When we see photos such as the iconic 2016 shot of of police suited up in layers of armor and armed to the teeth, confronting peaceful civilian Ieshia Evans, we may see for a moment not only the power of love, but also what one person can do against heavily-armed opposition.
Wars have been stopped by collective – and individual – acts of courage. I’d like to look at both in the “near-mutiny” of 2007, that stopped a “pre-emptive” war against Iran.
In 2007 I was studying the increasing cooperation between police and military through what they called the “Valiant” series of joint police/military operations.
In the course of it I came across rumblings of dissent in the military. I first recall reading a report of American troops training in terrain that resembled Iran more than Iraq. They refused to continue. I didn’t save it. But I didn’t need to because other evidence rolled in.
This was six years after the 9/11 attacks, which provided a “new Pearl Harbor” as an excuse in part to make war on three nations – not just on Afghanistan and Iraq, but, it also turns out, on Iran. (None of them had anything to do with 9/11.)
It wasn’t about “terrorism.” The international side of the operation was about oil (Iraq and Iran) and drugs (Afghanistan).
The military who were near to mutiny undoubtedly knew the way things worked. They probably knew about false flags, disinformation, doing anything to win. Some of them surely knew about 9/11. But Iran was a bridge too far.
The soldiers near mutiny were not alone. Observed Michel Chossudovsky:
“Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning [for an attack on Iran] are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing—that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack—but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections.” (1)
That’s the Air Force. How about the Navy? Admiral Fallon of CENTCOM openly opposed war in Iran and said it would not happen on his watch:
“Admiral William Fallon, then President George W. Bush’s nominee to head the Central Command (CENTCOM), expressed strong opposition in February to an administration plan to increase the number of carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf from two to three and vowed privately there would be no war against Iran as long as he was chief of CENTCOM, according to sources with access to his thinking.” (2)
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace was not re-appointed because he opposed the war, Michael Salla reported.
“It may be significant that General Peter Pace was not reappointed as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Pace was opposed to a nuclear strike against Iran.” (3)
Articles began to emerge about the growing revolt among the generals.
“Some of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.
“Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack.
“’There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran,’ a source with close ties to British intelligence said. ‘There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible.’” (4)
(Concluded in Part 2, tomorrow.)
Footnotes
(1) Philip Giraldi, “Attack on Iran: Pre-emptive Nuclear War,” The American Conservative, 2 August 2005 cited in Michel Chossudovsky, “Is the Bush Administration Planning a Nuclear Holocaust?” Globalresearch.ca, 22 Feb. 2006, downloaded from https://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20060222&articleId=2032, 27 Aug. 2007.
(2) Gareth Porter, “CENTCOM Commander’s Veto Sank Bush’s Threatening Gulf Buildup,” Commondreams, 15 May 2007, https://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/15/1212/.
(3) Michael E. Salla, “Will the U.S. Attack Iran Before September 21? – Are CIA Front Companies Investing $4.5 Billion to Profit from attacking Iran?” Exopolitics, 4 Dept. 2007, downloaded from https://exopolitics.org/Exo-Comment-57.htm, 7 Sept. 2007.
(4) Michael Smith and Sarah Baxter, “US generals ‘will quit’ if Bush orders Iran attack,” Sunday Times, UK, 25 Feb. 2007, downloaded from https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1790665/posts, 6 Sept. 2007.