Nexus - 1503 - New Times Magazine-pages

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inspections of shipments to and from Iran "if there are suspicions A Diabolical Military Agenda of prohibited goods" (AFP, 11 February 2008). Meanwhile, Professor Paul Dibb is a former Australian Deputy Secretary of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Defence who, over the years, has also occupied key positions in Gordon Brown have been calling for a unified EU sanctions Australia's defence and intelligence establishment. Dibb carefully regime against Iran. overlooks the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons in a Contradicting the US National Intelligence Estimate, Bush's conventional war theatre. According to Dibb, NATO's pre- most recent speeches continue to portray Iran as a nuclear threat: emptive nuclear doctrine, which replicates that of the Pentagon, "I feel pretty good about making sure that we keep the constitutes a significant and positive initiative to "halt the pressure on Iran to pressure them so they understand they're imminent spread of nuclear weapons": isolated, to pressure them to affect their economy, to pressure "They [the group] believe that the West must be ready to them to the point that we hope somebody rational shows up resort to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to try to halt the and says, 'Okay, it's not worth it imminent spread of nuclear anymore." weapons." q q (Dibb, ibid.; emphasis added) Threat to "Western Way of Life" The stated objective ofa The Western media are involved in a Middle East nuclear holocaust Never mind the nuclear holocaust diabolical disinformation campaign, on, and the resulting radioactive the purpose of which is to persuade is ‘to prevent the occurrence contamination, which would spread public opinion that the only way to of a nuclear war"—an worldwide and threaten, in a real "create a nuclear-free world" is to use sense, the "way of life". There is no nuclear weapons on a pre-emptive insidious logic which certainly "way of life" in a world contaminated basis, against countries which out-dwarfs the darkest period with deadly radioactive material. But "threaten our Western way of life". . sags this is something that is rarely The Western world is threatened. of the Spanish Inquisition... discussed in the corridors of NATO or The Pentagon/NATO-sponsored in strategic studies programs in report, according to Paul Dibb, paints: Western universities. "an alarming picture of the threats What is frightening in Professor confronting the West, arguing that its values and way of life | Dibb's article is that he is not expressing an opinion, nor is he are under threat and that we are struggling to summon the analysing the use of nuclear weapons from an academic research will to defend them." point of view. In his article, there is neither research on nuclear (Dibb, ibid.; emphasis added) — weapons nor an understanding of the complex geopolitics of the Middle East war. Dibb is essentially repeating verbatim the A pre-emptive nuclear attack—geographically confined to statements contained in NATO-Pentagon military documents. Middle East (minus Israel?)—is the proposed endgame. The His article is a "copy and paste" summary of Western nuclear attack would use US tactical nuclear weapons, which, according doctrine, which in practice calls for the launching of a nuclear to "scientific opinion" (on contract to the Pentagon) are "harmless holocaust. to the surrounding civilian population because the explosion is The stated objective of a Middle East nuclear holocaust is "to underground" (see Michel Chossudovsky, "The Dangers of a prevent the occurrence of a nuclear war"—an insidious logic Middle East Nuclear Holocaust", Global Research, 17 February which certainly out-dwarfs the darkest period of the Spanish 2006). Inquisition... B61-11 bunker-buster bombs with nuclear warheads reading Neither NATO nor the Pentagon uses the term "nuclear "Mada in Ama with an ave inspections of shipments to and from Iran "if there are suspicions of prohibited goods" (AFP, 11 February 2008). Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have been calling for a unified EU sanctions regime against Iran. Contradicting the US National Intelligence Estimate, Bush's most recent speeches continue to portray Iran as a nuclear threat: "I feel pretty good about making sure that we keep the pressure on Iran to pressure them so they understand they're isolated, to pressure them to affect their economy, to pressure them to the point that we hope somebody rational shows up and says, 'Okay, it's not worth it anymore." The stated objective of a Middle East nuclear holocaust is "to prevent the occurrence of a nuclear war"—an A pre-emptive nuclear attack—geographically confined to Middle East (minus Israel?)—is the proposed endgame. The attack would use US tactical nuclear weapons, which, according to "scientific opinion" (on contract to the Pentagon) are "harmless to the surrounding civilian population because the explosion is underground" (see Michel Chossudovsky, "The Dangers of a Middle East Nuclear Holocaust", Global Research, 17 February 2006). B61-11 bunker-buster bombs with nuclear warheads reading "Made in America", with an explosive capacity between one-third to six times an Hiroshima bomb, are presented as bona fide humanitarian bombs which minimise the dangers of "collateral damage". These in-house "scientific" Pentagon assessments regarding the mini-nukes are refuted by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS): "Any attempt to use a [B61-11 bunker- buster nuclear bomb] in an urban environment would result in massive civilian casualties. Even at the low end of its 0.3-300 kiloton yield range, the nuclear blast will simply blow out a huge crater of radioactive material, creating a lethal gamma-radiation field over a large area." (Robert W. Nelson, "Low-Yield Earth-Penetrating Nuclear Weapons", FAS Public Interest Report, Jan/Feb 2001) 1007 2003 APRIL — MAY 2008 NEXUS = 15 (Dibb, ibid.; emphasis added) www.nexusmagazine.com