Amy Goodman is on fire this week. I don't generally (ever?) link to any single site 3 times in one week but the level of discussion, discernment and insightful truth being spoken through Democracy Now! has been exemplary. This is the best synopsis of the dynamics-created-for-war discussion I have heard.
Today Amy Goodman hosts the discussion between Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector, and Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist for The New Yorker magazine. They spoke before an audience at the New York Society for Ethical Culture on the topic of "White House Plans for Regime Change in the Middle East". Compelling. If you have wanted a consise, easy to understand, spin-free lesson on neo-con political ideology but were afraid to ask, this is your chance. A+
In addition for context, Marc Lord's "Adored by Hordes" has a brilliantly consise history of Iran.
10 comments:
Fantastic discussion between Ritter and Hersh, Hope. The neocons will have to dust off their Ritter demonizers. Probably, the corporate media will pass along the demonization unchallenged, conveniently forgetting that Ritter was 100% correct in the alarms he was raising in 2001. I remember it well.
Here's something I didn't realize:
That’s why Israel has taken the position that not only will they not tolerate an Iranian nuclear weapons program, they will not tolerate nuclear technology that is usable in a nuclear weapons program, in this case, enrichment technology that Iran is permitted to have under Article 4 of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel says no. If Iran can enrich to levels that are usable in a nuclear reactor, that same technology can be used to enrich to levels usable in a nuclear device. Therefore, the Israeli position is “not one spinning rotor,” meaning not one centrifuge allowed to operate inside Iran. That’s a zero-tolerance policy.
So I guess we'll be going to war to prevent Iran from pursuing a legal activity.
Yes. Ritter's point here is exactly right.
Again, I mean to correct the American public here. 65% of the American public aren’t antiwar. They’re just anti-losing. You see, if we were winning the war in Iraq, they’d all be for it. If we had brought democracy, they’d be cheering the President. It wouldn’t matter that we violated international law. It wouldn’t even matter that we lied about weapons of mass destruction. We’d be winning. God bless America. Ain’t we good? USA, USA! But we’re losing, so they’re against Iraq.
This is just chilling:
SCOTT RITTER: ..The bottom line is, within two days of our decision to initiate an attack on Iran, every single one of you is going to be feeling the consequences of that in your pocketbook. And it’s only going to get worse. This is not something that only I recognize. Ask Dick Lugar what information he’s getting from big business, who are saying, “We can’t afford to go to war with Iran.”
SEYMOUR HERSH: Final question: given all this, are we going to do it?
SCOTT RITTER: Yes, we're going to do it.
Read the whole thing, folks, it's worth it.
Thank you Op for all you great input. This was a GREAT listen. I learn more and retain information better aurally so it was well worth the 35 minutes to listen to the talk.
Hopefully Scott Ritter will sty out of the fray if only because SO MANY people are now beginning to pay attention to the "neo-con lie" perpetuated bt teh bush crime family.
I love your new blogger portrait.
Hi Hope and Op99,
Ritter and Hersch together in public. Kinda like Professor Van Helsing interviewing Jonathon Harker about his last visit to Castle Drakul. Doesn't get any better than this.
Thanks for following Amy and posting, Hope, you're a doll and I've really come to appreciate your nose for the good stuff. I look forward to listening to the audio; from the transcript it sounds like they shared a few jokes. Wonder if the neo-cons will trot out some new kiddie-porn rumors against Ritter, he's getting uncomfortably close to their coffins and his stakes are sharp. Gotta post back to you so the Hordies can hear.
I'm very flattered by your linkie to my Iran brain-dump, btw, thank you. Years ago I had to consider the events in that area much more closely than most, since my first prospective job involved work with Afghanistan. Didn't seem like there was enough adventure there, so instead I went off on my own. ;-)
Ritter's assessment of consequences is grim, but right so far as I can see. There's a huge airbase being built northwest of Kirkuk--find an ET on its completion date, and you're probably not far off from the start of the bombing campaign.
Hey Op99, if you read this--how did you choose your moniker?
Hey marclord. It's short for opera, of which I am a buff. I don't sing, except in the shower.
op99 said...
"Hey marclord. It's short for opera, of which I am a buff. I don't sing, except in the shower."
So, when it comes to opera, you're a buff in more ways than one. =)
*Snort*
FWIW it's "concise," not "consise."
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