Trump’s geopolitical record shows he yielded to regime hawks Pompeo, Bolton, and in the war department on escalating aggression in multiple theaters.
Bolton pushed for war on Iran long before he became Trump’s national security advisor. Pompeo largely favors war on the country by other means to make its economy scream and immiserate its people.
Patrick Shanahan replaced “Mad Dog” James Mattis as war secretary. Army secretary Mark Esper replaced him, the FBI investigating an earlier domestic abuse incident between him and his then-wife. Shanahan’s stepping down was likely to avoid a potentially nasty Senate confirmation hearing process.
Following the June Gulf of Oman incident and other regional ones in May, falsely blamed on Iran, with US and likely Israeli fingerprints all over them, Pompeo’s rhetoric sounded like he’s with Bolton for hot war on the country.
On Tuesday at CENTCOM headquarters in Tampa, Florida, he continued his hostile anti-Iran rhetoric, pushing the Big Lie about (nonexistent) Iranian “aggression in the region” — the US, NATO, Israel, and their imperial partners alone responsible for endless Middle East wars with more in mind.
Bipartisan hawks in Washington want Iran returned to US client state status, eliminating Israel’s main regional rival at the same time, along with gaining control over its vast oil and gas reserves.
On Monday, Time magazine interviewed Trump. “I would certainly go (to war on Iran) over nuclear weapons” (it doesn’t have or want), he said, adding:
“…I would keep the other a question mark.” While falsely blaming Iran for the Gulf of Oman and May regional incidents, he called them “very minor,” suggesting for him they’re not (false flag) enough to go to war over.
Ahead of stepping down as war secretary, Shanahan lied saying the following:
“The recent Iranian attacks (sic) validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region (sic).”
No “credible intelligence” exist, nothing suggesting an aggressive Iran, just the opposite. Clear evidence shows the Islamic Republic is the region’s leading proponent of peace, stability, and cooperation with other nations — polar opposite how the US, NATO, the Saudis, UAE, and Israel operate.
Trump told Time that the Gulf of Oman “is less strategically important for the United States now than it used to be,” the publication said, quoting DJT saying:
“Other (countries) get such vast amounts of oil there. We get very little. We have made tremendous progress in the last two and a half years in energy,” adding:
“And when the pipelines get built, we’re now an exporter of energy. So we’re not in the position that we used to be in in the Middle East where…some people would say we were there for the oil.”
Fact: Henry Kissinger long ago explained that controlling oil is how to control nations. Its own energy needs aside, the US seeks control over energy reserves worldwide — especially in the Middle East, Venezuela, and the reserves of other oil-rich independent nations.
Asked if he’s considering war on Iran, Trump said “I wouldn’t say that. I can’t say that at all.”
His remark suggests he differs with Bolton and Pompeo on how tough to be on Iran. The neocon/ CIA house organ Washington Post earlier said the following:
“…Trump is frustrated with some of his top advisers, who he thinks could rush the United States into a military confrontation with Iran and shatter his long-standing pledge to withdraw from costly foreign wars, according to several U.S. officials,” adding:
“Trump prefers a diplomatic approach to resolving tensions and wants to speak directly with Iran’s leaders.”
He’s “angry…about what he sees as warlike planning that is getting ahead of his own thinking, said a senior administration official with knowledge of conversations Trump had regarding national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.”
Bolton especially is “in a different place” from Trump. (DJT) wants to talk to the Iranians. He wants a deal,” according to an unnamed White House official. “He is not comfortable with all this ‘regime change’ talk.”
If the above information is accurate, it’s a positive sign, stepping back from the brink of possible war that could be far more devastating than other US post-9/11 wars of aggression.
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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.
