By Kam Zarrabi, Intellectual Discourse

There is a world our there where Paris Hilton is known only as some hotel in Europe, where nobody gives a damn about Scooter Libby's pardon or Los Angeles Mayor's extra marital affairs. Millions are dying daily in that world and millions of others are threatened with impending doom and devastation, ignored by the high and mighty as either unworthy of attention or regarded as a nuisance to be dealt with by the world's most powerful military machine. In this display of greed and prejudice, a great nation's soul has been stolen and grand ideals encoded in the Constitution that framed this nation have been compromised by influence peddlers, foreign and domestic, and by policy makers whose personal interests and private allegiances override their duty to serve their own country.

Meanwhile, the world out there, where Paris Hilton is known only as some hotel in Europe, is paying the price for the luxury we enjoy of having even the most gruesome global events packaged piecemeal in entertaining vignettes in-between glamour shots of beady-eyed Paris Hilton and Miss luscious-lips, Angelina Jolie.

With that much interesting stuff to keep track of, who's got the time or the incentive to worry about foreign policy issues or even the number of the dead and injured among our own young soldiers who are fighting for a non-descript cause they have been told is our war on terror? 

It is in this kind of atmosphere that special interest groups, individuals and specially planted moles in the Administration create policies such as those that dragged us into the invasion of Iraq, and are now paving the way to expand the bloodshed into Iran.

Now Iran is looming bigger and bigger in the crosshairs.

The older, vaguer and less imminent threats of regime change through anti Iran propaganda, exploitations of pro democracy and human rights advocates, support for dissident groups inside and outside Iran, and various economic pressures, have now been ratcheted up to a level that might quickly get out of control.

Now we are hearing that Iranian weapons are "killing Americans" and Brits in Iraq, as well as allied forces in Afghanistan. We hear that Iran is training and sending Lebanese Hezbollah fighters to Iraq to commit terrorism and to "kill Americans" (a cunningly created new catch-phrase that is meant to generate just the perfect rationale to declare war). We hear that Iran is sending arms to the Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, and even to Al-Gha'eda terrorists in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Naturally, nobody expects the public to demand some proof of all this involvement; allegations seem to always suffice. After all, it is not like having doubts about who the father of Anna Nicole's daughter was!

Of course, it is common knowledge that American arms are found in the hands of terrorists who kill Iranians in Iran or Iranians on pilgrimage in Iraq. And it doesn't seem to matter if American Special Forces or the Brits are supplying arms and training to the likes of Jund-Ullah terrorists, among many other groups, to infiltrate Iran and "kill Iranians".

We hear that a former politician and part-time television actor, now a candidate (by default, because of the lackluster Republican hopefuls) for presidency of the United States, is also a visionary in foreign policy and, like his co-campaigners on the Republican ticket, is a proponent of bombing Iran. Leading Democratic candidates for presidency refuse to rule out a preemptive attack on Iran. They prefer for the Democratic majority Congress to approve and get credit for such a decision, which it surely will. And, the sly weasel himself, the so-called Independent (he is definitely independent of true American interests, but fully committed to the mandates of the Israeli regime) Senator Joseph Lieberman, whose compatriots and co-conspirators are the top foreign policy advisors to Vice President, Dick Cheney (the real decision maker), as well as to the State Department, doesn't believe we should even wait past the end of this year! 

We also saw the American Congress almost unanimously (minus only two votes by Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul) approve a resolution accusing the Iranian President Ahmadinejad of inciting "genocide" by promoting the destruction of Israel (against all evidence that he ever said such a thing!).

The other sly fox, the Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos, now the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, has just championed another resolution to strengthen sanctions against the Islamic Republic in order to strangulate the Iranian people beyond recovery. But, unlike his compatriot and co-conspirator, Joe Lieberman, Mr. Lantos does not believe in nuking Iran first and asking questions later; he prefers, instead, to destroy Iran at a slower, more tortuous pace, through economic deprivation resulting in social chaos.

This sly fox, our Congressional arch Zionist and long-time Iran-hater, had the audacity recently to coyly ask a member of the visiting Russian delegation at a meeting of the committee he chairs, televised by C-SPAN, to intervene on his behalf to get a visa to visit Iran. He expressed his dismay and surprise that the Iranian government has thus far refused to grant him a visa! Now, this is chutzpah. Can you imagine having Osama Bin Laden being invited to address a joint session of the US Congress?!

Perhaps he wants to offer Mr. Ahmadinejad his personal testimony as a living survivor that Holocaust did really take place, notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Ahmadinejad has never questioned the reality of the Holocaust, only some of its established narratives and subsequent ramifications.

Our major newspapers, like their television and radio counterparts, prefer to pander to their readerships and audiences rather than carry out their honest journalistic task of unbiased reporting and informing. After all, money or the bottom line is everything. Rags like The Nation or Mother Jones don't enjoy much of a circulation and have to print their few humble pages on cheaper paper.

On television, the only voices of dissent or criticism are wrapped in entertaining comedy shows and satire or cartoon programs.

There surely will be big demonstrations across the nation against the decision to attack Iran, after it has been initiated, of course! Most will object to such a war because of its certain losses of American lives, economic costs to the nation and the negative image it would create for America worldwide. But the same rationale that was used to justify dropping atomic bombs over Japan in WWII will again be used to justify doing the same to Iran: Why; aren't they doing things that help kill Americans? Ask Joe Lieberman!

But, once again, other episodes of American Idol, Wheel of Fortune, and soon to restart, NFL football, will more than make up for the ugly news from overseas.  

Should we not wake up to the realities behind the scene, we are doomed to repeat and expand our mistake in invading Iraq by attacking Iran. No doubt Iran will be the big loser by sinking into total economic collapse after its vital infrastructure is devastated. Just as in Iraq, the United States will also be a loser in the eyes of the world. The war America is fighting against terror will also be lost, while terrorism will gain an even stronger position to expand and proliferate with greater zeal.

There will, however, be a winner in all this. This winner, albeit in short-term, is well represented by its warmonger cronies and supporters in our Administration.

Do I have to name that winner?

Clearly, interfering in the internal affairs of any sovereign nation and openly threatening, and even actually engaging in, steps to culminate a regime change are blatantly against the charter of the United Nations and American law. Implementing severe economic and trade embargos against Iran is tantamount to a de facto economic blockade, which can be interpreted easily as an act of war. So, in actual fact, a cold war has been taking place between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran for the past decades, now nearing a flashpoint.

In my view, and I do hope, even expect, that I am right, this cold war will also vaporize as did the last one between the Soviets Block and the West, much like a block of dry ice. And just like the last one, the end result will be a cautious, protracted détente as we see going on currently between the United States and Russia.

Should I prove too optimistic, we'd better tighten our belts for a very rough ride, brother; there'll be rocky roads ahead.

About the author: Kam Zarrabi is the author of In Zarathushtra's Shadow and Necessary Illusion. Please visit intellectualdiscourse.com for ordering.

... Payvand News - 7/5/07 ...