State Department voices opposition to U.S.-Iran war in Washington Post

Several former high-ranking U.S. military, intelligence and State Department officials launched an appeal to President Obama, released as a full page advertisement in the March 5, 2012 edition of The Washington Post.

The announcement urges the President not to yield to the intense lobbying to get the U.S. to attack Iran on the pretext that Tehran would develop atomic weapons.

The page was sponsored by the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), an association that represents the interests of the Iranian-U.S. community, which is subsidized by the NED and, as such, is dependent on the State Department.

Titled "Mr. President: say no to a war of choice with Iran", the appeal is draws the distinction between a war of "necessity" and one of "choice". The first is unavoidable since it involves the defense of vital interests, while the second is a strong-arm method for settling a dispute that could find other solutions.

The date of the publication was made to coincide with the meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama at the White House. It stressed that the idea of ​​a U.S. engagement against Iran is primarily advocated by Israel and its supporters, on the pretext that the Islamic Republic is on the verge of developing an atomic bomb.

In reality, the myth of the Iranian nuclear weapons program had been concocted by Cheney’s team when he ascended to power in Washington and confirmed at the 7th Herzliya Conference in Israel: the aim was to exploit the fictitious nuclear threat to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran, the main obstacle to the presumed interests of both countries in the region.

But in 2007, the 16 intelligence agencies had concluded unanimously, and again in 2011, that Iran’s nuclear research program does not include military objectives. On February 16, 2012, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed to the House of Representatives that U.S. intelligence reports revealed once again that Iran has no intention of manufacturing nuclear weapons.

Therefore, a certain number of U.S. nationals leaders, including the President and the Secretary of Defense, agreeing that a war against Iran was not in the interest of the United States, have decided to reject this lie and, at the same time, Israel’s hawkish rhetoric.

In fact the message published in the Washington Post is not addressed to President Obama so much as to those beating the drums of war to Benjamin Netanyahu. This symbolic day was used to display U.S. foreign policy approval, through the NIAC, of Defense Secretary’s position on the Iranian nuclear issue.

This represents the highest-level shift which has taken place since the "Revolt of the generals" in 2005, the Baker-Hamilton Commission, and is the confirmation that U.S. strategy is in Robert Gates’ hands.