EDITORIAL – It’s hard to sort out the truth from BS on Iran situation
Donald Trump, in full braggadocio mode, and with lapdog Marco Rubio as backup, announces bombing of Iran nuclear facilities.
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
SHED NO TEARS for the regime in Iran. Its rulers repress freedom in their own country and spread terrorism around the world. We’d all be better off if somebody else was running the place.
While that is clear, it’s much less clear whether the bombing of Iran — initiated by Israel and piled on by the U.S. with its so-called bunker busters — was necessary or wise.
For one thing, nobody seems to know for sure whether Iran has been speeding toward the production of nuclear weapons, or how fast. Warnings about the possibility have been issued by Western leaders for decades but without much evidence.
U.S. intelligence and the International Atomic Energy Agency have said there isn’t any. Donald Trump himself tore up the Iran nuclear agreement in 2018. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, said recently that Iran wasn’t developing nuclear weapons.
But after Trump said on the weekend that “she’s wrong,” she quickly changed here tune, now claiming that Iran could have had nuclear weapons “within weeks.”
The alleged timeline for Iran to build nuclear warheads varies depending on which hyperbolic Trump supporter is doing the talking. To some, it’s months, to others, weeks. One congress member even insists it’s “days.”
Iran’s leaders, meanwhile, steadfastly claim it isn’t developing nuclear weapons at all, but is, instead, working on peaceful uses for energy supply.
None of this is at all reassuring. The term “weapons of mass destruction” come to mind as justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Of course, it turned out there were no such weapons in Iraq.
Maybe, if anybody but Donald Trump was in charge, it would be easier to believe that dropping huge amounts of powerful bombs on a sovereign country makes good sense. Maybe, if not for his chastisement of Volodymyr Zelenksy only weeks ago that Zelensky was “risking World War III” by defending Ukraine from the Russian invasion, it would be easier to accept Trump’s claims that dropping his bombs on Iran are all about peace and security and avoiding another world war.
Maybe, his ultimatums to Iran to get back to the negotiating table — and Prime minister Mark Carney’s similar exhortations — would be more believable if not for the fact negotiations were already ongoing.
And here are a couple of more “maybes.” Maybe none of the above much matters. Maybe the fact Iran is simply under suspicion of developing nuclear weapons is enough to justify pre-emptive action. Maybe what’s “legal” and what’s “illegal” isn’t so important when we’re dealing with the possibility of nuclear annihilation.
Maybe the fact Trump isn’t dropping any bombs on North Korea — which already has 50 or so nuclear warheads, and which surely poses a much greater threat to world peace — wouldn’t seem so inconsistent if we simply accept that Iran is a much easier target.
In other words, maybe, if all the players in this alarming situation could be trusted to employ the truth, instead of rhetoric, we could sort things out a lot more easily.
Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
I’m surprised no one has blamed city hall yet.
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Which world leader will be thrown under the bus next by The Donald?
Here’s a wild guess. Russia is planning to help out Iran; how and when will play out in time. If Mr. Putin feels that Trump has betrayed him, there will be a price to pay. Attention can be called away from Ukraine in favour of an attack on Israel from the north.
Nuclear weapons could be involved. The time line doesn’t fit Armageddon just yet in my opinion but we are about to get a wakeup call to the horrors of the stockpile of weapons amassed since Hiroshima.
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The worst thing about the latest escalation is that an awful lot of Americans and Canadians feel that this was a proper action. This means that the attention is moving away from Trumps’ other actions and helps Trump survive .The only bright spot is there is trouble brewing in the Republican ranks as infighting increases between Maga and the neocons. As Canadians we must beware of the power mad regime to our south.
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One just has to read Mel to to sort out the truth from BS on Iran situation. Mel its time for us to see ourself “as others see us” to, ensure history serves understanding, not distortion. Seeing ourselves as others see us requires confronting uncomfortable truths, like the western. complicity in Middle East instability for the past 100 years (e.g., 1953 Iran coup, per CIA files) or the human cost of policies (e.g., Iraq’s 500,000 civilian deaths, per Brown University, 2020). The question is why do we do this”
Our GIGO approach to the Middle East demands verifiable data to counter disinformation, as authors like Howard Zinn and Andrew Bacevich do by highlighting suppressed voices and policy failures. Anyone telling the truth is marginalized or jailed or even assassinated.
Mel why don’t you take a look at a century of distorted narratives (Sykes-Picot, incubator babies, Powell’s 2003 UN speech, Netanyahu’s diagrams) and Western blame on Iran, deflecting from Gaza’s toll (55,000 women and children claimed”). Every mother in Kamloops should be on the street protesting this crime.
These who ignore this reflect “garbage in” from media and states. For decades, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed Iran is close to developing nuclear weapons, but no evidence supports this, and Israel has consistently undermined diplomatic efforts like the 2015 Nuclear Deal.
The claim by the US, Israel, and European partners that the attack on Iran was a pre-emptive strike to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is baseless, comparing it to false claims about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction in 2003 and too many others false flags. Israel’s attack is not about Iran’s nuclear program but rather Iran’s support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, which oppose Israeli policies. Israel’s military cannot destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities alone, as they are heavily fortified.
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Well said, with Trump ar the helm, who knows what the truth is.
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