VIPS MEMO: Doubling Down Into Yet Another ‘March of Folly,’ This Time on Iran

“We write with a sense of urgency suggesting you avoid doubling down on catastrophe,” VIPS tells Donald Trump in its latest memo to the president.

January 3, 2020

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

SUBJECT: Doubling Down Into Another “March of Folly”?

The drone assassination in Iraq of Iranian Quds Force commander General Qassem Soleimani evokes memory of the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand in June 1914, which led to World War I. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quick to warn of “severe revenge.” That Iran will retaliate at a time and place of its choosing is a near certainty. And escalation into World War III is no longer just a remote possibility, particularly given the multitude of vulnerable targets offered by our large military footprint in the region and in nearby waters.

What your advisers may have avoided telling you is that Iran has not been isolated. Quite the contrary. One short week ago, for example, Iran launched its first joint naval exercises with Russia and China in the Gulf of Oman, in an unprecedented challenge to the U.S. in the region.

Cui Bono?

It is time to call a spade a spade. The country expecting to benefit most from hostilities between Iran and the U.S. is Israel (with Saudi Arabia in second place). As you no doubt are aware, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fighting for his political life. He continues to await from you the kind of gift that keeps giving. Likewise, it appears that you, your son-in-law, and other myopic pro-Israel advisers are as susceptible to the influence of Israeli prime ministers as was former President George W. Bush. Some commentators are citing your taking personal responsibility for providing Iran with a casus belli as unfathomable. Looking back just a decade or so, we see a readily distinguishable pattern.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon played a huge role in getting George W. Bush to destroy Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Usually taciturn, Gen. Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, warned in August 2002 that “U.S. action against Iraq … could turn the whole region into a cauldron.” Bush paid no heed, prompting Scowcroft to explain in Oct. 2004 to The Financial Times that former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had George W. Bush “mesmerized”; that Sharon has him “wrapped around his little finger.” (Scowcroft was promptly relieved of his duties as chair of the prestigious President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.)

In Sept. 2002, well before the attack on Iraq, Philip Zelikow, who was Executive Secretary of the 9/11 Commission, stated publicly in a moment of unusual candor, “The ‘real threat’ from Iraq was not a threat to the United States. The unstated threat was the threat against Israel.” Zelikow did not explain how Iraq (or Iran), with zero nuclear weapons, would not be deterred from attacking Israel, which had a couple of hundred such weapons.

Zombie Generals

When a docile, Peter-principle, “we-are-still-winning-in-Afghanistan” U.S. military leadership sends more troops (mostly from a poverty draft) to be wounded and killed in hostilities with Iran, Americans are likely, this time, to look beneath the equally docile media for answers as to why. Was it for Netanyahu and the oppressive regime in Israel? Many Americans will wake up, and serious backlash is likely.

Events might bring a rise in the kind of anti-Semitism already responsible for domestic terrorist attacks. And when bodybags arrive from abroad, there may be for families and for thinking Americans, a limit to how much longer the pro-Israel mainstream media will be able to pull the wool over their eyes.

Those who may prefer to think that Gen. Scowcroft got up on the wrong side of the bed on Oct. 13, 2004, the day he gave the interview to The Financial Times may profit from words straight from Netanyahu’s mouth. On Aug. 3, 2010, in a formal VIPS Memorandum for your predecessor, we provided some “Netanyahu in his own words.” We include an excerpt here for historical context:

“Netanyahu’s Calculations

Netanyahu believes he holds the high cards, largely because of the strong support he enjoys in our Congress and our strongly pro-Israel media. He reads your [Obama’s] reluctance even to mention controversial bilateral issues publicly during his recent visit as affirmation that he is in the catbird seat in the relationship. 

During election years in the U.S. (including mid-terms), Israeli leaders are particularly confident of the power they and the Likud Lobby enjoy on the American political scene.

Netanyahu’s attitude comes through in a video taped nine years ago and shown on Israeli TV, in which he bragged about how he deceived President Clinton into believing he (Netanyahu) was helping implement the Oslo accords when he was actually destroying them. 

The tape displays a contemptuous attitude toward — and wonderment at — an America so easily influenced by Israel.  Netanyahu says:

America is something that can be easily moved. Moved in the right direction. … They won’t get in our way … Eighty percent of the Americans support us. It’s absurd.”

Israeli columnist Gideon Levy wrote that the video shows Netanyahu to be “a con artist … who thinks that Washington is in his pocket and that he can pull the wool over its eyes,” adding that such behavior “does not change over the years.”

