July 13, 2006

In his work, "The Art of War", Sun Tzu observed that all wars are based on deception.

Simply put, this means that those leaders who wish to start a war must lie to convince their people that war is necessary, as the vast majority of people do not want war, do not wish to risk their life and limb in war, and in general avoid the unpleasantness that war is. Throughout history, wars have usually been started by a ruler playing a dirty trick on his people; a dirty trick that fools them into thinking that they themselves have been, or are about to be attacked.

As an example, Hitler played this trick on the people of Germany by having his soldiers dress up in Polish uniforms and attack a German radio station near the border of Poland. To aid in the illusion, prisoners were dressed in Polish uniforms and shot dead on the scene for the benefit of the radio station's on-air reporting, and later for the German newspapers. World War Two resulted. Germany lost.

Vietnam was transformed from "Advising" to all out war based on the report that North Vietnam had fired torpedoes at the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. Armed with that report, President Lyndon Johnson obtained a war declaration from Congress. Later, it was revealed that Johnson knew the report of the attack was a fake. The US lost that war.

The US Government clearly lied about Iraq's 'nookular' weapons to create a public fear of imminent attack. Tony Blair told the British subjects attack was potentially only 45 minutes away. And it looks like the US will lose that war as well, inasmuch as the stated political goals can never be met.

I could go on and on, but I think the point has been made. Any nation wishing to initiate a war has to trick their people into believing that the target has or is about to strike first.

This brings us to the present case. The United States and Israel have been trying to create a case for more wars in the mideast for some time now. Indeed one can hardly open a newspaper without reading how some Israeli "expert" has come up with another reason for American kids to go off and fight those mean old Arabs.

But, as the lies that led to war become known to the general public, support for continuing the existing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has plummeted, and support for initiating a new war is for all practical purposes nonexistent. The Neocon warhawks in the US are searching for some device to kick off the war, and appear to have devised a convoluted "back door" to war with Iran, as convoluted as that which tricked the US into war with Germany.

Back in 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt wanted to get the US into the war to aid Great Britain and Russia against Germany. But the American people did not want any part of a war on the other side of the planet. Roosevelt decided to create a war with Germany by tricking Japan into attacking the United States. Germany would then have to declare war on the US because of the Axis Agreement, and Roosevelt would have the illusion that Hitler (who wanted to avoid war with the US at all costs) started the fight.

Following a plan prepared by Lieutenant Commander Arthur McCollum of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Roosevelt first moved the Pacific Fleet from San Diego to Hawaii, then goaded the Japanese into an attack. Both civilian and military shipping were ordered to stick to the southern routes, so that an accidental interception of the Japanese fleet would be impossible. Even though Admiral Yamamoto's order to sail the fleet to Hawaii was intercepted in Hawaii, the top military commanders were not informed of the coming attack. It was a total setup, and America was suddenly at war.

So now we have the US Government wanting war in Iran. But there is no public support, and after the lies about Iraq's 'nookular' weapons, little faith in government claims of Iran's threat to the US.

So, Israel starts provocations, like assassinating the Palestinian Chief of Police and shelling the beach at Gaza, actions intended to provoke a response. Then, it is claimed a soldier is "kidnapped", and even though nobody knows who kidnapped him or where he is, Israel launches a "rescue mission" into Gaza which is later revealed to have been planned long before any soldier was captured, and was intended to bring down the Democratically elected government of Palestine. With Gaza in flames, the trick gets repeated, with two more soldiers reported kidnapped, and another front opened into Lebanon. This is the "Attack on Pearl Harbor".

But just as history shows that the attack on Pearl Harbor was simply a device to lure America into a global war, so too is the stage set for the Gaza and Lebanon invasions to blossom into a full scale world war; the war the Neocon warhawks have planned for all along, the war they imagine will make the United States the ruler of the world.

Iran already has a security relationship with Syria, which President Ahmadinajad confirmed by phone to the Syrian President earlier today. And President Bush has committed US forces to aid Israel in any conflict, even if Israel initiates hostilities.

So, simple as 1, 2, 3. Israel attacks Syria, maybe even Iran directly, and Iran counter-attacks, with YOUR kids standing in the way on the ground in Iraq. Except that it is not that simple. Russia has agreements with Iran, including the one in which Russia is building Iran's nuclear power plant, a plant which remains Russian state property until Iran finishes paying for it, and which is currently staffed with Russian nationals who are building it and training the Iranians to run it.

If that power station gets bombed and Russian nationals get killed, Russia will HAVE to respond, and with the US vetoing every UN resolution against Israel, Russia will not choose peaceful negotiations. Russia has already signaled its intention to intervene by ordering the Black Sea Fleet to relocate to a port in Syria, following Israel's illegal and provocative flights over Damascus.

So here we are, at the dawn of "Dubya Dubya Three", and we did not get here by accident. Every step of the way from peace to near-war was planned and carried out at the highest levels of the US, UK, and Israeli governments.

It's happening again. And nobody knows how many will die this time.