Commentary
Harper’s Double Standard and the U.S. Propaganda War Against Iran
On May 25, 2006 the National Post
issued an apology for publishing a story that falsely accused the Iranian government
of enacting legislation that would require the Jewish, Christian and
Zoroastrian minorities in Iran to wear distinctive coloured
badges.
The National Post story was written by
a prominent U.S. neo-conservative, Iranian-American Amir
Taheri, a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and was initially published in the May 19th
edition of the National Post.
Alongside the story ran a 1935 photograph of a Jewish businessman in Berlin
with a yellow star sewn on his overcoat, as required by Nazi legislation at the
time. Immediately after the publication of the article, an official in charge of the media
department of Iran's embassy in Canada, Hormoz Qahremani, sent a letter to the National Post dismissing the veracity of the report.
Nevertheless, during a news conference on May
19 with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Prime Minister Stephen Harper
said that the report "might be true". A Canadian Press article
reported on his remarks as follows:
"He [Stephen Harper] says Iran's
hard-line Islamist government has proven itself capable of such extremism.
'Unfortunately, we've seen enough already from the Iranian regime to suggest
that it is very capable of this
kind of action,' Harper said. 'We've seen a number of things from the Iranian regime that are along these
lines.' 'And the fact that such a
measure could even be contemplated is absolutely abhorrent.' Harper said he
could not vouch for the accuracy of the report. But if true, he said it would be a throwback to one of the most odious
chapters in human history. 'It boggles the mind that any regime on the face of
the earth would want to do anything that could remind people of Nazi Germany,'
he said. The report is a reminder that Iran must never be allowed to gain
nuclear weapons, Harper said."
Harper apparently has no such
qualms about Israel, despite the fact that Israel, unlike Iran, actually
possesses nuclear weapons and has threatened to use them against its neighbours. In addition, Israeli members of the Knesset,
including cabinet ministers, routinely make racist remarks against Arabs and
call for the “ethnic cleansing” of the West Bank and Gaza. There
have also been reports of the Israeli Defence Forces
tattooing identification numbers on the arms of Palestinian men and studying
the tactics used by the Nazis against the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising as a model for
the suppression of the resistance in Ramallah and
elsewhere. Yet Harper has never said a single critical word about Israel and
has been silent on the recent call by the Arab League that the Middle East
should be made a nuclear-free zone.
In addition, Harper apparently has
no qualms about the United States possessing nuclear weapons, despite the fact
that the Bush administration has adopted a nuclear first strike policy and is
openly discussing the use of tactical nuclear warheads against Iranian nuclear
research facilities. And, to paraphrase Harper, we’ve seen enough already
from the Bush regime to suggest that it is very capable of this kind of
action.
Harper’s double standard on
this issue indicates that his comments about Iran have nothing to do with
truth, justice or protecting the lives of the people of the Middle East.
Rather, they are part and parcel of the U.S. imperialist propaganda war against
Iran, the purpose of which is prepare public opinion for a U.S.-led military
assault against that country.