Home > Cheney’s Plan: Nuke Iran

Cheney’s Plan: Nuke Iran

by Open-Publishing - Monday 25 July 2005
23 comments

Wars and conflicts International USA Justin Raimondo

Stand athwart the apocalypse, and shout: "No!"

by Justin Raimondo

A recent poll shows six in ten Americans think a new world war is coming: the same poll says about 50 percent approve of the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. Somewhat inexplicably, about two-thirds say nuking those two cities was "unavoidable." One can only wonder, then, what their reaction will be to this ominous news, revealed in a recent issue of The American Conservative by intelligence analyst Philip Giraldi:

"The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing - that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack - but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections."

Two points leap out at the reader - or, at least, this reader - quite apart from the moral implications of dropping nukes on Iran. The first is the completely skewed logic: if Iran has nothing to do with 9/11-II, then why target Tehran? As in Iraq, it’s all a pretext: only this time, the plan is to use nuclear weapons. We’ll wipe out the entire population of Iran’s capital city because, as Paul Wolfowitz said in another context, "it’s doable."

The other weird aspect of this "nuke Iran" story is the triggering mechanism: a terrorist attack in the U.S. on the scale of 9/11. While it is certain that our government has developed a number of scenarios for post-attack action, one has to wonder: why develop this plan at this particular moment? What aren’t they telling us?

I shudder to think about it.

The more I look at it, and the more I think of it, the more I sense a monumental evil casting its shadow over the world, and I have to tell you, it makes me wonder how much more time I want to spend on this earth. In my more pessimistic moments, I doubt whether we can avoid the horrific fate that seems to await us just around the next corner, the next moment, looming over the globe like a gigantic devil stretching its wings and blotting out the sun.

It seems to me that the question of whether life is really worth living anymore is inextricably bound up with the question of whether or not these madmen can be stopped. If not, then the only alternative is to live it up while we can and laugh defiantly in the face of the apocalypse. Why write columns, why comment at all, if we can’t have any effect on the outcome? On the other hand, some ask

"Surely the New York Times and the Washington Post can find a lede here: ’US has plan to nuke Tehran if another 9/11.’ Can we get at least a bloody story out of this?"

Might I suggest another lede?: "Armageddon approaches." Or perhaps, for the literary-mind secularists among us: "After many a summer dies mankind."

Where oh where is the "mainstream" media on this? That’s a laughable question, because the answer is heartbreakingly obvious: they are nowhere to be found, and for a very good reason. As the Valerie Plame case is making all too clear, the MSM has been a weapon in the hands of the War Party at every step on the road to World War IV. It’s an American tradition. As William Randolph Hearst famously put it to an employee in the run-up to the Spanish-American conflict of 1898:

"You furnish the pictures, I’ll furnish the war."

Any objective examination of the Anglo-American media’s role as a megaphone for this administration’s "talking points" would have to conclude that the Hearst school of journalism has been dominant since well before the invasion of Iraq. Aside from the post-9/11 hysteria that effectively swept away all pretenses of a critical stance, the MSM was well acclimated to simply reiterating the U.S. government line on matters of war and peace all through the Clinton era, when friendly media coverage of the Balkans and numerous other Clintonian interventions habituated the press corps to a certain mindset. By the time the Bush administration set out on a campaign of deception designed to lie us into invading and occupying Iraq, the MSM was largely reconciled to playing the role of the government’s amen corner.

With the U.S. and British media in the pocket of the Powers That Be, what hope is there that the American people - who don’t believe anything if they don’t see it on television - will awaken to the danger in time? Again, in my more pessimistic moments, there doesn’t seem to be any such hope: television news seems firmly in the camp of the War Party, and the "mainstream" print media also doesn’t seem a likely venue for this kind of reporting.