Recommendation

We ended VIPS’ first Memorandum For the President (George W. Bush) with this critique of Secretary of    State Colin Powell’s address at the UN earlier that day:

“No one has a corner on the truth; nor do we harbor illusions that our analysis is “irrefutable or undeniable” [as Powell claimed his was]. But after watching Secretary Powell today, we are convinced that you would be well served if you widened the discussion … beyond the circle of those advisers clearly bent on a war for which we see no compelling reason and from which we believe the unintended consequences are likely to be catastrophic.”

We are all in a liminal moment. We write with a sense of urgency suggesting you avoid doubling down on catastrophe.

For the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity:

William Binney, former Technical Director, World Geopolitical & Military Analysis, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.)

Marshall Carter-Tripp, Foreign Service Officer and Division Director, State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research (ret.)

Daniel Ellsberg, (Associate VIPS)

Graham Fuller, former vice-chairman, National Intelligence Council (ret.)

Robert Furukawa, Capt, Civil Engineer Corps, USN-R, (ret.)

Philip Giraldi, CIA, Operations Officer (ret.)

Mike Gravel, former Adjutant, top secret control officer, Communications Intelligence Service; special agent of the Counter Intelligence Corps and former United States Senator

Matthew Hoh, former Capt., USMC Iraq; Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan (associate VIPS)

Michael S. Kearns, Captain, USAF (ret.); ex-Master SERE Instructor for Strategic Reconnaissance Operations (NSA/DIA) and Special Mission Units (JSOC)

John Kiriakou, former CIA Counterterrorism Officer and former Senior Investigator, Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Karen Kwiatkowski, Lt. Col., US Air Force (ret.), at Office of Secretary of Defense watching the manufacture of lies on Iraq, 2001-2003

Edward Loomis, NSA Cryptologic Computer Scientist and Technical Director (ret.)

Ray McGovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA presidential briefer (ret.)

Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East & CIA political analyst (ret.)

Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, US Army Judge Advocate (ret.)

Scott Ritter, former MAJ., USMC, former UN Weapon Inspector, Iraq

Coleen Rowley, FBI Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel (ret.)

Lawrence Wilkerson, Col. US Army (ret.); former Chief of Staff for Secretary of State; Distinguished Visiting Professor, College of William and Mary (Associate VIPS)

Sarah Wilton, Commander, U.S. Naval Reserve (ret.) and Defense Intelligence Agency (ret.)

Robert Wing, former U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Officer (Associate VIPS)

Ann Wright, U.S. Army Reserve Colonel (ret) and former U.S. Diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq War

 

60 comments for “VIPS MEMO: Doubling Down Into Yet Another ‘March of Folly,’ This Time on Iran

  1. Phillip Rojas
    January 7, 2020 at 11:26

    All of this and more as a direct result of 9/11. A complete investigation of 9/11, including who financed it and how, who were the operative organizations and managers of the planning, execution and coverup, and who were the American traitors involved, is the appropriate starting point for revealing who has been directing US actions and governance. Accountability is paramount.

  2. Drew Hunkins
    January 6, 2020 at 12:01

    Bernie Marcus, Sheldon Adelson, Paul Singer and the rest of the pro-Israel zealots are counting on one thing, that once the Iranian counter-strike occurs it will galvanize an overwhelming anti-Iran fervor on behalf of the American public. Thus, the Zionist power configuration will get their dream come true: Washington fighting Iran on behalf of the hegemonic sadistic racist paranoid state of Israel.

    Ergo, THEE key question of the moment — how do we temper the American appetite for war after the inevitable Iranian counter strike? The Western capitalist mass media (owned and controlled by militarist contractors and Zionists) will go into hyper-drive gassing up the U.S. public’s heads with dangerous jingoism against the Islamic Republic.

    • January 6, 2020 at 22:55

      Yes and things will only get worse until people understand the scope of Zionist control over the U.S..

  3. dean 1000
    January 6, 2020 at 11:27

    I don’t believe the Military, Trump, or Pompeo explanation for the killing of General Soleimani. If it wasn’t a revenge killing it was done to prevent Soleimani from becoming even more politically powerful in Iran. It is a mistake on par with the invasion of Iraq. A mistake your president promised not to repeat.

