Lori Price: US Hypocrisy toward Iran

'Hello, Pot? This is Kettle. You're Green.' --US Hypocrisy Toward Iran By Lori Price, www.legitgov.org

The world's biggest hypocrite and meddlesome nosy parker, the United States, has outdone itself with its reaction to the post-election events in Iran. At least five glaring 'grand hypocrisy' categories have emerged, with more likely on the way. What other country -- having just endured eight years of dictatorship as the result of two stolen elections -- could actually spew outrage over... another nation's 'stolen election?' Gag me with a green chainsaw.

Grand hypocrisy #1: Obama Presses Iran to Halt 'Violence Against Own People,' Forgetting US 'Violence Against Own People'

Police Unleash Force On Rally in Tehran --Obama, in Boldest Terms Yet, Presses Iran to Halt Violence Against Own People (The Washington Post) 21 Jun 2009 Fiery chaos broke out in downtown Tehran on Saturday as security forces blocked streets and used tear gas, water cannons and batons to break up a demonstration against the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Security forces were seen firing warning shots into the air, but there were also unconfirmed reports that several people were hit by gunfire. President Obama, in his strongest comments to date on a political standoff that has paralyzed Iran for a week, urged the Iranian government "to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people."

'Violence and unjust actions against its own people.' How undemocratic of the government of Iran!

But, looky here! Use of Force Against RNC Protesters "Disproportionate," Charges Amnesty International (Amnesty International, London) 05 Sep 2008 Amnesty International is concerned by allegations of excessive use of force and mass arrests by police at demonstrations in St. Paul, Minnesota during the Republican National Convention (RNC) from September 1-4, 2008. The human rights organization is calling on the city and county authorities to ensure that all allegations of ill-treatment and other abuses are impartially investigated, with a review of police tactics and weapons in the policing of demonstrations.

And here! Democracy Now! Host and Producers Arrested at Republican Convention (The Washington Post) 01 Sep 2008 Democracy Now! radio host Amy Goodman and two producers were arrested while covering demonstrations at the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn. Goodman was released after being held for over three hours, but is still waiting to hear when Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar would be released... "They seriously manhandled me and handcuffed my hands behind my back. The top ID [at the convention] is to get on the floor and the Secret Service ripped that off me. I had my Democracy Now! ID too. I was clearly a reporter." Goodman, who was released after being charged with a misdemeanor, said that Salazar had been hurt in the face, while Kouddous had been thrown up against a wall and hurt his elbow. "Nicole told me that as they moved in on three sides, she asked them 'How do I get away from this?' and they jumped on her." Both Kouddous and Salazar could be held for up to 36 hours. "One of the police kept shouting at me 'Shut up, shut up," she said. "It was extremely threatening."

Raytheon ADS – A Pain ray gun to keep us in line (Newlaunches) 26 Jun 2008 Controlling an angry mob is not the task of any sane individual; sometimes it requires raw brute force. So far the use of tear gas and water canons has eased an awkward riot situation. There are some laser weapons, also called dazzlers, which are handheld devices that can temporarily blind criminals, while kinetic technologies include bean-bag rounds, water cannons and even sponge grenades filled with powdered irritant chemicals. According to a report by its Scientific Development Branch a new type of pain ray gun or Active denial system (ADS) has been developed which projects microwave-like radiation for distances of more than 500 yards, creating an excruciating and full-body burning sensation in anyone caught in its beam. The millimeter-wave rays penetrate skin to a depth of about 1/64in but cause no permanent damage, according to Raytheon, the system's US-based maker. Prototypes of the weapon, called Silent Guardian, weighed about three tons and were mounted on trucks. The Scientific Development Branch, based in Sandridge in Hertfordshire, has been looking at a portable version of the ADS being developed by Raytheon for the US National Institute of Justice.

I don't see the Raytheon pain ray gun tweets - where are they? Can you imagine what the Faux News trolls would say if Iran was testing a pain ray gun for use on 'angry mobs?'

