Thursday, March 6, 2014

More Wall Street Journal Contorted Logic

Known for processing information and analysis through a system of logic that resembles the contorted pretzel, the editors of the Wall Street Journal have added credence to that view with yet another editorial that will leave the readers as baffled as ever. The piece came under the title: “Iran's Secret Weapons” and the subtitle: “Israel intercepts a missile cache intended for Gaza.” It was published in the Journal on March 7, 2014.

Their beef this time is that the Palestinian people of Gaza have dared do what any people under air and naval blockade would do. And that is to try and procure weapons from anywhere they can, to defend themselves against a military force that says it has a qualitative edge over all its neighbors – not just tiny Gaza – thanks to superpower America that arms it, finances it and protects it in world forums no matter what crimes it commits in Palestine or anywhere.

And the latest incident; the one that caused all those memories to come to the fore is that Israel says it intercepted a shipment of weapons. These were Syrian-made munitions, say the editors of the Journal, and they came on a Panamanian-flagged ship. The editors add without reservation that the weapons were loaded in Iran and were going to Gaza. In reality, all that information had come in the releases that Israel put out – but there was more to it than the journal decided to reveal. It is that the weapons were supposed to have been unloaded somewhere in Sudan to travel overland to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, and from there to Gaza.

The editors say that Iran denies sending those weapons, then make the point that the weapons “happened to be disguised among cement bags labeled 'Made in Iran.'” This, of course, is no proof that the Syrian-made weapons had come from Iran, but even if they were, why is it that America has the right to arm Israel to the teeth, allowing it to blockade the Palestinians and kill them when they try to break out to freedom, whereas the Iranians are not allowed to give the people of Gaza the capacity to defend themselves?

Instead of answering that question and starting a debate along this line, the editors of the Journal go on to assert: “The seizure of the ship is a reminder that the aims and methods of Iranian foreign policy remain unchanged,” which provokes a counterargument that goes along this line: Does it also mean that the aims and methods of American foreign policy remain unchanged? What are those aims and methods on both sides?

And since the editors are relying on the flimsy evidence that Iran may be associated with that shipment of weapons, however remotely the association may be, what about the Syrians? The Panamanians? The Sudanese? The Egyptians? Are they all in the pickle sharing the same American jar with the Iranians because Israel mentioned their names in association with that incident?

The truth is that the Iranians say they want to see the people of Palestine enjoy freedom like everyone else on this Planet – and maybe they are arming them and maybe not. But the Americans say without a hint of shame that having a Congress that is slavishly beholden to the Jewish lobby, they will most likely remain subservient to their Jewish masters – perhaps for ever. So the question is this: Which is more honorable? Is it the work of the Iranians who want freedom for themselves and for their neighbors? Or is it the work of the Americans who seek to destroy anyone that strives to remain free of the Jews? The world has an answer. What do you say, America?

Finally, having boiled the debate down to this simple formulation, you hope to find a clue in the Journal editorial that will tell you how these people think, and in which direction they are inclined to take their country. But what you find is this: “Iranian Foreign Minister said Iran would not close its reactor in Arak … if the Administration won't draw conclusions from what the Iranians do in secret, is it too much to ask that it draw conclusions from what they say in public?”

And this is when you realize how hopeless these people are. They make a statement in which they insinuate that the business of transferring weapons to someone under siege must be made in the open, and not in secret. Then they insinuate that the reactor in Arak will be used to make weapons not isotopes for research or for medical purposes. Then they say that the administration should draw conclusions without saying which ones – but draw them from one event, and apply them to another event. Is this sane?