    This notion of preemptive attack that obsesses Washington’s imperialists does have a rational beginning in the U.S. The constitution acknowledges [Article 10(1)] the right of the 18th century states to preemptively strike an invasion force if an invasion of its territory was imminent. Not a word is said about the preemptory military power of the national government, so it doesn’t have any. A constitution that didn’t want a standing national army had to say something about defense, so the preemptive phrase in section 10. Why give a government without a standing army and only a pitiful navy the lawful power to start a war and then claim its aggression was merely preemptive? The “thirteen raggedy-ass colonies” (LBJ’s description) didn’t really want to tangle with 18th century military powers like England, France, and Spain.
    Shooting at an incoming missile is defensive rather than preemptive. A first strike policy is not preemptive is is wantonly aggressive and an active threat to others. When the advocates of one-man rule start to howl about the inherent war waging powers of presidents they are wrong. Those who want to endow presidents with preemptive powers should propose an amendment. Given the military power of the US there is plenty of time.

    Netanyahu is the bane of his country as well as the U.S.

    • dean 1000
      January 6, 2020 at 11:31

      I should have said Article 1(10)

    • evelync
      January 6, 2020 at 15:56

      dean 1000,
      re “This notion of preemptive attack that obsesses Washington’s imperialists does have a rational beginning in the U.S. The constitution acknowledges [Article 10(1)] the right of the 18th century states to preemptively strike an invasion force if an invasion of its territory was imminent. Not a word is said about the preemptory military power of the national government, so it doesn’t have any.”

      What you write is the simple truth that few in this (U.S.) government seem to pay attention to.
      For some time, I’ve believed that there should be a law that those who serve in our military will only be “put in harm’s way” if there is clear and irrefutable evidence of an attack on the “homeland” as defined by the territory of the 50 states (Puerto Rico and other unincorporated territories should be given the opportunity to vote for or against statehood).
      It is morally and ethically wrong IMO for the people who serve in our U.S. military to be sent, willy nilly, on poorly conceived, inevitably catastrophic, using lies and Cold War deceptions to fight and die because for e.g. our oil is under another country’s sand. The unintended consequences have been catastrophic for us and the people of the other country and inevitably the whole world including the U.S. is LESS SAFE as a result.

      It’s tragic and yet there’s no public conversation regarding what a sane foreign policy should be. Anyone who tries is dismissed with 2 words “national security” to stifle discussion. Empires are built and ultimately fall because of this folly.

      All that said, I’m thinking that our con man president may soon come to realize that he may be in a tight spot here because his base believes he’s better than what we’ve had because he claims he will avoid war.
      As this crisis continues to build, since he loves to keep the political opposition off guard he may jump again like a grasshopper, ignoring his trashing of the Obama administration treaty with Iran and about face to seek his own treaty with Iran to keep the illusion going that he’s anti war….
      I would not be surprised if he took that gamble as he saw himself in trouble…….
      Just wondering what’s coming next……..

  4. robert e williamson jr
    January 5, 2020 at 16:44

    Thank one and all at VIPS, twenty-one individuals from related fields agreeing on this issue should become seminal. Enough is enough. Now would be a great time for the pentagon go grow a pair and step in and support this group and calling on congress to get off it’s ass.

    But alas the Senate is controlled by mentally inept. Pity them, victims of manipulated cognizance from birth.

  5. David Otness
    January 5, 2020 at 14:00

    The Connector.
    Wraith-like. Always.
    Moving about like a djinn in a dust devil. And nobody talks about him in all of this. Now you see him, but mostly you don’t.
    He is as close to equally-tight with both Netanyahu and Trump as these circumstances unequivocally permit.
    Right there in the middle of this seeming muddle, at Ground Zero with both Washington, D.C. and Tel Aviv (or must we acknowledge his sublime efforts in getting Jerusalem recognized as Israel’s capital too,) yet he is invisible.

    I give you Jared Kushner.

    • January 6, 2020 at 23:01

      Know More News has a lot of alarming videos on Kushner. Trump/Kusshner’s symbiotic relationship with Netanyahu and Zionist Israel explains why our media gave Trump billions of dollars in media exposure helping him become president of the United States of Israel.

  6. Eugenie Basile
    January 5, 2020 at 05:23

    Actually the possibility of Trump to be unpredictable and able to double down, is his strength and that will keep a lid on hot escalation. Iran is smart enough to know that any reaction with loss of American lives, will be suicidal for Teheran. Their best strategy would be to target a symbolic, non lethal asset and play the long game…. uniting Iran,Iraq,Syria and some international allies and countering US influence in the ME. The more the U.S. is seen being allied to the Saudi regime and right-wing Israel, the more it will lose its goodwill in the rest of the world.

    • January 6, 2020 at 23:04

      Agreed, Iran has much more to gain by letting the anti-Trump fervor boil over. The last thing anyone needs is for Iran to give Americans a reason to rally around the, ahem, cough, cough, commander in chief.

    • RJOGUILLORY
      January 8, 2020 at 15:05

      What good will?