Also, where was Barack Obama's condemnation of police violence in Minnesota, the wall-to-wall PentaPost coverage, CNN's insipid 'iReports' and the millions of green tweets regarding the US crackdown on protesters in the US?

Grand hypocrisy #2: US condemns Iran for disallowing protests

The US media is outraged -- I tell you -- outraged, that Iran is forbidding protests!

Bush: Clap Me Or No EU Speech (Mirror.co.uk) March 2003 George Bush pulled out of a speech to the European Parliament when MEPs wouldn't guarantee a standing ovation. A source close to negotiations said last night: "President [sic] Bush agreed to a speech but insisted he get a standing ovation like at the State of the Union address. His people also insisted there were no protests, or heckling." Mr Bush's every appearance in the US is stage-managed, with audiences full of supporters.

Yes, and if you disagree with "stage-management" at Dictator Bush's appearances, you are herded into a "First Amendment Zone," and threatened with a felony charge. See Michael Rectenwald's account of such an experience: "Neville Island on Labor Day 2002: First Amendment Behind Bars" 02 Sep 2002.

Grand hypocrisy #3: US loves riots and civil upheaval over stolen elections... as long as there's no civil upheavals and riots over *US* stolen elections!

Iran finds US-backed MKO fingermarks in riots (Press TV) 21 Jun 2009 The terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) has reportedly played a major role in intensifying the recent wave of street violence in Iran. Iranian security officials reported Saturday that they have identified and arrested a large number of MKO members who were involved in recent riots in Iran's capital. According to the security officials, the arrested members had confessed that they were extensively trained in Iraq's camp Ashraf to create post-election mayhem in the country.

Qashqavi: VOA, BBC guiding unrest in Iran (Press TV) 21 Jun 2009 Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi pins the blame for the recent post-election turmoil across the country on US and British media outlets. "Voice of America (VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) are state-funded channels and not privately-run. Their budgets are ratified in the US Congress, as well as the British Parliament. The two channels serve as mouthpieces of their respective governments," Qashqavi stated on Saturday. He noted that the two news outlets seek to stir up ethnic discord across Iran in the hope of fomenting the country's disintegration.

Suicide bombing leaves 3 injured in Tehran (Press TV) 20 Jun 2009 A terrorist bombing attack has targeted the mausoleum of Imam Khomeini in southern Tehran, wounding three pilgrims at the site. The suicide bomber himself was killed in the blast that rocked the northern entrance of the shrine of the founder of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini, on Saturday, IRNA reported.

See: US funds terror groups to sow chaos in Iran --America is secretly funding militant ethnic separatist groups in Iran in an attempt to pile pressure on the government. 25 Feb 2007 CIA officials are understood to be helping opposition militias among the numerous ethnic minority groups clustered in Iran's border regions. The operations are controversial because they involve dealing with movements that resort to terrorist methods terrorists in pursuit of their grievances against the Iranian regime. In the past year there has been a wave of unrest in ethnic minority border areas of Iran, with bombing and assassination campaigns against soldiers and government officials... Funding for their separatist causes comes directly from the CIA's classified budget but is now "no great secret", according to one former high-ranking CIA official in Washington who spoke anonymously to The Sunday Telegraph. His claims were backed by Fred Burton, a former US state department counter-terrorism agent, who said: "The latest attacks inside Iran fall in line with US efforts to supply and train Iran's ethnic minorities to destabilise the Iranian regime."

If Iran 'dealt with movements that resorted to terrorist methods' against the US, the US would have declared war on Iran in what, five pico-seconds? And, LieberBush/Boner (Boehner) would be yelping for Obama's impeachment because five pico-seconds would not be quick enough.