On my more optimistic days, however, I almost believe it’s possible to outflank the War Party on the media front - because the Internet is a mighty weapon that will defeat them in the end. A recent Pew study shows that this is not just a technophilic fantasy:

"The Internet continues to grow as a source of news for Americans. One-in-four (24%) list the internet as a main source of news. Roughly the same number (23%) say they go online for news every day, up from 15% in 2000; the percentage checking the Web for news at least once a week has grown from 33% to 44% over the same time period.

"While online news consumption is highest among young people (those under age 30), it is not an activity that is limited to the very young. Three-in-ten Americans ages 30-49 cite the Internet as a main source of news.

"The importance of the Web for people in their working years is even more apparent when the frequency of use is taken into account. One-third of people in their 30s say they get news online every day, as do 27% of people in their 40s. Nearly a quarter of people in their 50s get news online daily, about the same rate as among people ages 18-29."

What this means is that we can put the news the MSM won’t cover - e.g., the story about Cheney’s Dr. Strangelove plan to strike Iran - on the front page of Antiwar.com and potentially reach one-in-four Americans. Last month we had over 2 million readers; this month is headed toward the same range - and that’s in summertime, a traditionally slow time for us. Yet we’re setting new records.

This, it seems to me, is the only reason for hope: a strategy of doing an end run around the mass media. We must mount a last desperate attempt to stand athwart the apocalypse shouting "No!" The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.

Never for a minute did any of us who founded Antiwar.com imagine we would one day be front and center in a twilight struggle to protect the country and the world from such a monumental evil, and yet here we are, a band of hobbits up against all the dark powers of Mordor. Without getting any more melodramatic than is absolutely unavoidable, I can only note that we’ve come a long way on our quest to rid the world of this particular Ring of Power, and the battle seems to be reaching some sort of dramatic climax. As to whether or not the Cheney-neocon-War Party axis of evil will be defeated in the end, no one can confidently predict at the moment. Yet one thing does seem clear: as long as Antiwar.com is around, we have at least a fighting chance.

I want to thank each and every one of our readers who have supported us down through the years, even as I remind them that their future support is even more vitally important than ever before. Together we can beat the War Party - but not without constant vigilance. We stand on the watchtower just as long as you, our readers and supporters, keep us there. I hope and trust we will continue until the end - whatever that end may turn out to be.

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=6734

Forum posts

  • Maybe it is inherent that humand kind should fight.Just as we are born with hair,2 legs and a nose,might it not be encoded within us to dominate and kill.Maybe we’re a’doin’ what comes natural.Every empire fought to establish control,the U.S. came into being through slaughter of indigenous peoples.It is quite possible that life is an accident without any design or reason. Further,there is no great book of wisdom that says the West should be top dog.If we can come to no agreement to talk and share then we will fail.In the times of old, humans used spears and clubs,the marvels of technology have given us nuclear arms.Don,t look to God for help ’cause he ain’t up to it.

    • hes up to it all right

    • Cheney’s Plan: Nuke Iran YES! Cui Bono? Who Benefits? CHENEY & HALLIBURTON for one!

      No matter what Tactics they will try
      to Relegate This Story to The Bottom of the Collective Subconscious Memory Pile
      with idiot stories to’ WAG THE POLITICAL DOG with,
      Do not worry people,
      I Am an Expert myself in Mind Control and Programming.
      I WILL keep this on top of the Memory Pile
      when they pull their BLACK OPS- OPERATION NORTHWOODS
      AGAIN!!! I WILL BE HERE in THE NOW (past,present &Future)
      and will remind everyone
      that this was planned for a VERY LONG TIME!!!

       Trinity 
      lol
      Provocative1

      THE TOWER:PART5
      http://hometown.aol.com/oldhipchic1959/page3.html

      THE HIGH CABAL’S AGENDA’S
      http://hometown.aol.com/abfabchic1959/index.html

       Peace 

    • C’mon! Are you going to give in that easily, that’s just intellectual laziness! If human nature is about destroying each other i.e. we’re like mere animals then you would not be living now. There are good people are waging a real fight against Cheney, like the American System Economist Lyndon Larouche, who’s succeeding. The principle for you to discover is how is it that this country (USA) as a republic came into existence.