  7. countykerry
    January 4, 2020 at 18:45

    It seems a terrible way to start the new year….with an assassination !

    Thank you to the VIPS members bringing sanity to the table.

    • January 5, 2020 at 06:13

      The solemn funeral of General Qasem Soleimani murdered by US terrorists outside Baghdad Airport clearly shows Trump is “a terrorist in a suit.” The world must stop pretending and name the criminally insane US warmongers, their CIA, cohorts and paid contractors (mercenaries) as an arch-terrorist group. Time for sane nations to hold council together and declare this fact. For the sake of peaceful coexistence among the peoples of this planet we must stand united against these arch-terrorists creating wars for profit: http://www.alanconlan.org

  8. January 4, 2020 at 16:39

    Pepe Escobar: “According to my best Southwest Asia intel sources, ‘Israel gave the U.S. the coordinates for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani as they wanted to avoid the repercussions of taking the assassination upon themselves.'”

    consortiumnews.com/2020/01/03/pepe-escobar-us-kick-starts-the-raging-20s-by-declaring-war-on-iran/

  9. Drew Hunkins
    January 4, 2020 at 16:18

    Paul Singer, Sheldon Adelson and Bernie Marcus just may get their dream come true: the stupid gentiles in America’s heartland waging a bloody war for Israel on the great Persian land mass.

    Pathetic.

  10. Mary Saunders
    January 4, 2020 at 11:46

    The money. Already, this raised oil prices, before the consequences, which could be what the dark evil wants. If Saudi production and transport gets shut down, this will hurt, well, the Saudis, but also the other determined torture regime in the area. Fracking, alleged to be in trouble in the U.S., also could benefit. I always look at the $.

  11. January 4, 2020 at 11:04

    There will continue to be increasing provocations against Iran, Russia, China, etc. as they threaten the stability of the dollar. Israeli leadership want to balkanize the Middle East. After the next terrible war perhaps the criminals in each government will be brought to justice. Thank you VIPS for trying to speak truth to power. Unfortunately the sociopaths aren’t listening.

    • Quentin
      January 5, 2020 at 14:48

      The U.S. weaponizing the world’s reserve currency is what is theating the dollar AND will cause the rest of the world to turn away from the dollar. The U.S. Government allowing foreign countries to dictate our failed foreign policies and using U.S. troops to fight THEIR WARS is the cause. The best Congress money can buy will be the end of US hegemony and the destruction of our economic system. That is a WHEN not if.

  12. Maynard Seider
    January 4, 2020 at 10:24

    Cui Bono? The most obvious answer is impeachment-wounded Donald Trump. Just as Bill Clinton ordered the bombing of Iraq when he faced impeachment, Trump is hoping to keep impeachment off the front pages and rally the American people behind his crazy, risky assassination of Iran’s top military official.

    • Charlene Richards
      January 5, 2020 at 00:50

      According a show I watched tonight where Jimmy Dore interviewed Max Blumenthal, Republican voters who have been the strongest backers of Trump are souring on Trump because of this.

      As soon as the realization of all this has really sunk into the American voters psyche, Trumps polling numbers will take a major dive. And when the body bags start returning to Dover Air Force Base, Trump will be toast.

  13. GeorgeV
    January 4, 2020 at 10:03

    When I first heard about the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani the first thing that came to mind was the similarity 0f the of the attack to numerous past Israeli assassinations of Palestinian and other anti- Israeli leaders. In short, the attack had that particular precision shown over the years by the Mossad. President Trump said that there was “unambiguous information” that Soleimani was planning further attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria. So here’s the question: knowing Trump’s penchant for doing the bidding of Benjamin Netanyahu, could that so-called “unambiguous information” have actually come from the Mossad? And did the Mossad take a hidden part in the assassination by ‘fingering’ Soleimani? I would not fall-off my bar stool in shock and surprise if that proved true.

    • January 4, 2020 at 21:33

      could that so-called “unambiguous information” have actually come from the Mossad?

      If I recall, Mossad is a bit like CIA, namely that they have serious intelligence analysis, and the real propagandistic spoofs are made by people working directly for the prime minister. So, in this case, unambiguous information came directly from Kushners who got it directly from Netanyahu. Additionally, would Mossad provide such a thin gruel?

    • JWalters
      January 5, 2020 at 18:35

      GeorgeV, I agree. Given Soleimani’s huge popularity in Iran, for defeating ISIS and being a somewhat non-political figure, he might have become an inspiring and pragmatic Iranian leader. For that, the Israelis feared him.

