instead I will focus on Jenkins’ argument, which begins conveniently by stating its major conclusion: "Iran should be allowed to enrich uranium – but with the toughest safeguards". Recognizing that the Iran nuclear controversy is reaching a critical juncture, he writes that this is the consequence of what he believes to be a great diplomatic over-bid: the West’s demand that Iran surrender its capacity to enrich uranium.

Jenkins writes that it was nine years ago that in the capacity of Britain’s representative at the Atomic Energy Agency that he first discussed Iran’s nuclear programme with Iranian diplomats. He disbelieved their reassurances about not wanting nuclear weapons, and he was all for denying Iran any capacity relevant to the making of nuclear weapons. He now sees things differently. The crucial pint is that while the Non-Proliferation Treaty prohibits the making of nuclear weapons, it allows uranium enrichment and that is what is at the core of the West’s quarrel with Iran. Jenkins specifies this as the West’s quarrel with Iran for good reason. Earlier almost all members of the IAEA disapproved of Iran having concealed its research into uranium enrichment, and non-Westerners agreed with the West that Iran must suspend work on uranium enrichment until there is a full accounting of earlier work in that connection. At that point Jenkins writes, "Now, the West is all but isolated in insisting that Iran must not enrich. Most non-Westerners would prefer to see Iran treated like other NPT parties allowed to enrich uranium in return for intrusive monitoring by IAEA inspectors. My sympathies lie with the non-Westerners."

IAEA Safeguards

Jenkins believes that the gathering storm can be dispelled by a deal along the following lines: Iran be allowed to continue enriching uranium in exchange for stringent IAEA safeguards, and in addition Iran volunteers some confidence-building measures to show that it has no intention of making nuclear weapons. He then comes out with the surprising detail that that was essentially the deal Iran offered to the UK, France, and Germany in 2005. He writes, "With hindsight, that offer should have been snapped up. It wasn’t because our objective was to put a stop to all enrichment in Iran. That has remained the West’s aim ever since, despite countless Iranian reminders that they are unwilling to be treated as a second-class party to the NPT – with fewer rights than other signatories …". However, that missed opportunity need not prove lethal if the West now pulls back and joins the rest of the world in seeking an agreement along the lines indicated as the prudent way forward.

The underlying problem is supposed to be that Iran secretly wants to become a nuclear weapons power, or at least to have nuclear weapons capability, meaning the capability to proceed to make nuclear weapons. Furthermore, there is the impression that the IAEA has recently reported that Iran is hell-bent on acquiring nuclear weapons. Jenkins clarifies that that is not so. Prior to 2003, according to the IAEA, Iran researched some of the know-how needed for a weapon, and that further research may have taken place later. However, the IAEA has not reported evidence of attempts to produce nuclear weapons, or of any decision to do so. For years the Western assessment has been that Iran seeks nuclear weapons capability, but has taken no decision to produce them.

I will now quote Jenkins’ conclusion in full: "Imposing sanctions or even going to war could be a proportionate – and therefore a just – reaction to any Iranian decision to break the NPT and acquire nuclear weapons. But these measures are a disproportionate response to a state acting on its right to enrich uranium. The correct way to handle enrichment is the NPT way, namely that the process can go ahead but only under the strictest safeguards."

Before I make my comments, I will add one point to Jenkins’ exposition of his case. Even if there is credible evidence – and there is none – that Iran really wants to acquire nuclear weapons capability with the idea of actually producing them, the whole process will take months or years to complete. The ability to fit nuclear warheads to missiles will certainly take years to develop. What is the case at the present stage to deny Iran the right to enrich uranium, a right that is allowed to every other NPT signatory? What is the case for imposing sanctions that are meant to wreck the Iranian economy? What is the case for threatening military action which can cause economic havoc across the globe? My questions point to one conclusion: the West is now in the process of getting into the grip of aggressive lunacy, about which we Afro-Asians know a great deal through the experience of centuries.

Nuclear Imbroglio

I believe that we cannot understand Iran’s nuclear imbroglio in terms of the "sweet reasonableness" that is an essential part of the British liberal tradition, indeed of the Western liberal tradition, of which people like Jenkins are highly civilized exemplars. That tradition is something that is very valuable. The problem is that it cannot explain or cope with whole areas of human experience and action from which "sweet reasonableness" is conspicuously absent. The Iran nuclear imbroglio provides an outstanding example. With that in mind I will now make a few observations touching on matters which really require to be dealt with in depth and at length.

The first thing to do in trying to understand the imbroglio is to note the blatant double standards that have been in operation. It is assumed that it is alright for Israel to have nuclear weapons, but not for any other Middle Eastern country. Indeed, the mere suspicion that Iran might want to have nuclear weapons, which will take years to make them usable, is a case for the West to right now prohibit uranium enrichment to Iran, a right that is allowed to all other NPT signatories, to impose sanctions that are meant to wreck the Iranian economy, and to threaten war that could take the form of bombing Iran to smithereens. My phrase "aggressive lunacy" is surely not excessive.

Militant Nationalism

We have to ask what makes Iran so special. There are three reasons, the first of which is that Iran is an example of the kind of militant nationalism that turns against the West, most particularly against the US. This is something over which the world should show sympathetic understanding because until 1979 Iran was under the heel of a brutal and exceptionally stupid leader, the Shah, who was seen as having degraded the Iranians, the creators of one of the great civilizations of the world, by his subservience to the Yanks. The second reason is that a nuclear Iran could want to bomb Israel. It is an idiotic supposition because if Iran is loony enough to commit that kind of aggression it will itself be wiped out by the US.