      "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." (HAPPINESS, NOT PROPERTY!)

      figure out where that comes from. Hint: G.W. Leibniz
      – v

  • Americans believe they can survive a nuclear war! They are crazy!!!

    We have a similar situation bevor WW II now. The world is watching the holocaust in Iraq and Israel, of course these people are all terrorists.

    If the U.N. does not act against rogue states like America, Britain and Israel it has outlived its purpose.

    • Perhaps they don’t want the majority to survive a nuclear war here in America.

      I have been searching all over but this article in American COnservative magazine is the only source that I can find for this story.

      The obvious question is are the yplanning another attack here in America. I’ve read a lot lately about nuclear weapons being smuggled into America. I wonder if they’re setting up the story for another government sponsored attack on us.

  • If the VP did not ask for that plan, then he is guilty of dereliction of duty. Of course, the US Military has a plan in case, God Forbid, we are attacked again on the scale of 9/11 or worse. We will launch a devastating attack, I doubt with nuclear weapons, but the American people will be totally behind it. Except for you loons on this site, who live in the conspiracy world, that is. We would never use nuclear weapons unless the enemy detonated a small nuclear device in, say, Cleveland, or Miami, but nuclear bombs have to be on the table in that scenario. We would NOT, repeat, NOT be the first to use nuclear weapons, however.

    • This is the typical sort of nonsequitur from American’s mouths that amazes me and perpetuates our image as spoiled children in the adult world. The US is the only country in the world that has ever used nuclear weapons, and that makes it a first strike. If you forgot, ask the families of the tens of thousands of Japanese who were vaporized or died slow agonizing deaths as the inside of their intestines sloughed off. Only the US would fry infants in their cribs.

    • We would not use nuclear weapons???? In case you do not know it we used them already and especially on Nagasaki it was nothing but the most disgusting act ever commited by humans so far. Only you simpletons that support this immoral government do not have a clue of the history of their own government. I call them the brain dead zombies of America. They permit the most disgusting things and then pretend (or actually) they do not even know about it. How ugly is that?

    • What has caused the change of heart in America?Japan never detonated a nuclear device in U.S. yet they got nuked.All this crap in the name of democracy and safety.

    • In case you hadn’t noticed, America is using nuclear weapons in Iraq at the moment: depleted uranium is still highly radioactive, and will be for billions (yes, *billions*) of years. As the posters above have stated, the USA uses nuclear weaponry on a regular basis, making them the world’s major nuclear terrorist.

    • Unfortunately, this person (03h57 - Posted by 67.**.86.***) reflects the view of most Americans. Sheeple all.

    • The Sheeple actually only have a very limited education, they know nothing of history and the 300 wars the USA has been involved in since WWII, the CIA covert and overt dirty actions all over the earth and continuing in several places today, or the corruption of their leaders who are in bed with big military idustrial corporations that make their money from the war industry. They do not know any geography, couldn’t tell you even now where Vietnam, or Iraq are...they can’t even tell you where Utah or New Mexico is. And they have no desire to know. Lazy people like to have someone do their thinking for them. They like to watch t.v. and stuff their faces, most Americans are grossly over weight and have t.v. fat stuffed between their ears. If they ever had a brain it has atriphied long ago.

      Would you belittle a pig, or a cockroach? Because these lame human beings are the apple of Bush’s eye. He depends on them for his support. They will believe anything especially if you wrap it in some phony flattery and tell them that everyone else envies them. Its like dealing with the retarded. You just have to put it on t.v., that is how they are programmed, the thought process is bypassed and they just repeat what they hear.

    • Have you studied your history at all? Japan was the first and only nuclear attack. The Japaneese were trying to surrender for 2 weeks prior to that attack, we refused to listen because we wanted to show the world what we had.

      We kill people all of the time, you need to wake up and quit listening to your television and STUDY!

      STUDY what REALLY happened on 9/11 and look at WHO actually benefitted. STUDY Oklahoma City. Idiots like you who are sleeping through all of this are the ones who are causing us Americans to lose our god given liberties.

