In this issue:

Warmongers Count on Obama, Not Israel, To Attack Iran

Turkish Courts Issue 102 Arrest Warrants in Coup Plot

Did Tony Blair Engineer BP Oil-for-Terrorist Scam?

Iran Says It Is Conducting Nuclear Fusion Program

Warmongers Count on Obama, Not Israel, To Attack Iran

July 26 (EIRNS)—As long as Nerobama is President, war against Iran remains a big danger in the near term—with an increasing drumbeat that the U.S.A. itself, not Israel, conduct the war. The oligarchy knows that Obama is insane, so the goading of him to act increases daily.

On July 25, on CNN's State of the Union, former CIA Director Michael Hayden joined the chorus, saying that Obama's sanctions are not working, so, "My personal view is that Iran, left to its own devices, will get itself to that step right below a nuclear weapon, that permanent breakout stage.... And, frankly, that will be as destabilizing as their actually having a weapon.

"When I was in government, what we would used to mystically call 'the kinetic option' was way down on our list. In my personal thinking—in my personal thinking; I need to emphasize that—I have begun to consider that that may not be the worst of all possible outcomes."

And, according to the American Jewish pro-peace leader M.J. Rosenberg, the August issue of Atlantic Monthly will feature an article by Jeff Goldberg—propagandist for the Israeli right and the imperial war crowd—that demands that the U.S., not Israel, attack Iran. Writing on the TalkingPointsMemo blog, Rosenberg states that Goldberg is "losing it," and has "recently been calling Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer [coauthors of the book The Israel Lobby] and other critics of [Israeli Prime Minister] Bibi Netanyahu 'anti-Semites.' Nothing new about that. For Goldberg, a major AIPAC neocon, all critics of Israeli policies are anti-Semites by definition...." Goldberg will call on the U.S. "to bomb Iran so that Israel does not have to," writes Rosenberg.

It was the same Goldberg who "mousetrapped" U.A.E. Ambassador Youssef al-Oteiba at a recent Aspen Institute meeting, into stating, unofficially, that a military strike against Iran could be acceptable. Al-Oteiba's remarks were rebutted by the U.A.E. Foreign Ministry. "The U.A.E. totally rejects the use of force as a solution to the Iranian nuclear issue," said Tareq al-Haidan, the United Arab Emirates Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, reported the Wall Street Journal on July 7, following the release of a formal U.A.E. government statement However, Haidan added, "The U.A.E., at the same time, believes in the need of keeping the Gulf region free of nuclear weapons."

But Haidan's statement was virtually ignored, compared to the massive international coverage of the "Sunni Arab" support for an Iran strike following the Goldberg disinformation.

At the same time, there is a mounting counter-operation by highly qualified U.S. military and intelligence veterans to prevent a repeat of the Iraq War disinformation—like the Niger yellow cake forgeries—against Iran. According to Washington sources, there is an active disinformation campaign to produce garbage to be put into a "new NIE" (National Intelligence Estimate) that would justify an attack by the U.S. on Iran. This time, veterans intend to prevent such a catastrophe.

Turkish Courts Issue 102 Arrest Warrants in Coup Plot

July 24 (EIRNS)—Turkish authorities have issued 102 arrest warrants in the "Sledgehammer" coup plot of 2003. Most of those wanted are active-duty or retired senior military officers, including two former force commanders. The case has been under investigation for weeks, and an indictment of 196 people has been handed down. The plotters are accused of planning to cooperate with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has launched a major offensive against the government just in the past two months.

The indictment names Gen. Cetin Dogan as the prime suspect in an alleged plot to cooperate with terrorist organizations, including the PKK. The aim was to create a strategy of tension, behind which cover a coup could be pulled off. This was revealed in handwritten notes by one of the suspects, retired Brig. General Suha Tanyeri, who wrote, "Cooperation with extreme leftist and communist terrorist groups" should be part of the plan. His notes also called for cooperation with the PKK, saying, "the people who will cooperate with the PKK for this purpose should be determined beforehand."

These accusations raise the question of whether the current attacks by the PKK are linked to foreign-controlled elements within Turkey's security establishment.

Although never actually implemented, the plan was devised under the initiative of Dogan, following the election victory of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2002. The plan was drafted at a "seminar," comprising 162 people, including 25 active duty generals and 95 retired officers. It is believed that many of those indicted had links to the Ergenekon, a British-controlled criminal network that has penetrated the military security establishment. Ergenekon networks have been accused of working with the PKK to implement a strategy of tension. This network is linked to the "coup" tendency within the Turkish military that dates back to the British-orchestrated military coups of 1960, 1971, and 1980.

Did Tony Blair Engineer BP Oil-for-Terrorist Scam?

July 25 (EIRNS)—U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) will lead a July 29 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to investigate the recent BP $1 billion oil deal with Libya, to determine whether there was a secret agreement between the British and Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi, to free the convicted Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, as a precondition for the lucrative oil development contract. According to July 18 articles in London's Independent and Daily Mail, the broker for this oil-for-terrorist scheme was former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who still has a spoiler role in Middle East policies as the special envoy of the "Quartet." Despite the fact that the so-called 2004 Road Map to a Palestinian state is completely dead, President Barack Obama has continued to engage Blair as the Quartet envoy.

Meanwhile, Blair has been "consulting" for a number of British companies seeking business in Libya, and news reports from Britain indicate that Blair had secretly flown to Tripoli to meet with Qaddafi, to nail down the arrangement. Al-Megrahi was released from a Scottish prison on "humanitarian" grounds, based on claims that he was dying. But, since his return to Libya, he has reportedly undergone a miraculous recovery; and since then, BP has signed the lucrative oil exploration deal with Libya.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised the issue of the BP-Libya deal, and the links to the al-Megrahi release in a phone conversation on July 16 with her British counterpart, William Hague. Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am 103 in 1988, but was freed to return to Libya last August, despite strong protests from the U.S.

Both Hague and British Prime Minister David Cameron, who comes to Washington this week to meet with President Obama, called the early release of al-Megrahi "a mistake," but the July 29 Senate hearings will probe the darker implications, and the personal role of Blair, in yet one more typically sleazy deal, like the BAE "al-Yamamah" arrangements—this time involving BP.

Iran Says It Is Conducting Nuclear Fusion Program

July 24 (EIRNS)—At a July 24 conference in Tehran, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, said $8 million has been allocated to conduct "serious" research in fusion, with plans to build an experimental reactor after two years of design study. He told state TV that 50 experts have been hired for this program. AP reports Iran has done some basic fusion research in the past. Salehi said Iran would be willing to join international efforts, but that Iran will go on alone. He said it would take 20 to 30 years before it is commercialized.