Oil, Sharon And The Axis Of Evil
2-12-2
Some weeks ago, something curious happened: Israel discovered that Iran is
the Great Satan.
It happened quite suddenly. There was no prior sensational news, no new
discovery. As if by the order of a drill-sergeant, the whole Israeli phalanx
changed direction. All the politicians, all the generals, all the enlisted
media, with the usual complement of professors-for-hire, - all of them
discovered overnight that Iran is the immediate, real and terrible danger.
By wondrous coincidence, at exactly the same moment a ship was captured
that, allegedly, carried Iranian arms to Arafat. And in Washington Shimon
Peres, a man for all seasons and the servant of all masters, accosted every
passing diplomat and told him stories about thousands of Iranian missiles
that have been given to the Hizbullah. Yes, yes, Hizbullah (included by
President Bush in the list of "terrorist organizations") is receiving
horrible arms from Iran (included by President Bush in the "Axis of Evil")
in order to threaten Israel, the darling of the Congress.
Does this sound mad? Not at all. There is method in this madness. On the
face of it, the matter is easy to explain. America is still in a state of
fury after the Twin-Towers outrage. It has won a amazing victory in
Afghanistan, hardly sacrificing a single American soldier. Now it stands,
furious and drunk with victory, and does not know who to attack next. Iraq?
North Korea? Somalia? The Sudan?
President Bush cannot stop now, because such an immense concentration of
might cannot be laid off. The more so, as Bin-Laden has not been killed. The
economic situation has deteriorated, a giant scandal (Enron) is rocki ng
Washington. The American public should not be left to ponder on this. So
here comes the Israeli leadership and shouts from the roof-tops: Iran is the
enemy! Iran must be attacked!
Who has made that decision? When? How? And most importantly - Where? Clearly
not in Jerusalem, but in Washington DC. An important component of the US
administration has given Israel a sign: Start a massive political offensive
in order to pressure the Congress, the media and American public opinion.
Who are these people? And what is their interest? A wider explanation is
needed.
The most coveted resource on earth is the giant oil-field in the Caspian Sea
region, that competes in scale with the riches of Saudi Arabia. In 2010 it
is expected to yield 3.2 billion barrels of crude oil per day, in addition
to 4850 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year.
The United States is determined (a) to take possession of it, (b) to
eliminate all potential competitors, (c) to safeguard the area politically
and militarily, and (d) to clear a way from the oil-fields to the open sea.
This campaign is being led by a group of oil people, to which the Bush
family belongs. Together with the arms industry, this group got both George
Bush senior and George Bush junior elected. The President is a simple
person, his mental world is shallow and his pronouncements are primitive,
bordering on caricature, like a second-rate Western. That is good for the
masses. But his handlers are very sophisticated people indeed. It's they who
guide the administration.
The Twin Towers outrage made their job much easier. Osama Bin Laden did not
comprehend that his actions serve American interests. If I were a believer
in Conspiracy Theory, I would think that Bin Laden is an American agent. Not
being one, I can only wonder at the coincidence.
Bush's "War on Terrorism" constitutes a perfect pretext for the campaign
planned by his handlers. Under the cover of this war, America has taken
total control over the three small Muslim nations near the oil reserves:
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The whole region is now completely
under American political-military domination. All potential competitors -
including Russia and China - have been pushed out.
For a long time, the Americans have been arguing among themselves about the
best route for piping this oil to the open sea. Routes that may be under
Russian influence have been eliminated. The 19th century, deadly
British-Russian competition, then called the "Great Game", is still going on
between America and Russia. Until recently, the western route, leading to
the Black Sea and Turkey, seemed most feasible, but the Americans did not
like it very much, to say the least. Russia is much too near.
The best route leads south, to the Indian Ocean. Iran was not even
considered, since it is governed by Islamic fanatics. So there remained the
alternative route: from the Caspian Sea, through Afghanistan and the western
part of Pakistan (called Beluchistan), to the Indian Ocean. To this end, the
Americans conducted, ever so quietly, negotiations with the Taliban regime.
They bore no fruit. Then the "War on Terrorism" was started, the US
conquered all of Afghanistan and installed their agents as the new
government. The Pakistani dictator, too, was bent to the American will.
If one looks at the map of the big American bases created for the war, one
is struck by the fact that they are completely identical to the route of the
projected oil pipeline to the Indian Ocean.
That would have been the end of the story, but the appetite grows with the
eating. The Americans drew two lessons from the Afghani experience: (a) that
every country can be subdued by sophisticated bombs, without putting any
soldiers in harm's way, and (b) that by military might and money America can
install client governments anywhere.
And so a new idea came up in Washington: Why lay a long pipeline around Iran
(through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan) if one can lay a much
shorter pipeline through Iran itself? One has only to topple the Ayatullah
regime and install a new pro-American government. In the past, that seemed
impossible. Now, after the Afghani episode, it looks eminently practicable.
One has only to prepare American public opinion and to acquire the support
of the congress for an attack on Iran.
For this, Israel's good services are needed. It has an enormous influence in
the Congress and the media. It works like this: Israeli generals declare
every day that Iran is producing weapons of mass-destruction and threatens
the Jewish State with a second Holocaust. Sharon announces that the capture
of the Iranian arms-ship proves Arafat is a part of the Iranian conspiracy.
Peres tells everybody that Iranian missiles threaten the whole world. Every
day some newspaper tells its readers that Bin Laden is in Iran or with the
Hizbullah in Lebanon.
President Bush knows how to reward those who serve him well. Sharon got a
free hand to oppress the Palestinians, imprison Arafat, assassinate
militants and enlarge the settlements. It's a simple deal: You deliver the
support of the Congress and the media, I deliver the Palestinians on a
platter.
This could not happen if America was still in need of allies in Europe and
the Arab world. But in Afghanistan, the Americans learned that they don't
need anybody anymore. They can spit in the eyes of the pitiful Arab regimes,
that are always begging for money, and disregard Europe altogether. Who
needs the negligible armies of Britain and Germany, when America alone is
mightier then all the armies of the world combined?
The idea of American-Israeli cooperation against Iran is not new for Sharon.
On the contrary, in 1981, when he was just appointed Minister of Defense, he
offered the Pentagon a daring plan: in the event of Khomeini's demise, the
Israeli army would immediately occupy Iran, in order to forestall the Soviet
Union. The IDF would turn the country over to the slow-moving Americans,
once they arrived. For this purpose, the Pentagon would stockpile in advance
the most sophisticated arms in Israel, under American control, to be used in
this operation.
The Pentagon did not accept the idea at that time. Now, the cooperation is
being established against a different background. What conclusions should we
draw from all this?
First of all, that we shall be located on the frontline of this coming war.
Beyond the exchange of curses between the "two Persian Chiefs-of-Staff" (as
the joke goes in Israeli command circles, alluding to the fact that Shaul
Mofaz was born in Iran), an Iranian reaction to an American assault may hurt
us grievously. There are missiles. There are chemical and biological weapons.
Second, that those of us who desire an Israeli-Palestinian peace cannot rely
on America. Now everything depends on us alone, the Israelis and the
Palestinians. Our blood is more precious than Caspian Sea oil. At least to us.
Uri Avnery lives in Israel. He has written extensively about the life and
career of Ariel Sharon.
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