Friday, February 10, 2017

Robert Parry — The Neocons’ Back-Door to Trump


Is Iran the next Iraq, Syria, and Libya? Robert Parry thinks so.
This blame-Iran “group think” has remarkable similarities to the one that rationalized the disastrous war in Iraq, i.e., that Saddam Hussein was in cahoots with Al Qaeda and was likely to give the terrorists his hidden WMDs. That fake analysis ignored the fact that the secular Hussein was a sworn enemy of Al Qaeda’s fundamentalists and they hated him, too.
So, although the Saddam-allied-with-Al-Qaeda lie was obvious to anyone who knew anything about Middle East politics, it was repeated endlessly by supposedly in-the-know Washington insiders to justify President George W. Bush’s bloody invasion of Iraq, which killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis along with nearly 4,500 U.S. soldiers and spread chaos across the strategic region.
Now, we see a similar self-deception about which country is the principal sponsor for terrorism and other troubles. The truth is that Iran as a Shiite-governed nation is on the opposite side of the region’s sectarian divide from Al Qaeda and Islamic State, the two major Sunni terror groups that have taken aim at the United States and Europe.…
Many analysts view the Iraq fiasco as the worst strategic blunder ever made by the US, worse than Vietnam even.

"Doing Iran" would dwarf both as monumental strategic blunders and could set the stage for another global war.

And, yes, the New York Times again.

The tell will be whether Trump names arch-neocon Elliott Abrams deputy secretary of state, as is expected.

Consortium News
The Neocons’ Back-Door to Trump
Robert Parry

5 comments:

Noah Way said...

the Iraq fiasco

Which one?

MRW said...

NYT: “Trump rejects Abrams as deputy secretary of state

Mr. Trump overruled his newly minted secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson, and rejected the secretary’s choice for his deputy at the department, two people briefed on the decision said Friday.

The deputy’s job was denied for Elliott Abrams, a conservative who had served under President Ronald Reagan and President George W. Bush, deals a blow to Mr. Tillerson in his first week on the job. The rejection of Mr. Abrams leaves Mr. Tillerson without a sherpa to help guide the first-time government official around the State Department headquarters.

Mr. Trump had a productive meeting with Mr. Abrams on Tuesday, according to a White House official and a person close to Mr. Abrams. But after it took place, Mr. Trump learned of Mr. Abrams’s pointed criticisms of the president when he was running for president, the administration official said. Among those criticisms was a column headlined “When You Can’t Stand Your Candidate,” which appeared in May 2016 in The Weekly Standard.

Mr. Trump has been increasingly focused on who was with him or against him during his campaign, according to several people who have spoken with him in recent days.

Mr. Tillerson had argued strongly for Mr. Abrams. So had Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and a senior adviser. Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas who is closely aligned with friends of Mr. Abrams’, and some members of the pro-Israel lobbying group Aipac, had been
reaching out to Democratic senators to impress upon them the importance of Mr. Abrams receiving Senate confirmation.”

It was Tillerson who wanted him?

MRW said...

Now, let's see what Netanyahu walks away with after his meeting with Trump this month. (Netanyahu thinks he's a US President's equal, according to his wife Sarah.) Should be interesting.

Peter Pan said...

Israel always walks away with billions and billions, even when their leaders are loons.

Tom Hickey said...

Moar fake news from the Grey Lady. All reports previously were that Tillerson did NOT want Abrams. It was the deep state that wanted him to put a leash in DJT and Tillerson.