Anyway, the US will not tolerate any serious threat to Israel because the racists there clearly see Israel as an outpost of

white civilization serving to hold at bay the Islamic hordes. The third reason is that because of developments in recent years Iran is emerging as the potential leader of a Shia bloc in the Middle East. As a result of US aggression against Iraq, and its withdrawal from there with nothing positive accomplished for the US, the Iraqi Shias become the preponderant group, which could lead to the entirely unintended consequence of an enormous accretion of strength for Shia Iran.

For these reasons Iran is a very special phenomenon for the US and the West as a whole. A nuclear weapons India is clearly acceptable to the West, a nuclear weapons Pakistan may be tolerable provided fundamentalists don’t seize power there, but the prospect of a nuclear weapons Iran drives the West into a fit of aggressive lunacy. We must bear in mind the Iran-Iraq War which broke out in 1980, went on for nine terrible years, leaving a million Iranians and four hundred thousand Iraqis dead. It was a proxy war in which Iraq served as the proxy of the US and the West, backed by the oil billions of another US proxy, Saudi Arabia. A revealing little detail is that the US provided its full arsenal of biological and chemical weapons to Iraq for deployment against Iranian humanity. It showed the nasty murderousness that can be deployed against Iran by the West. We must view the present imbroglio in that perspective.

What should be done? Obviously accommodation should be sought along the lines indicated by Jenkins. The liberal tradition of "sweet reasonableness" represented by him is something that is very valuable, and is powerful enough in the West to possibly prevail over the aggressive lunacy that can bring disaster to the world as a whole. But something more than a temporary and provisional accommodation is required. Iran-West relations should be subjected to radical revision. The core problem is that there has prevailed in the West a serious misunderstanding about the nature of the 1979 Iranian Resolution. It is seen as fundamentalist and nothing else, representing a retrograde and aggressive Islam that has spawned terrorism among other things. In fact, the spread of fundamentalism and an associated terrorism was the consequence of the CIA-Saudi promotion of an international jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. I cannot go into the details here.

The Iranian Revolution should be viewed rather as an example of something very rare in history, a mass revolution. The historical evidence suggests that such revolutions tend to follow a certain trajectory: liberation followed by repression and Terror followed by the moderation of Thermidor followed by setbacks and the eventual formation of a new society. The probable reason for the eventual positive outcome is that when the masses are allowed some degree of participation in the political process the eventual outcome tends to be wholesome and positive. I will cite as an example the fact that at its inception the Iranian Revolution wanted the total suppression of females, whereas subsequent years witnessed their glorious emancipation. Iran has been practicing political pluralism which has been far more democratic than what has prevailed in the rest of the Islamic world over a long period. In the arts Iranian cinema has gained international recognition, with Abbas Kiorastami being given the accolade of the Asian successor to Satyajit Ray by the great Kurosawa. The further wholesome evolution of the Iranian Revolution has been held back by Western hostility, at the core of which is the racist idiocy of Israel. That hostility has tended to make the Iranians nervous about further liberalization. It is time for a radical review of Iran-West relations.

'West humiliated by Islamic Awakening'-Leader

In the Name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful

What has happened up to this day is very great. The West ruled the Islamic Ummah for two hundred years by relying on their scientific advances; they conquered the Islamic countries; some directly and some indirectly with the help of local dictators. The UK, France, and ultimately, the United States - which is the Great Satan - gained domination over the Islamic Ummah. They did everything they could to humiliate the Islamic Ummah; they planted the cancerous tumor of Zionism in the heart of the Middle East."

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei


Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei

I welcome you all, [our] dear guests, dear youth, the conveyors of great tidings for the future of the Islamic Ummah. Every one of you conveys a great tiding. When the youth are awake in a country, the hope for general awakenings increases in that country. Today, our youth are awake all through the Islamic world. There are so many traps on their way, but the devout and determined Muslim youth have saved themselves from such pitfalls. You see what has happened in Tunisia, in Egypt, in Libya, in Yemen and in Bahrain; what movement has begun in other Muslim countries. These are all good tidings.

What I tell you, the dear youth and my own children, is that you should know that the history of the world [and] the history of humanity has reached a major historical turn. This is the dawn of a new era across the entire world. The big and clear sign of this era is attention to the Almighty and asking for help from His inexhaustible source of power and reliance on divine revelations. Humanity has gone beyond materialistic schools of thought and ideologies. Today, neither Marxism is appealing, nor is the Western liberal democracy; you see what is going on in the birthplace of the Western liberal democracy, in the US and Europe; they have owned to their failure; nor nationalist secular figures are attractive. Today, the highest attraction among the Muslim Ummah belongs to Islam, to the Holy Quran, to divine religions as the Almighty has promised that divine religion and revelations and the endeared Islam can guide humanity to prosperity. This is a very auspicious, important and meaningful phenomenon.



Today, in Muslim countries, people have risen up against dependent dictators; this is a prelude to an uprising against global dictatorship and international dictatorship, which is dictatorship of the corrupt and ominous network of Zionist and arrogant powers. Today, international tyranny and international dictatorship has been embodied by dictatorship of the US, the allies of the US and the satanic and dangerous Zionist network. Today, they are imposing their dictatorship on the whole world through different methods and various means. What you did in Egypt, [you] did in Tunisia, [you] did in Libya, and are doing in Yemen and are doing in Bahrain, its motives are powerfully present in other countries; it is part of the struggle against this dangerous and harmful dictatorship which has been exerting pressure on humanity for two centuries. The historical turn I mentioned, is a change from domination of such dictatorship to the emancipation of nations and the rule of spiritual and divine values; this is sure to happen; do not doubt it.