    • You know its probly not worth what im about to say but i dont really care. You all will no doubt call me this and that and try to make me look like "your" view of an american but i dont care.

      First off the bombing of japan was a necessary action. THe entire japanese people were behind the war to the point of commiting suiced by jumping off clifts then be under occupation by US forces. They were not i repeat not going to surender till the very last of them had fallen. The bombs brought them to there senses. it also saved thousands of US lives and to me thats all that matters. i dont care how many have to die if it results in the lives off americans being saved. Also the ambitions of the soviet union regarding nukes made it all the more cleare to nuke the japs. had they bin able to develope them befor the US they could have dropped one and forced us to surrender. thus the creation of nuclear deterence. Again i dont care how offened you are when you read.

      Now today iran and their peoples attitude resembles thjat of ww2 japan. Except for the fact they have a more jihad point of view. i dont think its worth a war with them should a 9/11 happen again. i think they should all die. rather then sending brave soldiers(i salute the fallen) to fight those scum we could drop several bombs and without warning render them defenceless. In fact as they grow more and more hostile regarding there own nuke programs, Israel is already chomping at the bit to have a gow at them. and since theve done it several times before, they will lay waste to what opposes them.

      But im not the only one that thinks in these extreme terms, look at the crusades orderd by the popes in the middle ages look at the slughter of 7000 muslims by the serbs.

      If you look back at history it repeats itself over and over again. just becuase we have cell phones doesnt mean we cant go back to the dark ages. i personally support the reinstatement of the draft and as what was done in ww2 to the japs, put the muslims in camps.

      to me its right and thats all that matters. i could go on and on about this but ive said enough for now and remember i dont care what you think.

    • Read your history, the Japanese tried to surrender........before the 2 h bombs were used on them, to 1) Satisfy our need for testing out the new terrible weapon to see what it coule do, a test drive if you will. And 2) To kill as many of their citizens as possible. The USA has killed 17 million people since WWII......I know millions don’t really seem like a lot what with millions of dollars being squandered daily on killing thousands just in Iraq....but 17 million people in 60 years is a lot of people.

    • japan did not try to surrender and yes i have read up on my history. we had already tested trinity and knew full well what it could do and thats why we dropped it. we knew it would save many thousands of troops from dieing should we have invaded the main island.

    • oh and they were not h bombs they were a bombs. big differnce since the hydrogen bomb is more powerful and wasnt created until several years later. i think u need to read up on your history

    • Yes Japan did try to surrender and no we did not know what would happen when we dropped the first nuclear bomb, and having loved the first one so much we waited 6 days and dropped the second one. This was the most immoral act of mankind to date, and so far it still ranks number one.

    • I think you need to go back to school and start over with spelling, grammer, and the basics of the English language. Then you can move up to history, geography, and last a little independent and critical thought. Once you get the hang of what it is like to get your education from a knowledgable sources, you can turn off Fox news and come back and join intelligent conversation.

    • we new exactly what it would do since we TESTED "trinity" and no i dont watch liberal media. its not even worth it to post these so f*** you all and bye

    • We knew full well what the results would be if we dropped the bomb. In case you are still ignoring this fact then u need to study up on the manhattan project. We tested the first bomb which was named trinity. Trinity had a yield of about 19 kilotons. Since the results it produced were seen i think we might have known what the result of droping one on hiroshima. what we were uncertain about was that "little boy", the first bomb droped would infact detonate. we knew that if it did then the result would be total destruction of hiroshima. and that comment about watching Fox is laughable. Any true conservative wouldnt put any stock in liberal controlled media.

  • I thought you posted that you were going to stop trolling here, (not worth it, etc.) so what are you doing still posting here. Or has Bush’s lying habit rubbed off on every one of his supporters? Like you, you can’t even tell the truth for more than 10 minutes, then it turns into a lie....you Bush Butt Kissers are all alike. LIERS.