  14. jdd
    January 4, 2020 at 09:05

    VIPS right on target. However, to get us out of this mess I refer to a part of the statement issued today by Helga Zepp LaRouche: “……… Before any further escalation between the US, Iran and their proxies occurs, all peace loving people in the world should support an immediate summit among the Presidents of the US, Russia and China, now, in the spirit of the Meeting at the Elbe (in 1945).

    It is clear, that among the three presidents, President Trump—who promised to end the endless wars and has already taken several steps in that direction—and Presidents Putin and Xi, there is the intention and the capability to outflank the maneuvers of the war-mongers and to establish a higher level of cooperation. That potential is the reason that the coup—Russiagate and now the Impeachment—are orchestrated against Trump. It is now the time for those three outstanding leaders to fulfill the potential that historical providence has bestowed upon them.

    • John Meinhardt
      January 4, 2020 at 13:08

      You’re kidding too- right? You seem to have no sense of who the puppets are as opposed to the masters. Do you Really expect our president to be so becoming as to consider diplomacy (especially with more than one country at a time)? – Outstanding dystopian dictators is more like it. Our country seems sure to be bankrupt and destitute very soon – with people with thoughts like yours praising Trump and blaming Democrats while your country burns around you.

    • Brian Gray
      January 5, 2020 at 03:55

      XJP and V. Putin are indeed outstanding… Donald Trump is outstandingly stupid to have appointed the likes of Esper and Pompeo and to act on the likes mof these guys and the other multitude of warmongers he continues to be surrounded by. Trump’s style of patriotism is shown to be mere jingoism… USA, USA, USA with accompanying fist thrusts in the air… not the kind of statecraft that is required of a President. It would appear that the three and a half long British instigated and Deep State treasonous coup against him has taken its toll and he has capitulated to the desires of his enemies.

    • Barry Smith
      January 5, 2020 at 23:16

      I like the way you think jdd.

    • michael
      January 6, 2020 at 06:31

      While having such a meeting would be rational, might lessen blood shed and get Iran equitable treatment, can you imagine the screeching from people like John Brennan, MSM and our Congress if Trump enters the same room again with Putin? and Xi??
      As it is I have to check under my bed each day for Russians and Iranians, you want to bring in those evil Chinese to my house?

  15. George
    January 4, 2020 at 08:09

    Current events are in line with the Clean Break doctrine, penned in 1996 which called for a wider war in the mideast and to replace Israel’s foes including Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. It was introduced to the Clinton administration but he rejected it, at least until he used the strike in Iraq in 1998 to weasel himself out of the impeachment process. They found their man in W Bush because his administration had common interests as the Likud did. Douglas Feith was one of the authors of the clean break doctrine. His father, Dalck was a member of the Betar youth movement (lead by menechem begin) which operated under the philosophy of Revisionist Zionism, as lead by Bibi’s father Benzion. Revisionist Zionist is a movement within the Zionist movement because they rejected 2 state solution as proposed by the WZO. Bibi’s grandfather traveled across the US lecturing about the need for a state for the Jews and many American Jews at the time liked his ideas. Benzion to changed his name to a pen name he had been using while writing for a NZO newspaper that he founded to conceal his father’s past. Bibi was already talking about terrorism in 1979 and wrote several book which contained words that later became household names, such as suicide bombing, Iran nuclear bombs, war on terror and even he frequently used the term weapon of mass annihilation (WMD) throughout one of his books. These connections are hard to ignore.

    • Delia
      January 4, 2020 at 12:20

      I, too, remember 1996 when a group of neocons (with Israeli advisors) established PNAC and produced the Clean Break document in which they promoted attacking seven Islamic countries in five years beginning with Iraq and ending with Iran. The US had no reason and nothing to gain from these wars; they were all fought on behalf of Israel and we have allowed our young men and women to fight and die for a foreign nation.

  16. Rebby Botch
    January 4, 2020 at 07:03

    It is certainly a fools errand to thinking of doing the bidding of a foreign ally to counter a perceived foe. But the after repercussions must be considered.

    As of now, none of us would know what those same mullahs and ayatollahs we convincingly accuse of terrorism might be cooking up for our boys and girls
    who will be facing the brunt of their furry.

    One senseless mistake the generals and most intelligent operatives keep repeating is our believe in our weapons of war. Like goliath, history never won a war with a weapon. And certainly our time shall also render such perception futile.

    Let us all pray and hope it needn’t turn out of our fears.

    • Anthony Shaker
      January 4, 2020 at 10:10

      I don’t know what these dramatic events are leading to, but this is the perfect moment to ponder the intolerable evil of US policies. Every American should now be gravely concerned, because everything the government does in his or her name, another power can do and do with growing efficiency.