This is the divine promise [that] "God will verily help those who help Him." The Almighty emphasizes that if you help him, He will help you. This may seem to be a remote possibility in an ordinary approach and in terms of materialistic calculations; however, many things looked improbable, but they actually happened. Did you think one year or [even] two or three months ago that the tyrant of Egypt would be so humiliated and destroyed? If somebody had told you then that the dependent, corrupt regime of Mubarak would fall, you might have doubted it; but it did happen. If somebody claimed two years ago that such strange events would take place in North Africa, most of you would have disbelieved. If somebody had said that in a country like Lebanon, a group of faithful youth would defeat the Zionist regime and the well-equipped Zionist army, nobody would have believed them; but [all of] these [things] did happen. If somebody had said that the Islamic Republic would be able to resist 32 years against all this adversity from the East and the West, and would become progressively stronger and advanced, nobody would believed them; but it did happen. "Allah has promised you many gains that you shall acquire, and He has given you these beforehand; and He has restrained the hands of men from you; that it may be a Sign for the Believers, and that He may guide you to a Straight Path." Such triumphs are divine signs; these are signs of the mighty power of Truth that the Almighty is showing us. When people enter the arena, when we enter what we have into the arena, the victory will surely come from God. The Almighty will show us the path. "And those who strive in Our (cause), We will certainly guide them to our Paths." God both guides, and helps and makes people achieve lofty goals provided that we are present in the arena.

What has happened up to this day is very great. The West ruled the Islamic Ummah for two hundred years by relying on their scientific advances; they conquered the Islamic countries; some directly and some indirectly with the help of local dictators. The UK, France, and ultimately, the United States - which is the Great Satan - gained domination over the Islamic Ummah. They did everything they could to humiliate the Islamic Ummah; they planted the cancerous tumor of Zionism in the heart of the Middle East - this sensitive region - and offered it all-out support and were sure that their goals and policies would be realized in this very important part of the world. However, faith-based aspirations, Islamic aspirations, [and] people's presence have disturbed all these evil dreams; [they] have impeded all these goals.

Today, the global arrogance feels grounded in the face of the Islamic Awakening. You are triumphant; you are victorious; the future belongs to you. What has been done [thus far] has been a great job; but this is not the end of it all - this is important - this is just the beginning; it has [just] started. Muslim nations should continue their struggle so that they would be able to eliminate enemies in different arenas.

[Our] struggle is a struggle of aspirations, determinations and wills. Any side, whose determination is more powerful, will prevail. That side, whose heart leans towards the Almighty, will be victorious. "If Allah helps you, none can overcome you." If you earn the help of God, nobody will prevail over you; you will proceed. We want Muslim nations which make up the great Islamic Ummah to be free, independent, dignified, but not humiliated; we want them to organize their lives in accordance with progressive and lofty rules of Islam; and Islam can [help them]. They held us back in scientific terms for many long years; they trampled on our culture [and] did away with our independence. Today, we have woken up. We will conquer scientific arenas one after the other.

When the Islamic Republic was established 30 years ago, the enemies said the Islamic Revolution had won, but it would not be able to manage the fields of life one after another and would [eventually] retreat. Today, our youth, thanks to Islam, have been able to accomplish great tasks in the field of science, which they themselves had never imagined in the past. Today, thanks to their reliance on God, Iranian youths have gained great scientific achievements: they enrich uranium, produce and grow stem cells, and take great steps in biotechnology, conquer the space; [they do] all of this by reliance on God and with the slogan of “God is Great.”


We [should] not underestimate out capabilities. Among the biggest scourges that the Western culture has inflicted upon Muslim countries were two false and deviatory illusions: one [was] the inculcation of the inability of the Muslim nations; making them believe that “you are not capable of anything, neither in the field of politics, not in the field of economy, nor in the field of science.” They said “you are weak.” We [in] Muslim countries have retained the wrong opinion for tens of long years and lagged behind. The second suggestion and second belief they injected in us was the infinity and invincibility of the might of our enemies. So they made us believe that the US could not be defeated, the West could not be driven back; [that] we had to bear and forebear in confrontation with them.

Today, it has become clear to the Muslim nations that both of these beliefs are absolutely wrong. Muslim nations can move ahead; they can revive the majesty and magnificence of Muslims, who were once at the peak of glory and summits of scientific, political and social splendor and the enemy would have to retreat in various fields.

This age is the century of Islam. This age is the century of spirituality. Islam gifts nations with both rationality and spirituality; an Islam of rationality, an Islam of contemplation and thought, an Islam of spirituality, an Islam of reliance on God, an Islam of Jihad, an Islam of efforts, an Islam of action; these are all Godly and Islamic teachings for us.

What is significant today is that the enemy, faced with the blow it has more or less suffered in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and other countries in the region, is busy plotting and conspiring. [One] should be aware of the enemy schemes. [One] should be careful so that they would not steal people's revolutions from them, [or] deviate courses. Use others' experience. The enemy does a lot to deviate revolutions, to neutralize movements, to foil endeavors [that are made] and the blood that had been shed; one should be careful, one should be alert. You youths are the engines of these movements; be alert, be aware.

