The Iran War Subtext

There is much speculation about a Bush plan to invade Iran.

There are three carrier groups now in play, and they are not in the Gulf to support the occupation of Iraq. They are there for Iran.

The reasons to invade Iran appear to be a confluence of themes.

First there are the neo-conservatives. With the PNAC document of September 2000, the neo-cons called for war with Iran. Bush is the neo-con president and still is driven by the policies of this group. The neo-cons like war, they want to maximize the military budget. Military might is the neo-con form of diplomacy. This is one reason why someone like Kissinger, certainly not a hero of mine by any stretch, is distrusted by the neo-cons. After all detente involves negotiation.

The neo-cons provide the ideology, and the reasons the general public needs to hear in order to support going to war in Iran. In the run up to the Iraq War it was the neo-cons who also supplied the intelligence in the form of the Office of Special Plans. All you need is a good public relations firm like Rendon to iron out the wrinkles and put a happy sound bite face on it, then pass it on to the corporate controlled media and voila, the ideology looks pretty good. It hardly matters if the information being told is accurate and factual.

With a little less than 2 years to go in his presidency, Bush appears ever willing to seize the neo-con day. A war with Iran will be long and harder than the Iraq occupation. Look and see how difficult it is for the US to leave Iraq. A non-binding resolution is a start but its not the same as actually stopping the recent US escalation.

The second major appeal of War in Iran has to do with providing for the interests of the corporate elite. This is an area where Bush excels, clearly Bush is the superlative president in terms of bringing wealth to corporations.

If you look at how America has been reshaped post 9-11, you find fundamental clues into how the Iran war will continue with this process of transformation. It is corporations who stand to benefit from this reshaping.

The key lies in the way the State has gathered more and more power and control over the population. Simultaneously the rights of individuals keeps eroding.

Some of the key legislations which demonstrate this are the Military Commissions Act with its key point of removing habeus corpus for the enemy combatant. By the way, if you are thinking that you could not be construed to be a military combatant, think again.

In addition there is the Patriot Act which allows for the intrusion and violation of individual privacy on all levels. The State wants to know your DNA, your reading material, they want to enter your home anytime without any need for a warrant. But these federally legislated acts are only two of many that remove the rights of the individual and expand the role of the state.

Also there is the shifting of more and more wealth out of the hands of the ordinary citizen and into the hands of private corporations. Some of those corporations are Blackwater, which provides privatization of the military, and Haliburton which has taken over many aspects of the military. But the list of relevant corporations is longer and greater. Think energy, weapons production, private militias, surveillance and security.

Also the makeup of the Supreme Court has been radically altered with the addition of Alito and Roberts, both Federalists, who support the rights of the State over the rights of the individual and support the rise of the unitary presidency, the uber presidency.

Think of how environmental law has been weakened, in order to allow corporations to freely pollute. Who gains, that would be corporations, and who loses, that would be the people.

Think of how the energy corporations have gained in record amounts while the need for renewable green energy sources could not possibly be greater and more intrinsic to the survival of human beings on planet Earth. Want to know who one of the neo-cons biggest financial contributors is? Its Exxon Mobil.

The links between corporations and the highest reaches of government have never been greater. The increase in the power of the State means an increase in the power and control of the corporations as they provide more and more of the States' services and hardware. Incidentally, a primary aspect of fascism is the melding of the corporations with the State and forming one seemless entity.

The War in Iran will be the stated cause of more of all these things. They seem to need a pretext to enact the draconian measures. What could be better than an Iranian terrorist on the American homeland? Another act of terrorism either real or invented, will see a major clamp down in individual rights, further intrusions into privacy, further surveillance of the populations, controls over money, and all of this will be handled by private corporations. Dissent will not be permitted. It was almost wiped out with the Iraq War.

This is a guarantee. War with Iran will put the final nail in the coffin of democracy. Get your passport ready because whatever little remains of the America we once knew, will be gone for good.

One thing to remember, this ugly scenario is what a small group of elite powerful people want, this is desirable to them. Don't let this happen.