Did Manning Help Avert War in Iran?

From the Archive: A little-noticed disclosure fromcables leaked by Pvt. Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning showedhow the U.S. government putYukiya Amano in as the UNs topnuclear inspector so he could hype claims aboutIranbuilding a nuclear bomb, as Robert Parry reported on the eve of Mannings sentencing in 2013.

By Robert Parry (Originally published on Aug. 19, 2013)

From U.S. embassy cables leaked by Pvt. Bradley Manning, you can easily imagine how the propaganda game might have played out, how Americans could have been panicked into supporting another unnecessary war in the Middle East, this time against Iran. Except that Mannings release of the documents spoiled the trick.

The gambit might have gone this way: One morning, a story would have led the front page of, say, the Washington Post citing how the widely respected International Atomic Energy Agency and its honest-broker Director-General Yukiya Amano had found startling evidence that Iran was nearing a nuclear bomb despite a longstanding U.S. intelligence estimate to the contrary and despite Iranian denials.

A protester marching in support of Pvt. Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning. (Photo credit: bradleymanning.org)

Next, the neocon-dominated opinion pages would ridicule anyone who still doubted these facts. After all, these articles would say, even the IAEA, which had challenged President George W. Bushs claims about Iraq in 2002, and even Amano, who had initially believedIrans denials, were now convinced.

Neocon think tanks would rush to join the chorus of alarm, dispatching WMD experts to TV talk shows bracing the American people on the need for military action. From Fox News to CNN to MSNBC, there would be a drumbeat about Irans perfidy. Then, as hawkish Republicans and Democrats ratcheted up their rhetoric and as Israeli leaders chortled we told you so the war-with-Iran bandwagon might have begun rolling with such velocity that it would be unstoppable.

Perhaps, only years later after grave human costs and severe economic repercussions would the American people learn the truth: that the IAEA under Amano wasnt the objective source that they had been led to believe, that Amano was something of a U.S.-Israeli puppet who had feigned a pro-Iranian position early on to burnish his credentials for pushing an anti-Iranian line subsequently, that after he was installed, he had even solicited U.S. officials for money and had held secret meetings with Israelis (to coordinate opposition to Irans nuclear program while maintaining a polite silence about Israels rogue nuclear arsenal).

However, because of the actions of Bradley Manning, the rug was pulled out from under this possible ruse. The U.S. embassy cables revealing the truth about Amano were published by the U.K. Guardian in 2011 (although ignored by the New York Times, the Washington Post and other mainstream U.S. news outlets). The cables also drew attention from Web sites, such as Consortiumnews.com.

So, the gambit could notwork. If it had been tried, enough people would have known the truth. They wouldnt be fooled again and they would have alerted their fellow citizens. Bradley Manning had armed them with the facts.

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Did Manning Help Avert War in Iran?