We have had great experiences in the past 32 years. It is 32 years since we have been combating the enemies, we have been resisting, and gained victory over our enemies. There has been no single scheme that the West and the US have refrained from. They have not done everything, because they could not. They did all they afforded and at all points they were smacked in the mouth and defeated. It will be the same afterwards. After this, too, they will fail in all schemes against the Islamic Republic; this is a divine promise to us and we have no doubt.

We do not doubt the trueness of divine promises. We do not suspect God. God blames those who doubt Him; and “He may punish the Hypocrites, men and women, and the Polytheists men and women, who imagine an evil opinion of Allah. On them is a round of Evil: the Wrath of Allah is on them: He has cursed them and got Hell ready for them: and evil is it for a destination.” The promise of God is a true promise. We have entered the field, inside the battlefield -- the Iranian nation has brought all its facilities onto the stage; thus, divine victory is definite. In all other countries it is the same. But we should be alert. We all should be alert. We all should be careful about the enemies' deceits. The enemy tries to neutralize movements, and sow discord.

Today, the Islamic movement in the Muslim world does not know Shia or Sunni; does not distinguish between Shafi'ite or Hanafite or Jafari or Maliki or Hanbali or Zaidi; does not know Arab or Persian or other nationalities; in this great field, all are present. We should try so the enemy may not divide us. We should all feel like brothers, and specify the goal. The goal is Islam; the goal is a Qur'anic and Islamic government. Of course there are commonalities among Muslim countries; there are differences, too. There is no single pattern for all Muslim countries. In different countries, geographical conditions, historical conditions, social conditions are different; but there are common principles: we are all the enemies of the arrogant powers; we all oppose the evil domination and rule of the West, [and] we all oppose the existence of the cancerous tumor of Israel.

Wherever there is a feeling that what is being done benefits Israel, benefits the United States, it is where we have to be alert; we [should] know that this move is an outsider's move; a stranger's move; it is not a friendly move. Wherever a move is an Islamic and anti-Zionist and anti-arrogance and anti-oppression and anti-corruption one, it is where the move is the right move; it is where all friends are; we are Shias, we are Sunnis, we are from this or that country. It makes no difference; we should all think alike.

Today, this is a basic and tangible example; all the media organizations in the world are trying to isolate the people of Bahrain and the movement in Bahrain. What is their claim about this? It is the issue of Shia and Sunni [faiths]. They want to create divisions, want to create distinction and demarcation. There are no differences among those Muslims and believers who follow this or that Islamic faith. The common among them all is Islam. The common point is the Muslim Ummah. The common point is solidarity among the Muslim Ummah. The key to the continuation and victory of the movement is reliance on God, confidence in God, trust in God and maintaining unity and integrity.

My dear ones, my children, be aware lest the enemy might not hinder your movement. God tells His prophet on two occasions: “Therefore stand firm (in the straight Path) as thou art commanded,” stand firm. Standing firm means resisting, carrying on, pursuing a path, refusing to stop, it is the key.

We should move ahead. This movement is a successful movement because it has bright horizons. The horizon is bright. The future is a very bright future. A day will come when the Muslim Ummah, with the power and might of God, will rise to utmost majesty and independence. Muslim nations [should] while retaining their specifications and distinctions, stand under the single banner of the invitation to God and Islam; should be all together. It is then that the Muslim Ummah will find its glory.

We in our countries have underground resources, strategic regions, plentiful natural facilities, remarkable figures, talented and advanced human resources; we should make efforts. God will bless these efforts, God willing.

I [should] tell you youths that the future belongs to you. With the power of the Almighty God and with His permission, you youths will see that day and God willing, you will be able to leave your achievement to posterity.

May God's mercy, compassion and blessings be upon you!

A Proposal to Unite Muslim World - A Union of Muslim Countries (UMC)

Bismillahi rahmani raheem,
A critic of Islam said, “Even if Islam were to sweep the entire area from South Africa to Philippines we [i.e the western powers] need not fear for they are utterly and hopelessly disunited. The Islamic world would probably turn in on itself over sectarian and national divisions before it would be a major threat to even India.” I wish it was not but I fear this is the truth. Today Muslims number 1.5 billion and counting. Oil drives the world and 3/4 of the proven oil reserves lie under Muslims feet. Islam the religion of Muslims is a potent force as it was when it first spread out of Arabia 14 centuries ago. From the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific isles is a landmass spanning 15,000 km inhabited by Muslim majorities.
Yet how do Muslims figure in the world arena? Sad to say it’s nothing less that pathetic. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of ALL the Muslim countries combined is less than or equal to that of France. 15 years ago when 50,000 Muslim women are raped by Christian Serbs in Bosnia, Muslims watched as spectators. Now when country after country falls to the hands of American and other neo-colonialists Muslims look on helplessly. When Lebanon is bombed to Stone Age and Palestine is no more we heat our seats. Millions starving in Africa, many more oppressed by cruel dictators in Central Asia does not disturb the Muslim peace of mind. YaAllah! I dare say they’ll be heating their chairs even if Mecca is vaporized or millions butchered in Saudi Arabia and Iran. “The less we think about the Muslims the happier we’ll be,” seems the thought of the day.
Disunited as we are I don’t think Allah will help us if we don’t try to correct ourselves. Allah’s help comes only when we change ourselves for the better. The darkest hours are the nearest to dawn. There are ways out of this seemingly stalemate situation of the Muslim world.
Presented here is a vision to unite Muslims countries. If it can be realized there’ll be a Muslim federation or union stretching from the shores of Atlantic to the isles in the edge of the Pacific Ocean. First let’s look at the some facts.

