Next stop: Operation Iranian Freedom
The New York Times, the Associated Press, and more than 1,400 other news outlets (per Google News) ran stories about how the Iranian government restarted work at its uranium conversion plant on Monday.
What it means in the real world is that Iran is stepping up its nuclear power industry, which can also produce nuclear materials that may or may not be used to create nuclear weapons.
What this means politically is that we are one step closer to instigating another unprovoked war in the Middle East.
As AlterNet columnist and esteemed media critic Norman Solomon exhaustively details in his new book, "War Made Easy, announcing that a country is a potential threat is just one of many ways that the media helps lead the public to accepting a war.
Just as 2002 and 2003 witnessed the demonizing of Iraq and the manufacturing of intelligence to suit the White House's goal of going to war, so now are we in the first stages of positioning Iran as a threat that can only be addressed by sending in troops.
But until a later phase of the project is underway, government officials are required to deny that the project is underway at all.
Here's George Bush himself on Feb. 22 of this year:
"'This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous.'
(Short pause)
"'And having said that, all options are on the table.'
"Even the White House stenographers felt obliged to note the result: '(Laughter).'"