      I am not even sure this country will survive its present onslaught against the entire world. The American monstrosity, as friends and foes alike now unfortunately view the US, that has unfurled itself upon an unsuspecting world has few parallels in the annals of modern history, that is, besides that with Nazism. Trump has adopted a purer form of the Nazi ideology of brute conquest. But we forget in our adulation of power that he and his pseudo-religious, pseudo-patriotic ideology is basically a sign of internal decomposition.

      I would be surprised if the US, now embroiled in a low-key civil war, will survive this new decade intact. Where elites fracture, civil war in one form or another is not far behind. Perhaps it has proved too big as a state to last. Legal experts are already grumbling about the Constitution itself, which some are calling “pre-modern”, because it no longer answers to the needs of citizens in the modern age.

      There is a further troubling, historical fact about national states which are too large. They tend to break down and tend to cause mayhem all around them. History is strewn with the corpses of conquering and failed empires. The ebbing of Western hegemony, which has gone on for a century-and-a-half (of world domination, not just colonialism), has already triggered a downward spiral inside the US. Foreign events in the last ten to fifteen years have triggered a very destructive dynamic. Sadly, for the American people, everyone will pay the price, unless the ringleaders are safely removed.

      America has just slammed itself into a wall.

  17. caseyf5
    January 4, 2020 at 05:43

    Hello VIPS and Everyone,
    The Israeli Yahoo will be leaving someday (soon I hope). When he departs the state of Israel has a choice. While I expect more of the same that path leads to nuclear or some other form of destruction. The other (very unlikely) path can be a start to peace in the region.

  18. Realist
    January 4, 2020 at 02:56

    Europe was earlier inclined to do the right thing and abide by the nuclear agreement with Iran after Washington purposely sabotaged it. They were incessantly threatened by the U.S. government and forced into doing the morally wrong things regarding Iran. The time has come for them to man up, assert their sovereignty and integrity and resist whatever sanctions and penalties America may impose upon them to stir up what may be the next world war.

    It is high time to disband NATO, which is just the equivalent of a transnational street gang meant to intimidate and threaten Russia, China and any nations friendly to them. It is high time for Macron to fully commit to the rational thinking he was trying to promulgate a few weeks ago and stop the madness emanating from Washington. Surely there is no honor for France to essentially act as just one more complicit thug in a large gang recruited by Washington to bully every independent-minded country left on the planet.

    I’d give Johnson and Merkel, plus all the easily cowed lemmings throughout Europe, the same advice. Do NOT participate in a vicious beat down of Iran to build up Washington in its own demented mind. It will do your own citizens no good whatsoever. In fact, it will needlessly put them in harm’s way and taint the honor of your country for generations. Give Washington the ultimatum for a change, in this case one that may well determine the continued existence of civilisation itself or its utter demise.

    • January 4, 2020 at 21:48

      “Do NOT participate in a vicious beat down of Iran”, well, they participated in a beat down that was pretty vicious as sanctions go, and rubbing salt into the would by carping that Iran does not follow the agreement that they broke after promising few times to fix it. Now they collectively advise Iran to bow its head and watch how folks friendly with Iran are being viciously clobbered in Iraq (still ongoing situation). They call it “de-escalation”. If only Poland gave Corridor to Germany, we could de-escalate! We have to learn from history!

      Johnson at least has a wise idea to keep his mouth shut rather than saying something stupid. He should complete his well-deserved vacations, perhaps it would do good to make it longer. Why not relocate Downing 10 to Mustique?

    • Donald Duck
      January 5, 2020 at 08:28

      I agree what you say about Europe needing to go its own way vis-a-vis the US. I would make an exception, however, for the uber-Atlanticists such as Poland, the Baltics and the UK. They are the pilot fish to the US Shark.

  19. HME
    January 4, 2020 at 02:28

    “I believe the class which rules the United States of America, and the government which implements its policies, to be the most dangerous body of men on earth. In one way or another, and to a different degree, this class is a threat to anybody who is not part of it. It is waging an undeclared war against more than a billion people; its weapons range from saturation bombing to the most delicate techniques of persuasion; its aim is to establish its political, economic, and military predominance over every other power in the world. Its mortal enemy is revolutionary change.” – Hans Magnus Enzensberger, On Leaving America, 1968

    See: nybooks.com/articles/1968/02/29/on-leaving-america/

  20. Abby
    January 4, 2020 at 00:28

    Bibi thinks that he has congress in his hands. And that most Americans support Israel. Unfortunately he is correct. Notice how Israeli troops never have to fight and die in the wars Israel has us do for them? I think it’s past time to change that.