Map of the union of Muslim countries we made for the article - "A Proposal to Unite Muslim World – A Union of Muslim Countries (UMC)" at 1MuslimNation.com

The map shows the current worldwide Muslim population distribution. The vision foreseen here is for a united union/federation of Muslim countries. Lets call it The Union of Muslim Countries or simply UMC for now, for easier reference. Here is the map of Union based on the above Muslim distribution. The countries with a Muslim majority population will belong to the Union of Muslim Countries (UMC). This is map of the intercontinental UMC.

The Union of Muslim Countries or UMC could be like the European Union, and inshaallah can be formed in phases and stages via discussions, consensus, coordination etc. The current national borders, nation governments etc. will be intact, but there will also be a federal government and parliament for the whole UMC. The people from one part of the federation, for instance a citizen of Nigeria would be able to go to Bangladesh or Malaysia without the need for a passport or other travel documents, just like within the EU. An investor from Kuwait will be able to start a business enterprise in Senegal or Pakistan as easily as he would in Kuwait. An Indonesian, Pakistani farmer will send his harvest to be sold to Moroccans and Yemenis without much hassle or import duties he presently has to pay. People within the UMC will be able to move and settle anywhere within the UMC union’s borders as if in the same country. The movement of people and goods within the union will have as much freedom as available in a country now. All people irrespective of gender, religion, nationality, caste, colour or language currently living within the UMC border will belong and be citizens of the UMC. They’ll have all the rights they enjoy now. There’s no need for Muslims living outside of the UMC federation to come and live in a UMC country, but of course if anyone wants they’ll be able to settle and obtain citizenship of any of the UMC countries be a citizen of UMC.
It’s worth remembering 60 years ago a European Union (EU) was a dream of a few enlightened people. But today it is a reality. And also Muslim countries have an advantage European nations didn’t have back then. That is, there always exists an urge in the Muslim psyche for something like a Caliphate or an intercontinental Islamic state covering the whole Muslim world. Similar proposals like these have been voiced before. That’s good. But to bear fruits, these proposal and ideas needs to reach as many people as possible. So as the first step to form a Union of Muslim Countries that can protect and act on behalf of Muslim peoples and countries interests is to spread the idea to many as possible.
Leaving things as it is or engaging in wishful thinking without action or allowing and appealing to non-Muslims Super Powers and countries to decide the fate of our Muslim people and our lands, in all likelihood leads to the devastation of both. We Muslims must decide our future and not leave it at the hands of other powerful nations. We are making a grave mistake in underestimating the abilities, resources and knowledge Allah has given us. Inshaallah if we try we can make it.
August 13th, 2006

Washington’s crimes against Iran

Peter Symonds

The murder of Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan on January 11 is further testimony to the criminality of US foreign policy. Despite the official denials of the Obama administration, the assassination bears all the hallmarks of an operation carried out by the Israel intelligence agency, Mossad, in league with the US.

The Iranian regime has taken the unusual step of addressing a letter to Washington declaring that it has “reliable documents and evidence that this terrorist act was planned, guided and supported by the CIA.” A second letter to the British embassy alleges that the British intelligence agency MI6 “assisted” in the plot.

Roshan is the fourth Iranian nuclear scientist to be murdered over the past two years as part of a barely disguised covert war inside Iran that has included unexplained explosions at key military and nuclear facilities and the use of the Stuxnet computer worm to infect and damage nuclear equipment. Several of the assassinations, including the latest, involved the same modus operandi—a “sticky” magnetic bomb planted by motorbike on the side of a car.

While implausible, the Obama administration’s “categorical denial” of any involvement in the latest assassination serves a definite legal purpose. The White House rationalises its murderous campaign by drone attack inside Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries as supposedly sanctioned by the authorization for use of military force passed by Congress in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. The killing of Iranian citizens, or providing aid or intelligence to Mossad to do so, can hardly be legally justified with reference to a 2001 resolution ostensibly directed against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The assassination of Roshan and the other scientists is a clear breach of an executive order dating back to the 1970s that officially bans assassinations, opening up the Obama administration to legal action.

The involvement of the US in assassination and sabotage inside Iran raises fresh questions about the killing of the young woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, at the height of US support for the so-called Green Movement protests in Iran in June 2009. The US and international media immediately blamed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and turned the victim into a martyr to whip up public support for efforts to install a regime sympathetic to Western interests. It is at least as plausible that Neda was set up for murder by US or Israeli agents, with her death conveniently filmed, in order to add further fuel to the hysterical media campaign against Ahmadinejad’s election victory.

As in the case of every other crime of US imperialism, the American media has stepped in to justify the campaign of sabotage and murder inside Iran. A front-page New York Times article published January 12 and entitled “Adversaries of Iran Said to Be Stepping Up Covert Actions” reported what is commonly accepted in the US intelligence community—that Israel was responsible for the murder and that the US, in alliance with Israel, is engaged in “covert efforts against the Iranian nuclear program.”

The Times does not criticise the criminal and reckless character of these actions, but accepts them as a legitimate tool of foreign policy. It quotes, without comment, Patrick Clawson, director of the Iran Security Initiative at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, as saying, “Sabotage and assassination is the way to go, if you can do it.”

