A missile test-fired by
Iran last week was reported on the BBC World Service as
being “capable of striking Israel”.
The choice of words was not unusual. On previous occasions
when Iran has test-fired a long-range rocket, the BBC and
other western news media dutifully inform us that the said
device is “capable of striking Israel”. The well-worn
phrase is so reliably heard in these news bulletins that
its use betrays a coded script. The not-too subliminal
implications are that Iran is: a) a hostile state; b)
doing something illegal in test-firing a long-range
missile; and c) gearing up to deliver on its alleged
threat to wipe out the state of Israel.
Within hours of these reports last week, the US government
weighed in with the pious accusation that the test-firing
“undermines Iran’s claims of peaceful intentions”.
This is a propaganda system at work: the choice of words
and framework of logic designed to condition people into
accepting certain options. In this case, the
pre-determined option is a unilateral military strike on
Iran either by the US or Israel. In that event, it will of
course be reported by the BBC and other western media as a
“pre-emptive” military measure to “prevent” Iran from
attacking western interests in the region. Reported too,
no doubt, will be the “collateral damage” of civilian
casualties – unfortunate victims in an otherwise “just
cause” to bring a “hardline regime” to abide by
“international norms”. This is classic thought engineering
that British political essayist George Orwell exposed so
brilliantly – the official use of sanitised words to cover
the sordid truth.
So let’s rewind and play back the news with some pertinent
facts and context that are routinely omitted in western
media reporting.
Iran has test-fired a long-range missile – within its
sovereign borders. The US and its western allies carry out
such weapons testing all the time, as is their sovereign
right. One of the US’ allies, Israel, has a stockpile of
nuclear weapons in contravention of the Non-Proliferation
Treaty. This same ally has previously committed acts of
aggression (war crimes) by launching air attacks on
neighbouring countries. Israel, with overt approval from
Washington, has repeatedly said that it is prepared to
militarily strike Iran “soon”, The US itself has warned
several times that it reserves the right to use a military
option in its relations with Iran. The US is waging
illegal wars in three of Iran’s neighbours: Iraq,
Afghanistan and Pakistan. A dynamic of fear and distrust
between Gulf countries is fuelling a regional arms race.
This dynamic is being pushed by the US with, what should
be, obvious self-serving interests (massive arms sales,
geopolitical influence) that are instead disguised by its
bogeyman illusion of Iran, which, unfortunately, Gulf
states appear to buy into. All told, these facts actually
do “undermine US claims of peaceful intentions”.
Here are some other facts that the western media curiously
underplay. Iran is not at war with any country, although
it is routinely accused in the western media, without
supporting evidence, of covert subversion across the
region. Iran is conducting a nuclear energy programme,
which it has repeatedly said is for civilian power supply.
After a decade of close monitoring by UN inspectors, which
would never be permitted in its territory by the US or its
western allies, the inspectors have reiterated that there
is no evidence of Iran building a nuclear weapon.
Nevertheless, this conclusion does not restrain Washington
and London in their dogged assertion that Tehran is
building nuclear weapons (cue more arms sales).
Given these facts, the test-firing by Iran of a long-range
missile is far from being a quasi-criminal act laden with
hostile intentions. It is the action of a country that
needs to show it can defend itself amid relentless
provocations from proven and much more greatly armed
aggressors, whose arsenal also includes a propaganda
system that Nazi spinmeister Joseph Goebbels would have
marvelled at.