    • ML
      January 4, 2020 at 05:46

      Amen, Abby!

    • paul
      January 4, 2020 at 10:54

      Why fight yourself when you can get the dumb goys to do your dirty work for you?

    • Guy
      January 4, 2020 at 13:00

      The re-opening of the 9/11 investigation ,there really never was one to begin with, will solve the problem you refer to .
      Something that eventually we must do.Now would be a good time.

    • Bob
      January 4, 2020 at 23:18

      Guy: All that’s initially needed is an honest Justice Department and a Special Grand Jury to issue indictments.

  21. elmerfudzie
    January 3, 2020 at 23:58

    Initially it was Israel’s Security Agency, the ISA (Shin Bet) that, three years ago, was on the brink of killing Soleimani somewhere near Damascus. The CIA? compromised this assassination plot by leaking to the Iranian leadership timely information, that Soleimani was under unusual surveillance by the ISA. Needless to say the incident created frictions between Israeli and American Intel agencies. But it does beg another question, why they mutually agree to kill Soleimani now? it cannot be attributed to the shallow and obvious reason(s) that both Trump and Netanyahu are now under indictment for criminal or ethical misconduct? No. Somethings afoot here, more than a diversionary act away from political woes. Could it somehow be in retaliation against the new alliance between Russian, Chinese and Iranian naval forces training maneuvers? Does this assassination also signal that a regional conflict with North Korea is permanently off the table now, permitting the NeoCon thirst for a major conflict zone to shift back to the middle east? Any general at the Pentagon would agree that during a major war, our armed forces cannot simultaneously fight on two distinctly separate fronts. A middle east war with atomic weapons would destroy refineries, leave unmanageable ground shine in nearby areas for years to come and more importantly, cap Saudi and other GCC oil reserves up tight for many years, thus expanding the US and ally petroleum reserve markets and sales to flourish. Further, I support this thesis based on the obvious fact that our USD is still a petrodollar because there ain’t no gold in Fort Knox, if you know what I mean.

    • DH Fabian
      January 4, 2020 at 12:44

      I think there’s a bigger issue involved. The US has pursued wars almost constantly, almost always by choice, for longer than any of us have been around. Our military has invaded one country after another since the end of WWll. The risks of nuclear world war are now too high, and the US has clearly been acting irrationally since 9/11. These actions have been enough to finally bring China and Russia together, resolving their years of conflict in view of this potential world threat — the US. The international community increasingly turns to China and Russia for protection from the US.

    • Deniz
      January 4, 2020 at 12:48

      Turkey is also launching a incursion into Libya to fight Haftar, who is supported by Israel, the US, the Saudis and Egypt. The Parliament approved the deployment last Thursday, while the assassination was on Friday. Perhaps in and of itself, not significant enough to change strategies, but the US / Israel probably has too much active opposition in the region who are consolidating their power and needed to even the odds.

    • michael
      January 6, 2020 at 06:50

      Since Obama’s coup against Erdogan failed, Turkey has shown its willingness to align with China, Russia, and the Silk Belt/ BRICS countries. It’s loyalty to the US was rewarded with treachery, so it is reaching out to saner countries.
      Expect Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and much of Africa to align with BRICS as well. Saudi Arabia, Israel and the US seem to suffer from some severe mental illness that pervades deeply into their cultures. While these weaker countries are focusing on trade at present, military alliances cannot be far behind.

    • Marc Wathelet
      January 7, 2020 at 16:22

      I think they decided to kill Soleimani now because his end-goal was to get the US out of the middle-east, and he was doing too good a job to their taste. They have to stay in Iraq at all cost to delay as much as possible the unavoidable demise of the petrodollar, which ironically they accelerated with their (illegal) sanctions. And now they are accelerating their exit from Iraq, and thus Syria

  22. Curious
    January 3, 2020 at 23:00

    Is this the real impeachable offense?

    • ML
      January 4, 2020 at 05:50

      It is for all of the most recent presidents over the last few decades. Yet Congress stays idle in the face of it all. Be gone, all of you quislings of the rogue states of Israel and KSA! May we frog-march you all to prison for war criminals. Now that’s a prison I could get behind!

    • DH Fabian
      January 4, 2020 at 12:32

      No. And it’s certainly not unprecedented.

    • January 4, 2020 at 16:36

      The House refused to impeach Richard Nixon on grounds of his invasion of Cambodia without telling Congress. As I recall, it was 6 months after the invasion that the public learned of it.

