“In contrast to the murderous vision of violent extremists, we are joining with allies and partners around the world to build their capacity to promote security, prosperity, and human dignity,” wrote U.S. President Barack Obama in a document entitled “Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership”.

 

While not identifying the “violent extremists” referred to by President Obama, the report details the United States’ own vision of violent extremism being directed against Iran. Diminishing hopes for peace in the Middle East, the war department report makes it crystal clear that U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf has two objectives: first, denying Iran’s right to develop peaceful nuclear technology, and second, providing unflinching support for the Zionist regime’s paranoid pursuit of security.

 

According to the report, “U.S. policy will emphasize [Persian] Gulf security, in collaboration with [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council countries when appropriate, to prevent Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon capability and counter its destabilizing policies. The United States will do this while standing up for Israel’s security and a comprehensive Middle East peace.”

 

Under the claim of standing up for the “security” of the Zionist regime, the U.S. has employed its own “murderous vision” here: a build-up to a war with Iran that appears to be a carbon copy of the scenario used in the march to war with Iraq in 2003. A U.S. Congressional Research Service report on the Iraq war captures the essence of the plot: “After 16 weeks, inspectors turned up some evidence of undeclared activities, but not enough to convince a majority of the Security Council members that military force was necessary. Nonetheless, on March 19, 2003, U.S. and British forces attacked Iraq to forcibly eliminate its WMD.”  

 

The pretext for the Anglo-American invasion was based on unresolved issues outstanding since 1998, which according to UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission Chief Hans Blix, neither verified nor excluded the possibility that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Iraq had even agreed to overflights by U.S. U-2 spy planes, about which then president George W. Bush alleged that Iraq was merely stalling for time. Of course, no WMDs were ever found in Iraq.

 

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reiterated Iran’s willingness to resume negotiations with the Western powers and has even allowed a team of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to return to Iran. These inspectors may find some ambiguous, inconsequential shred of evidence, the significance of which may then be magnified to gargantuan proportions by the Western media, and held up as proof positive of the “smoking gun” confirming the existence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. The inspectors will exit Iran and present their findings; there will be an exchange of charges and denials; ultimatums will ensue; and then Israel may make a provocative move. In an understandable and justifiable response, Iran may close the Strait of Hormuz, causing an anticipated 50% rise in crude oil prices, resulting in widespread economic havoc. Also, March 20, 2012, which is Noruz, the Iranian New Year, is the target date for the Iranian oil bourse to begin trading crude oil in currencies other than the U.S. dollar.

 

The dispute over Iran's nuclear program is nothing more than a convenient excuse for the U.S. to use threats to protect the “reserve currency” status of the dollar. Recall that Saddam announced Iraq would no longer accept dollars for oil purchases in November 2000 and the U.S.-Anglo invasion occurred in March 2003. Similarly, Iran opened its oil bourse in 2008, so it is a credit to Iranian negotiating ability that the “crisis” has not come to a head long before now.

 

Europe is on the brink economic chaos due to the prudent monetary policies of the European Central Bank, which has refused to print money to buy government debt, quite unlike the U.S. Federal Reserve. Having been lured by cheap 1% bailout loans from the Fed to prevent government defaults, Europe caved in to the Zionist-inspired U.S. pressure and agreed to shoot itself in the financial foot by imposing oil sanctions on Iran, thus guaranteeing a European double-dip recession. For the U.S., however, these financial events help ensure that the euro will not pose the threat it once did to the dollar’s hegemony over oil transactions.

 

In contrast, India has declared it will buy Iranian crude in gold and China is expected to follow suit. Both nations have robust economies and nuclear weapons as well, so the U.S. will probably not do anything beyond sending trade missions headed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to both countries to beg for currency devaluation and jobs. China is especially significant, since it holds a plethora of dollars as a result of perpetual U.S. trade deficits.  What this suggests is that China may now be preparing to dump its dollar holdings, absorb its losses, and allow the renminbi to float on world currency markets.

 

One of the few growth sectors in the U.S. is the arms industry, and this is partially fueled by the over 3 billion dollars the U.S. sends to Israel as foreign military aid, almost 75% of which returns to U.S. arms manufacturers (Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon to name a few) as weapons purchases. With facilities throughout the U.S., the arms industry can pressure senators and representatives into opposing defense budget cuts by threatening plant closures in their respective districts at election time. This partially explains why both Democrats and Republicans are hawks and usually support every war. 

 

Remember also, since the end of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, the U.S. dollar “floats” on world currency markets and is not backed by gold. This occurred because the U.S. was running out of gold reserves trying to finance its obscene war in Vietnam. Supported in part by the mammoth Greenspan-created credit bubble until it burst in 2007, the once-almighty dollar is now backed by the power of the U.S. military, which enforces its acceptance in world markets and will continue to do so as long as the United States is the sole remaining superpower.

 

Unless the U.S. is willing to concede defeat to the Asian economic powers, led by China and India, it has no other option except to use military force to postpone the inevitable demise of the dollar. This means it must either choose to support Israel’s paranoia about Iran, or watch the dollar and its global empire ride off into the sunset.  

 

Yuram Abdullah Weiler is a former engineer turned freelance writer from Denver, Colorado, USA. A Shia Muslim, he has visited the holy shrines of Syria and Iraq. He frequently contributes to the Tehran Times and welcomes comments at yuram@sahafa.com.