U.S. vs. Iran: How the New York Times Twists Reality

May 13, 2019 | revcom.us

 

On May 10 (May 11 print edition), the New York Times published an article summing up the week’s escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran. It was headlined, “Pentagon Builds Deterrent Force Against Possible Iranian Attack.”

Right off the bat, the Times is painting a picture of Iran as the aggressor, while surrounding Iran with an aircraft carrier strike force and U.S. nuclear-capable B-52 bombers (while strangling Iran’s economy) is characterized as “measured and limited” steps to create a “deterrent force” to prevent military conflict and maintain peace.

So people are being led to ignore the reality that the U.S. is the aggressor, and to accept without question, that it’s “right” and “normal” for America to be sending its armadas of death and destruction thousands of miles from its shores to threaten other countries, often oppressed Third World countries.

And what is the New York Times basing this picture on? A “new intelligence analysis” by American and allied spy services which “has concluded that the Iranian government, declining in popularity amid economic woes, is trying to provoke the United States into a military overreaction to cement its hold on power”!

These are the same spy services that concocted the bald-faced lies—which were spread by this system’s propaganda organs like the New York Times—that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was linked with Al Qaeda and 9/11 to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which has led to over a million Iraqi deaths! Now they’re doing the same thing all over again with Iran.

The Times is aware that many of its readers know of this and are concerned about it happening again. No worries, says the Times, we understand that, but this time is different!:

Intelligence analyses and assessments in the Middle East have often been fraught, with a troubled record. And officials cautioned that any intelligence analysis that explores the motivations of adversaries is a particularly difficult endeavor. But officials noted that the assessment that Iran is trying to provoke the United States for its own political purposes is an important insight that could help the Trump administration avoid a needless escalation with Tehran.

Ah, so according to the New York Times, a bellicose lie is actually an “important insight” for avoiding military conflict!