BRYCE GREENE, [email protected], @TheGreeneBJ
Greene, who writes at Substack, just published the piece “NYT Gave Green Light to Trump’s Iran Attack by Treating It as a Question of When” for the media watch group FAIR. He’s currently working on a follow-up that examines recent media coverage in a range of other big outlets.
Greene writes: “The New York Times‘ echo of the standard Israeli and U.S. propaganda line offers an opportunity to critically examine this most recent justification for aggressive war.
“The premise here was that Iran is working to build a nuclear weapon, something that forms the backbone of the Israeli propaganda campaign justifying their actions. The only problem is that there is no evidence whatsoever for this position. Not only is there no evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon, there is no reason to think that if they did, they would be anything other than defensive weapons. …
“While the Times correctly pointed out that the IAEA found Iran to be in ‘noncompliance’ with the nonproliferation treaty (NPT), the Times failed to point out that this came after an intense lobbying effort from Western officials just hours before Israeli strikes. They also ignore Iran’s detailed criticism of the IAEA finding, including its allegations that the findings were based in part on forged documents — a credible allegation, given Israel’s history of fabricating and forging evidence to justify aggression. Iran also noted that some of the ‘nonproliferation obligations’ it had allegedly violated were not codified in the NPT, but instead were part of the agreement that the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from. Nor did the Times make reference to the IAEA chief’s explicit insistence that the agency did not have proof Iran was trying to build a nuclear weapon. …
“The U.S. and Israel have made Iran the target of propaganda campaigns, terrorism, cyber attacks, assassinations, regime change operations and unprovoked attacks on its personnel and home soil. If the Times had included these facts, it would have inhibited the ultimate goal of the editorial: to promote the idea that war with Iran could potentially be desirable — and certainly justifiable. The Times seemed keen to act as a loyal opposition to Trump, while distancing themselves from the manner in which he might enact such a war.”
Also, see: “How the U.S. and Israel Used Rafael Grossi to Hijack the IAEA and Start a War on Iran” by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies.