“Fake News”: Iran Paid Taliban to Kill US Troops… Big Lies Take a Life of Their Own

When repeated ad nauseam, Big Lies take on a life of their own.

Before the television age arrived, famed actor/humorist Will Rogers once said: “All I know is what I read in the papers.”

He might have added that mind manipulation gets most people to believe almost anything, no matter how false.

In July, the NYT falsely claimed that “Russia secretly offered (the Taliban) bounties to kill US troops” in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon denied the claim. So did the NSA, saying it had no corroborating intelligence that suggests it. The CIA declined to comment at the time.

The Times then backed off from its initial claim, shifting the narrative to Russia paying “Taliban-linked militants to kill American and coalition troops in Afghanistan (sic),” using a middleman “contractor (sic).”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry slammed the accusation. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov minced no words, calling the claim “100 percent bulls..t.”

What goes around comes around — the same accusation repeated, this time by CNN against Iran, saying:

“US intelligence indicates (that) Iran paid bounties to Taliban for targeting American troops in Afghanistan (sic),” adding:

“(A)t least six attacks (were) carried out…last year…(b)ounties…paid by a foreign government identified to CNN…as Iran (sic).”

“The name of the foreign government that made these payments remains classified” — a clear red flag.

The same US intelligence earlier claimed Russian US election meddling, never providing evidence to corroborate the accusation because none existed then or now.

There was no Russian US election meddling, no evidence suggesting foreign interference from any source in US elections earlier or ahead.

When accusations aren’t supported by credible proof, they’re groundless. No legitimate tribunal would accept them.

Iran is the region’s leading proponent of peace, stability, and cooperative relations with other countries, threatening none — except in self-defense if attacked, it legal UN Charter right.

In all US preemptive wars of choice against invented enemies,  notably post-9/11, no evidence suggests a foreign nation paid individuals in targeted countries to kill US troops.

Iran hasn’t attacked another nation in centuries. Claiming it paid Taliban fighters or anyone else to target US forces anywhere is unsupported by cold hard facts.

US officials and establishment media specialize in managed news misinformation, disinformation, fake news and Big Lies.

Falsely accusing Iran of paying Taliban fighters to kill US forces is part of the Trump regime’s “maximum pressure” on the country that’s all about wanting its sovereign government, free from US control, transformed into a vassal state, its resources handed to Western business interests, its people relegated to serfdom.

Using CNN as a transmission agent, the Big Lie about Russia paying bounties to the Taliban that died shifted to blaming Iran — same accusation, same fake news, different targeted country.

CNN’s report came out Monday, following Washington’s most humiliating ever Security Council defeat.

One nation alone, the Dominican Republic, supported its attempt to extend a UN arms embargo on Iran that expires on October 18.

In response, Trump vowed to unilaterally invoke the JCPOA snapback provision this week.

It lets any of its signatories reimpose veto-proof sanctions on Iran that were null and void when the agreement took effect in January 2016.

By unlawfully abandoning the JCPOA in May 2018, the Trump regime lost the right under SC Res. 2231 to invoke snapback.

Only Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany may legally invoke the provision.

They unanimously oppose this action because it would undo years of diplomatic efforts that went into establishing the JCPOA they want preserved.

Trump has no legal authority to invoke snapback — so if takes this step, it’ll be extrajudicial, breaching Security Council Res. 2231, which of course was violated by his abandonment of the JCPOA, a binding international agreement on all nations.

Taliban fighters need no foreign monetary incentive to target US forces, at war on Afghanistan and occupying parts of it illegally since October 7, 2001.

Time and again, Iran, Russia, China, and other nations on the US target list for regime change are falsely accused of all sorts of things they had nothing to do with.

Alleged Iranian bounties to Taliban fighters is the latest US fake news about the country that’s no more credible than countless other debunked accusations.

In June 2015, the Wall Street Journal reported without proof that “Tehran…quietly increased its supply of weapons, ammunition and funding to the Taliban, and is now recruiting and training their fighters (sic).”

The story died, the latest fake news about Iran surfacing on Monday.

Tehran’s new Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh succeeded Seyed Abbas Mousavi, following his appointment as Islamic Republic envoy to Azerbaijan.

Khatibzadeh dismissed the claim of his government supplying arms  to the Taliban for any purpose, saying:

“What is going on in Afghanistan today is the result of the US’ warmongering acts and interference in the affairs of Afghanistan,” adding:

“The accusations leveled by the state secretary of the United States is sort of shifting the blame onto others and an attempt to divert public opinion of the Afghan people from Washington’s assistance to Daesh (ISIS).”

“The US has not still given the public opinion an explanation for the nature of the helicopters flying in the airspace of Afghanistan under the control of NATO for supporting Daesh.”

Khatibzadeh responded to Pompeo saying the following:

“(W)e know the history (sic). We know that the Russians have armed the Taliban in the past (sic).

“We know that the Iranians continue to arm them today (sic). So we know these facts (sic).”

Pompeo’s fake news about Russia, China, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, and other nations was repeatedly exposed and debunked.

Time and again, both right wings of the US war party falsely accuse other nations for their own high crimes of war and against humanity.

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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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Articles by: Stephen Lendman

About the author:

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.

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