The brazen defence by the Times and virtually the entire establishment media in the US of assassination as a legitimate tactic underscores the criminalization of US foreign policy, particularly over the past twenty years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It also expresses the collapse of any democratic consciousness or commitment to democratic rights within the ruling class.

The hypocrisy of the media establishment knows no bounds. Only three months ago, the American press was demanding retaliation over entirely unsubstantiated claims by the Obama administration that Iran was involved in an improbable plan to hire a Mexican drug cartel to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington on American soil.

Like so much of the commentary on the assassination of Roshan, the Times focuses not on its criminality, but the efficacy of covert action in achieving US ends. “The multifaceted covert campaign against Iran has appeared to offer an alternative to war,” the article declared. “But at most it has slowed, not halted, Iran’s enrichment of uranium.”

The British-based Sunday Times yesterday published a blow-by-blow account, based on unnamed sources, of the carefully-planned Mossad bombing of Roshan’s car in peak hour traffic in Tehran. Significantly, according to one Israeli source, “the killings were a precursor to a military strike, not merely an alternative, to make it more difficult for Iran to rebuild facilities if they are bombed.”

In reality, the killing of top nuclear scientists and the sabotage of facilities was never to stop or significantly hinder Iran’s nuclear programs, which Tehran has repeatedly insisted are for peaceful purposes. Rather, the murders are provocations calculated to incite retaliation by Tehran that can, in turn, be exploited to further demonise Iran and provide the pretext for war.

The murders go hand-in-hand with an intensification of economic warfare and a military build-up against Iran since the beginning of the year. The US, in collaboration with its European allies, is in the process of imposing a de facto embargo on Iran’s oil exports that threatens to collapse the Iranian economy. The latest sanctions are being imposed unilaterally, without even the fig leaf of a UN Security Council resolution. The US is not only menacing Iran, but threatening penalties against those countries opposed to the embargo, such as China.

At the same time, the Pentagon has just doubled the number of US aircraft carrier battle groups in the immediate vicinity of the Persian Gulf, greatly enhancing its ability to wage a devastating aerial and naval war against Iran.

The killing of Roshan underlines the fact that the US will stop at nothing as it seeks to destabilise the Iranian regime and replace it with a more pliable alternative. Washington’s predatory activities in the Middle East are being driven by the vast erosion of the global economic position of the United States. As it has already done in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, the US is using its military muscle to undermine the economic and strategic interests of its main European and Asian rivals.

The same political gangsters in the White House who are plotting against Tehran are also responsible for the devastation of the living standards of the American working class. The escalating propaganda campaign against Iran and heightened danger of a catastrophic new war serve as a convenient political diversion from sharpening class tensions at home.

The American and international working class must oppose any war, covert or overt, against Iran on the basis of a socialist and internationalist strategy directed at abolishing the crisis-ridden capitalist system, which can offer nothing but plummeting living standards and the slide towards a third world war.

Peter Symonds 

Sanctioning Syria: Who is the Real Loser?

By Dr. Elias Akleh - Intifada-Palestine.com

Dr. Elias Akleh is an Arab writer from a Palestinian descent born in the town of Beit Jala. His family was first evicted from Haifa after the “Nakba” of 1948, then from Beit Jala after the “Nakseh” of 1967. He lives now in the US, and publishes his articles on the web in both English and Arabic.


(Corona,Calif.) - Economic sanctions are arrogant open acts of war against other nations. Their goal is to devastate the lower and middle classes and to weaken the country. The regime of the imposing country believes that its economy is superior and is so influential that other countries are so dependent on it and could not survive without it.

Economic sanctions are deceitfully justified as punishing a ruthless political regime and protecting human rights of an oppressed people. Such people are the most devastated when their economy is hurt while the ruling regime may become more oppressive in its reaction in order to protect and to preserve itself. Case in point is the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children who died due to lack of medicine during the economic embargo after the Gulf War while the Iraqi regime had its own reserve of all kinds of medications stored for itself.

The sanctioning regime hopes that the sanctioned population would hurt so bad that, with some external encouragement and hope for economic relief; they would rise up and topple their own regime. The other scenario is that the military industry of the sanctioned regime becomes so weak and ineffective that the regime would not stand a chance in any military confrontation, similar to what happened in Iraq.

Such scenarios take place in a country that is faced with sanctions by the majority of the international community. On the other hand countries facing partial sanctions rise up to the challenge and become more self-sufficient and more independent. Cuba, with the longest economic embargo, North Korea and Iran are examples of such countries. Due to its large size and important natural resources, Iran had advanced its industry even to achieve nuclear technology.

Due to its leadership in resisting the Zionist expansionist plans in the Middle East, and for supporting the national resistance and liberation groups of Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas, and due to its alliance with Iran, Syria was subjected to many Western schemes of regime change. The whole Arab Spring movement has been primarily orchestrated and geared towards regime change in Syria, that is meant eventually to lead to a regime change in Iran; a frontier for Russia and China. Under the justification of protecting the lives of Syrian civilians rebelling against their government and protecting their humanitarian rights, Syria is subjected to economic sanctions imposed first by Western countries then by the Arab League.

Economic sanctions are not new to Syria, who was subjected to such sanctions since mid 1970’s imposed by the US. Since then Syria had risen to this challenge and had developed immunity against sanctions. What is new today is that the Arab League, with many of its member countries, joined by Turkey, had also imposed economic sanctions against Syria. The Arab League, with the leadership of Qatar, has been manipulated and used as a Trojan horse by an American/British/French triad to topple Syrian regime and to inflict the country with a civil war, similar to Libya, in the service of terrorist Israel and the expansionist Zionist plan in the Middle East.

