Washington Post fear-mongering about a growing Iranian menace in Latin America

Horhey · May 10, 2012

From the Red Manace to the Persian Menace in "our backyard". And as expected, the Post article is entirely based on claims by "US officials" and a GOP Congresswoman. No attempt at independance at all. No skepticism or balance. That's how the propaganda organ works. The media are basically stenogrophers for the establishment because they are the establishment.

Glenn Greenwald: US Media ''pure fear mongering' on Iran
[video=youtube_share;1f6azxbqMIo]http://youtu.be/1f6azxbqMIo[/video]

A recent poll from the Hill shows that amongst their respondents, nearly half of all likely voters believe the US should be willing to use military force to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. But while we've come to expect a certain drum beating from various pundits and so called experts here in Washington, how big of a role is the media playing in this pre-war scenario? Do they seem even more eager for military action than the US government itself? Salon's Glenn Greenwald discusses.
Click to expand...

Salon: More Iran fear-mongering

By Glenn Greenwald

Speaking of propaganda and the meaning of “democracy”: The Washington Post today has the latest installment of increasingly pure fear-mongering media accounts about Iran (this from the NYT last week — “Clock Ticking for West to Act on Iranian Nuclear Program” — was a remarkable escalation). Today’s Post article mindlessly echoes neocon fantasies about a growing Persian menace in Latin America, frighteningly close to America’s borders! Without an ounce of skepticism or balance, it quotes a GOP Congresswoman complaining that Iran has found “willing partners in the region’s anti-American despots,” and then ominously warns:

Former U.S. intelligence officials say the presence of Quds Force officers and other military personnel in diplomatic missions enhances Iran’s ability to carry out covert activities, sometimes in conjunction with members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group that operates extensive networks in Latin America and maintains ties with drug cartels. U.S. officials say the Quds Force was behind the alleged plot to hire Mexican drug gangs to assassinate a Saudi diplomat in Washington.

“For Iran to be so active in Venezuela and for the Quds Force to be there can only suggest Iran is serious about asymmetrical force projection into our neck of the woods. If Israel bombs Iran, we may well see retaliatory strikes aimed at U.S. interests coming from these Quds Force guys in South America,” said Art Keller, a former case officer with the CIA’s counterproliferation division.
Click to expand...

Leaving aside the fact that this Quds-Force/Mexican-drug-cartel/Saudi-Ambassador assassination plot was so facially absurd as to be laughable, and further leaving aside that these neocon fantasies of Hezbollah running wild in Latin America have been clearly debunked, and further leaving aside that the Post article does little more than identify commercial transactions between Iran and these nations, consider who are the region’s “anti-American despots” whom Iran is threateningly befriending.

The Post explains that Iran has now “opened six new missions there — in Colombia, Nicaragua, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay and Bolivia — and has expanded embassies in Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela”; Iran’s President, the article informs us, is now embarking on a trip to Venezuela, Ecuador, Cuba and Nicaragua. Other than Cuba, all of those nations are governed by democratically elected leaders. But many of them periodically defy American dictates and act against American interests; they are thus magically transformed into “despots.” By contrast, try to find any high-level American official using such a term to describe, say, America’s close friends ruling Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. That is what is meant by “democracy” and “freedom” and “despots” when used in establishment American foreign policy discussions.
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Washington Post fear-mongering about a growing Iranian menace in Latin America

Horhey Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Washington Post fear-mongering about a growing Iranian menace in Latin America

Horhey Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches