About Gareth Porter

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specialising in U.S. national security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book, "Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam", was published in 2006.

Atomic Energy Agency Holds Up Iran Cooperation Pact

Yukiya Amano

irector General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano has signaled that there will be no IAEA agreement with Iran in the meetings in Vienna Monday and Tuesday on the terms for Iranian cooperation in clarifying issue of alleged nuclear weapons work.That demand, coupled with the IAEA's insistence in the talks on being able to prolong the inquiry on Iran's alleged nuclear weapons … [Read more...]

U.S. Treasury Claim of Iran-Al-Qaeda “Secret Deal” Is Discredited

Paul Pillar

he U.S. Treasury Department's claim of a "secret deal" between Iran and Al-Qaeda, which had become a key argument by right-wing activists who support war against Iran, has been discredited by former intelligence officials in the wake of publication of documents from Osama bin Laden's files revealing a high level of antagonism between Al-Qaeda and Iran.Three former intelligence officials with … [Read more...]

U.S.-Afghan Pact Won’t End War – Or Special Ops Night Raids

President Obama and President Hamid Karzai (Photo: Pete Souza)

he optics surrounding the Barack Obama administration's "Enduring Strategic Partnership" agreement with Afghanistan and the Memorandums of Understanding accompanying it emphasise transition to Afghan responsibility and an end to U.S. war.But the only substantive agreement reached between the U.S. and Afghanistan - well hidden in the agreements - has been to allow powerful U.S. Special … [Read more...]

Understanding Iran’s Diplomatic Strategy

Khamenei

n January 2009, just before Gary Samore left his position as Vice-President for Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, he summed up his rather cynical view of how Iran would conduct negotiations."The logical position the Iranians are bound to take," he wrote in a post on the Council's website, "is: 'We're happy to talk forever, as long as we can keep building centrifuges.'"A few days … [Read more...]

Report on Iran’s Nuclear Fatwa Distorts Its History

obama advisors

he Barack Obama administration's new interest in the 2004 religious verdict, or "fatwa", by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banning the possession of nuclear weapons, long dismissed by national security officials, has prompted the New York Times to review the significance of the fatwa for the first time in several years.Senior Obama administration officials have decided to cite … [Read more...]

Israeli Experts Mum on Iran Attack to Support Bibi’s Bluff

bibi

striking feature of the Israeli political landscape in recent months has been the absence of a serious debate on the issue of the threat of war with Iran led by national security figures.It is well known that many prominent former military and intelligence officials believe an attack on Iran would be disastrous for Israel. After an initial blast at the idea of striking Iran by two former … [Read more...]

Israel Shields Public from Risks of War with Iran

jerusalem

he government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been telling Israelis that Israel can attack Iran with minimal civilian Israeli casualties as a result of retaliation, and that reassuring message appears to have headed off any widespread Israeli fear of war with Iran and other adversaries.But the message that Iran is too weak to threaten an effective counterattack is contradicted by one … [Read more...]

How Mossad Justified Its Murder of an Innocent Iranian Electrical Engineer

iranian engineer murdered

On July 23, 2011, a 35-year-old Iranian electrical engineering student named Darioush Rezaeinejad was gunned down as he and his wife, who was also wounded in the attack, waited for their child in front of a kindergarten in Tehran.Israel has never denied that it was behind that assassination, and two senior US officials have confirmed to NBC news that the accusation by Ali Larijani - a senior … [Read more...]

How The Media Got The Parchin Access Story Wrong

Ali Asghar Soltanieh

News media reported that Iran had flatly refused the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access to its Parchin military test facility, based on a statement to reporters by IAEA Deputy Director General, Herman Nackaerts, that “We could not get access”.Now, however, explicit statements on the issue by the Iranian Ambassador to the IAEA and the language of the new IAEA report indicate … [Read more...]

Obama’s Zig Zag Maneuvers with Israel and Iran

obama darkened office

President Barack Obama has finally begun in recent months to signal to Israel that the United States would not get involved in a war started by Binyamin Netanyahu without US approval. If it is pursued firmly and consistently through 2012, the approach stands a very good chance of averting war altogether.If Obama falters, however, the temptation for Netanyahu to launch an attack on Iran, … [Read more...]

Army Officer’s Leaked Report Rips Afghan War Success Story

medevac

An analysis by Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, which the U.S. Army has not approved for public release but has leaked to Rolling Stone magazine, provides the most authoritative refutation thus far of the official military narrative of success in the Afghanistan War since the troop surge began in early 2010.In the 84-page unclassified report, Davis, who returned last fall after his second tour of … [Read more...]

Dempsey Told Israelis U.S. Won’t Join Their War on Iran

dempsey

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told Israeli leaders January 20 that the United States would not participate in a war against Iran begun by Israel without prior agreement from Washington, according to accounts from well-placed senior military officers.Dempsey's warning, conveyed to both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, … [Read more...]

U.S. Probe of Border Attack Hardened Pakistani Suspicions

Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark

The Pakistani military leadership's response to the U.S. report on its helicopter attack on two Pakistani border posts Nov. 26 assailed the credibility of the investigation by Air Force Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark and expressed doubt that the attack could have been "accidental".The long-expected rejoinder, made public Monday, charged that 28 of its soldiers at two border bases were killed one by … [Read more...]

Obama Seeks to Distance U.S. from Israeli Attack

President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are engaged in intense maneuvering over Netanyahu's aim of entangling the United States in an Israeli war against Iran.Netanyahu is exploiting the extraordinary influence his right-wing Likud Party exercises over the Republican Party and the U.S. Congress on matters related to Israel in order to maximise the likelihood that … [Read more...]

Crackpot Anti-Islam Activists, “Serial Fabricators” and the Tale of Iran and 9/11

wtc-memorial

Behind a mysterious December 22 Associated Press story about "finding of fact" by a District judge in Manhattan Friday that Iran assisted al Qaeda in the planning of the 9/11 attacks is a tapestry of recycled fabrications and distortions of fact from a bizarre cast of characters.The AP story offers no indication of the nature of the evidence in the case except that former members of the 9/11 … [Read more...]

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