    • michael
      January 6, 2020 at 06:54

      The more people a President kills, the more wars and sanctions a President creates (they no longer end), the more Congress celebrates the President! Haven’t you been watching since birth?

  23. Mahin Sadrai
    January 3, 2020 at 22:05

    Please sign this petition

    sign.moveon.org/petitions/stop-war-with-iran-3

    to help save Iranian innocense from another slaughter.
    It might help the congress to remove this “free pass to create war”, privilege from our exacutive branch of government which is a humanaterian jesture . It could also bring about global stability and civility.
    We need to nurture civility which I miss very much.

  24. Timothy Kercheville
    January 3, 2020 at 21:50

    The “War on Iran” has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon since the mid-1990s under the U.S. Central Command’s (USCENTCOM) “Strategy of Dual Containment” directed against “the Rogue States of Iraq and Iran.”

    Iran is presently one of a handful of nations that controls its own central bank and issues debt-free currency. In 1973, the Shah returned the oil industry to national control, raised prices, and sold oil to the West during the Arab oil embargo following the Arab-Israeli War of October 1973. Iran’s well-funded army is funded through its oil revenue.

    All of the sovereign nations that have been targeted since 9-11 controlled their own central bank and currency.

    The root source of power in our present global political, economic, and social structure is control over money creation.

    The greatest centralized control over money creation on the planet is vested in the privately held Anglo-Euro-American banking cartel, which rules over a vast network of central banks, corporations, and governments–including the US, which officially ceded its sovereignty in 1913 with the Federal Reserve Act, effectively becoming a public subsidiary of the cartel.

    It is extremely urgent that the people of the USA not fall to historical amnesia and focus only on the specifics of the recent assassination. Instead, a mass movement of understanding root causes, and fierce anti-war public demand that crosses political parties and holds all politicians accountable is necessary in order to steer the world from the ongoing World War III scenarios and end the inevitability of the debt economy, before it destroys people and planetary systems. Ultimately, we will have to nationalize the Fed. This will be a complex process that may be achieved in stages. One short-term goal of this complex process is to ensure, through fierce public demand and an undeniable electoral movement, that the next President of the United States is insisting on ending endless wars, returning war powers to Congress, and targeting the billionaire class of usurers who are responsible for the converging global crises.

    • Davenport
      January 5, 2020 at 10:44

      Well said. Spot on.

      And thanks to all of you honest Americans on here for seeing the truth of what is going on in your country.

    • Jo
      January 5, 2020 at 18:55

      Thank you for that outline. I hope you have colleagues and support.

    • elmerfudzie
      January 6, 2020 at 01:48

      Tim, excellent analysis. All wars are bankers wars. The Soleimani assassination signals a big shift as to who gets to pump oil and gas and who does not. Perhaps the Western Occident and the USA banksters have finally arrived at a point in their stratagem where nukes may possibly be a decisive tool on the battlefield. If so, the new game may just be one of additional control, where the ME is gradually left behind, this by capping the GCC and Iranian oil and gas reserves, moving most of the production to Venezuela and the US. Russia will be given an approving nod to complete their Turk and Nord Stream piping routes. China will behave during this commodity shift lest we force closure of their two corporations now mining Lithium in Bolivia and make more trouble for them elsewhere. Many GCC monarchs, their familiars, various treasures and gold stores will eventually end up in the U.S. This will take a dozen or more years to accomplish. It begins and ends with the destruction of drilling operations, refineries and associated shipping ports. Our armed forces can no longer preserve order on land nor stability on the Strait of Hormuz. Yes, we still have naval and air force muscle but the dollar may soon turn to confetti plus the fact that we have lost the battle for the hearts and minds in that region. It’s time to bail alright.

    • January 6, 2020 at 23:41

      Right on about the money masters. The way to achieve the dynamic change you’re suggesting is to force the media, by shaming them, challenging, them to allow real debates on MSM, even if it has to be on PBS and NPR, “public broadcasting” ostensibly.

      We need a real debate on 9/11, and the facts would GALVANIZE the public to action. The public ownership and control over COMMON CURRENCY would follow. Open media would be the norm. Debates on Israel, the military, oil, pharmaceutical would lead to further enlightenment and hopefully we can bring the general public up to the level of wokeness that most here at Consortium seem to have. The truth about 9/11 would serve as a “CATALYZING AND CATASTROPHIC EVENT” in social awareness.

  25. Jeff Harrison
    January 3, 2020 at 20:01

    Spot on, VIPS. Too bad the Deep State won’t listen to you. Again.

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