Syrian economy is not dependent nor tied to any Western economy, thus these sanctions have no real effect on Syria. Syria is mainly an agricultural country and thus is mostly self-sufficient except in the technological sector which is filled mainly by Asian countries such as China, India, Russia and Iran. Also Syria has good economic trade with some Latin American countries.

Many neighboring Arab countries such as the Gulf States, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon import and are dependent on Syrian agricultural products. Lebanon and Iraq rejected the Arab League sanction and continue trade with Syria. The mostly desert Jordan shares borders with Syria and is heavily dependent on Syrian food products and water resources. Many Jordanian students study in Syrian universities. Jordan will hurt greatly by the sanctions. So the Jordanian king requested the Arab League to relief Jordan and to be treated as an exception in the sanctions.

Expecting the sanction Syria had withdrawn its money from the rest of the Arab central banks, especially the Jordanian Central Bank, causing a shortage and crises in these banks. Gulf States, especially Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have to compensate these shortages. Food prices in Syrian neighboring countries may double to cover the extra expenses of importing food from other resources. Tourism industry will also suffer greatly. Tourists, who used to travel to neighboring Syria, have now to pay extra for travelling to farther countries.

Some energy companies, who are invested in Syria and now withdrawing, will also suffer greatly for abiding with the sanction. French companies are the largest losers in these sanctions. French Total Oil Company, Lafarge Construction Company, and Airbus Company will lost millions of dollars worth of investment in Syria.

Royal Dutch Shell had also announced its withdrawal from Syria with a loss of 40% shares of oil production; a huge investment in the industry.

Canadian Suncor Energy, the second largest Canadian oil company, had announced cessation of its oil, gas and electricity production in Syria. Suncor had big investments that include 50-50 joint venture with the Syrian General Petroleum Corporation producing about 80 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, and roughly 1,000 barrels of oil per day. Suncor’s cessation will cost the company a lot of money and privileges.

Syria used to export about 150,000 oil barrel per day to European countries, whose revenue comprised roughly 30% of Syria total revenue. The withdrawal of these energy companies and the ban on oil imports from Syria are planned to have a great impact on Syria’s ability to produce and export oil and gas, and thus devastate the country’s economy. Fortunately this is far away from reality and the real loss was to these energy companies and to European consumers, who have now to pay more money to compensate for these losses and to cover the cost of importing oil from more expensive sources.

The withdrawal of these European energy companies had created a golden opportunity for other eager energy companies to fill this vacancy. State-owned companies of countries, who rejected the sanctions, including the China National Petroleum Corporation and India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, had made significant investments in Syrian energy industry offering Syria better deals than their European counterparts. Russia and Iran are expected soon to follow. Iran had already signed an all inclusive trade agreement with Syria last Tuesday December 13th.

Turkey’s role in the Syrian crisis draws a special attention. In the recent past Turkey has improved its trade dealing with Syria tremendously. Now-a-days Turkey had turned its face complete 180 degrees and started criticizing and even directly attacking the Syrian regime. It also seemed that Turkey, a non-Arab country, had occupied the Syrian seat in the Arab League. Turkey had played a great role with Qatar in persuading the Arab League to declare the sanctions against Syria. Turkey was the first to adopt the sanctions by freezing $110 million of Syrian money in its banks, by imposing high taxes on imported Syrian products, and by declaring a safe zone on its Syrian borders to protect what is called Free Syrian Army (FSA); a terrorist group who attack the Syrian army and terrorize Syrian civilians loyal to Bashar Al-Assad.

Turkey’s slap had returned to its face. Turkey has more than $250 million worth of investment in Syria that will be lost. Syria had countered with banning Turkish goods. Turkish sanction came as blessings in disguise to the Syria, whose industry, comprising 27% of its economy, had suffered by the past Turkish/Syrian trade agreement due to the cheap Turkish goods that were favored over the local Syrian goods. After the Turkish sanction the local Syrian industries got revived. Recep Tayyip Ordogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, is faced now with huge criticism from oppositional parties as well as his own accusing him of harboring terrorist group (FSA) in Turkey.

The economic sanctions have important political awakening in the Arab nation in general and the Syrians in particular. The decisions of the Arab League in dealing with the Syrian crisis in particular and with the Arab Spring movement in general, particularly in Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain, had shown the League without any further doubt as a political tool manipulated by the West to oppress Arabs, keep their land divided, and to open their natural resources for theft. It had never served any of the Arab’s national causes. In the primary Arab cause; the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the League had given Israel 10 long years, so far, to respond to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative while not giving Syria more than just one week to deal with its rebels before imposing sanctions. For rebuffing their Peace Initiative major Arab leaders had welcomed Israel to open embassies in the capitals rather than fighting Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

While aggressively and hastily supporting the alleged popular Syrian revolution against the ruling regime the League refuse to accept support petition letters from leaders of genuine popular revolution against very oppressive regimes of Yemen and Bahrain.

When Syrian citizens rallied behind their leadership, the president of the supposed Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghalioun, hurried back to his Western handlers licking their hands begging for more support. He declared that once receiving Syrian leadership he would cut ties with Iran, end arms supplies to Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas, and would negotiate with Israel over Golan Heights.

