The writer, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, delivered this speech on behalf of the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) to 30,000 anti-war protesters on Oct. 27 in San Francisco.
As catastrophic as the Iraq war has been, the U.S. government is now planning a new attack on Iran.
The propaganda against Iran today sounds just like the propaganda issued before attacking Iraq.
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For over a decade, Bush I, Clinton and Bush II demonized Saddam Hussein and claimed to be saving Iraqis from his “tyranny,” while starving them through sanctions.
Today, the president of Iran is being demonized. Bush now claims to want to save the people of Iran from Mahmood Ahmadinejad.
They accused Iraq of supporting terrorism and having a hand in 9-11. Today, they are accusing Iran of supporting terrorism everywhere.
They accused Iraq of having weapons of mass destruction. They warned of the danger of a mushroom cloud. They dismissed reports from the weapons inspectors indicating no evidence of WMD in Iraq.
Today, they are accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons. They are dismissing IAEA reports that there is no evidence of a nuclear weapons program. Instead of the mushroom cloud, we now have Bush’s warning of “World War III.”
What they really wanted was a regime in Iraq subservient to the United States and Israel; a regime that would invite U.S. oil companies to plunder Iraq’s oil; a regime that would open up Iraq to multi-national corporations.
Well, if we understand the real reason why Iraq was invaded, we understand why Iran is being targeted now for regime change.
The Iranian people know all about regime change. In 1953, Iran had a democratically elected prime minister.
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So, the CIA carried out a coup and overthrew Mossadegh. Iran fell under the tyranny of the Shah, a U.S. puppet, for a quarter century.
The war drive is not about the interests of the people of the United States. It’s about the interests of the corporations.
Iran is not a danger to anybody. It is not Iran that has over 700 military bases in 130 countries; it is the United States. It is not Iran that is armed with 15,000 nuclear warheads; it is the United States. It is not Iran that has a history of using nuclear bombs; it is the United States.
It is not Iran that threatens to bomb other countries; it is the United States.
It is not the regimes in Iran, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela and Cuba that are threatening the world. It is the Bush regime; and it has the support of the Democrats.
We must continue to build an anti-war movement, independent of the two corporate parties, to stop the greatest threat to humanity today, the U.S. government.
The fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, March 19, will be a “No Business as Usual” day, with people walking out of jobs, schools and taking other actions to protest this war. Join that protest.