Grand hypocrisy #4: A paucity of US media coverage of protests in other countries

Iraqi Oil Minister accused of mother of all sell-outs --To public fury, the country is handing over control of its fields to foreign companies (Independent.co.uk) 18 Jun 2009 Furious protests threaten to undermine the Iraqi government's controversial plan to give international oil companies a stake in its giant oilfields in a desperate effort to raise declining oil production and revenues. In less than two weeks, on 29 and 30 June, the Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussain Shahristani, will award service contracts to the world's largest oil companies to develop six of Iraq's largest oil-producing fields over 20 to 25 years... Iraqis are wary of the involvement of foreign oil companies in raising production in super giant fields like Kirkuk and Bai Hassan in the north and Rumaila, Zubair and West Qurna in the south. They suspect the 2003 US invasion was ultimately aimed at securing Western control of their oil wealth. The nationalisation of the Iraqi oil industry by Saddam Hussein in 1972 remains popular and the rebellion against the service contracts has been gathering pace all this week.

Tribesmen protest US drone attacks (Press TV) 19 Jun 2009 Hundreds of local tribesmen in Pakistan's South Waziristan Agency are protesting US drone attacks on their areas. Soon after the Friday prayers, the tribesmen and elders of the Waziristan tribes staged a large protest rally in Wana city, the main town of South Waziristan Agency and marched in strong condemnation of the unmanned aircraft attacks, terming it an assault on Pakistan's sovereignty, a Press TV correspondent reported late on Friday.

Notice that the US media does not cover such protests -- only dissent in Iran.

Grand hypocrisy #5: The condemnation of Iran for its 'stolen election.' Oh, my God.

Election watchdog to recount 10% of votes (Press TV) 20 Jun 2009 Iran's Guardian Council says it is ready to recount a random 10 percent of the ballot boxes in the last Friday's presidential election. "Although the Guardian Council is not legally obliged ... we are ready to recount 10 percent of the (ballot) boxes randomly in the presence of representatives of the candidates," the electoral watchdog's spokesman, Abbas-Ali Kadkhodayi said on Saturday.

But yet: In the US, a recount was stopped by the Supreme Court so that they could give the presidency to George W. Bush. The US media was -- and has been -- silent in reporting the 2000 and 2004 GOP coup d'etats. At CLG, we have not been silent.

Sarkozy says Iran election a 'fraud' (Press TV) 17 Jun 2009 As the landslide victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran's disputed election provoked unrest, French President Nicolas Sarkozy denounces the result of Friday's vote as a "fraud." "The extent of the fraud is proportional to the violent reaction," Sarkozy said Tuesday. "It is a tragedy, but it is not negative to have a real-opinion movement that tries to break its chains."

And, where was Sarkozy when Bush bin Laden stole *two* presidential 'elections' in the US? Oh, that's right. Sarkozy -- and 99% of the US media -- were burrowing as deep as possible up Bush's butt.

The double standard by and for the US corporate-run media is unbearable and intolerable.

Incidentally, Iran is serving as a Weapon of Mass Distraction for this nugget:

Poll: 72 percent want government-administered insurance plan to compete with private sector --85 percent want major healthcare reforms (Reuters) 20 Jun 2009 Americans strongly support fundamental changes to the healthcare system and a move to create a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll published on Saturday. The Times/CBS poll found seventy-two percent of those questioned said they backed a government-administered insurance plan similar to Medicare for those under 65 that would compete for customers with the private sector.

And this:

Senate Approves War Funding Bill After Obama Presses Democrats --At Obama's behest, the bill includes $7.7 billion to prepare for pandemic flu. --Congress to give Mexico an additional $420 million this year to buy helicopters, surveillance aircraft and computers for police (The Washington Post) 19 Jun 2009 A war funding bill passed the Senate overwhelmingly yesterday, but the 91 to 5 vote came after a fractured process that included objections from Republicans and Democrats alike, and required President Obama to intervene repeatedly to lobby members of his own party for his foreign policy 'vision.' The final version of the $105.9 billion bill provides funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through Sept. 30.

Yes, due to the US media's obsession with the internal strife in Iran, we're not talking about health care any more. Health care, the still-tanked economy, the CIA-suppressed torture documents and detainee (prisoner) abuse (torture) photos, or the $106 billion we just forked over to fund Obusha's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for another few months.
Now *that's* mission accomplished.