Economic sanctions against Syria are blessings in disguise. Economically they challenged Syrians to become more independent and look for other avenues for trade. The sanctions rather than splitting Syrian from Iran have really pushed Syria deeper into Iran’s arms. They have also awakened Syrian national pride and loyalty to their country and leadership. The realities of many Arab leaders and the Arab League have been clearly exposed as Western puppets.

Iran’s cyber attack brings down US “stealth” drone

Contrary to early Western media reports designed to de-flect the fallout from a major tactical reversal, this Lockheed RQ-170 drone did not “crash” in eastern Iran. In fact it was reprogrammed by Iranian engineers and counterespionage experts, during its illegal reconnaissance mission into Iranian airspace in violation of multiple international laws, to land safely at an undisclosed location in Iran.


American hubris is predicated primarily on its claim to technological superiority. This is best reflected in the radar-evading stealth technology used in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called drones. To be sure, these are deadly weapons. Ask the Pakistanis, Yemenis and the Somalis — principal victims of its lethal wares. American operators sitting thousands of miles away manipulate them to unleash missiles, incinerating people with the push of a button. This video-game type of warfare has exacted a heavy toll in human life.


The US has not only deployed a vast array of UAVs in Afghanistan and Pakistan but also against Islamic Iran. In the latter case, these are used to spy on Iran’s military and nuclear installations by intruding into its airspace in clear violation of international law as well as an agreement signed with Iran in January 1981. But American rulers — military and civilian — have never been constrained by legal niceties. Rules are for others; America does what it likes and people must get used to it.


Americans had become so intoxicated on the prowess of their drone technology that they thought it was impossible to detect much less bring down. This is nothing new; throughout history bullies have relied on superior weapons. Goliath tried to intimidate opponents by his massive size and body amour until David (a) knocked him out with a slingshot. Abraha’s elephant was driven back by pebble-carrying birds before it could destroy the Ka‘bah; Hizbullah knocked out Israel’s Merkava tanks with shoulder-held missiles in 2006 and now Islamic Iran has brought down a US drone by overriding its computer controls.


On December 4, when Iran’s military commanders announced they had brought down the RQ-170 Sentinel, one of the most sophisticated aircraft in the US drone fleet, it generated global excitement. American officials have not denied deploying a fleet of aircraft against Iran to carry out surveillance of its military and nuclear installations. This is an act of war and if any law governed the world, American rulers would be tried as war criminals. But there is only one law operable today: that of the jungle where might makes right. It is revealing that instead of apologizing for violating Iran’s airspace, US President Barack Obama had the gall to demand Tehran return the drone!


In the war against Islamic Iran, going on for more than 30 years now, successive US regimes have used numerous weapons from terror bombing campaigns, assassination of its top leaders, to war unleashed through Iraq. All these have failed to destroy the Islamic system. In recent years, several Iranian scientists have been assassinated in what is clearly a US-Israeli-British-sponsored campaign. Mujahideen-e Khalq and Jundullah (proxy) terrorists may have pulled the trigger but the forces behind these evil acts are unmistakable. American officials have publicly admitted boosting sales of bunker-busting munitions, fighter jets and other military hardware to Persian Gulf states as well as to Zionist Israel, in attempts to undermine Islamic Iran. The US and its European allies have also imposed stiff sanctions against Tehran to bring it to its knees by crippling it economically, so far unsuccessfully.


But we must return to the story of Iran’s downing of the much-vaunted US drone. Initially, American officials said the drone had malfunctioned and its controllers lost contact. If this were so, the drone’s electronic system would have automatically destroyed the aircraft. It was blind faith in the superiority of their technology that the Americans initially dismissed Iranian claims of bringing down the plane through cyber attack. Iranian specialists captured the drone by exploiting what they knew was its weakest point. They hacked into its GPS system and re-configured its coordinates to make it land at a chosen location of their choice. This was made possible when Iranian electronic warfare specialists, using knowledge of the drone’s GPS system acquired from studying previously downed drones — also claimed by Iranian officials and equally strenuously denied by the Americans — developed a technique that allowed them to cut off the drone’s communications links before reprogramming its GPS to make it land. The fact that the drone was recovered in almost perfect condition has confirmed Iranian claims. “The GPS navigation is the weakest point. By putting noise [jamming] on the communications, you force the bird into autopilot. This is where the bird loses its brain,” said an Iranian engineer, a member of the specialists’ team that brought down the drone.


Iran’s electronic specialists then used a “spoofing” technique which took into “account precise landing altitudes as well as latitudinal and longitudinal data” and caused the drone to “…land on its own where we wanted it to, without having to crack the remote-control signals and communications.” Once the “bird loses its brain”, reprogramming it to land at another location is a simple process, according to Iranian specialists.


When the drone was shown on Iranian television in near-perfect condition, it sent the Pentagon and the entire military top brass into panic. How could people living under stiff sanctions and denied any “Western technology” for decades manage to achieve such a feat, they asked themselves. This is where the Muslims’ reliance on Allah (swt) comes into play. When the US imposed sanctions against the Islamic Republic in 1980, Imam Khomeini had said this was a blessing in disguise. This provided an opportunity for the country to break out of the dependency cycle that has stymied the development and growth of other countries in the world. Iran’s development of cyber capabilities is the direct result of the liberation of the mind from dependency on others and the self-confidence that comes with reliance only on Allah (swt).


True, US sanctions have hurt Iran’s economy but its ability to stand on its feet brings immense satisfaction. The US and its allies would do well to realize that Islamic Iran has development capabilities far beyond the West’s wildest imagination. They must learn to live with this reality or be prepared for many more surprises.