Countdown to War in Iran

[Annie]

Media Workers Against the War

In this brief message:
1. Protest at the BBC
2. Iran countdown bulletin

1. PROTEST AGAINST BBC NON-COVERAGE OF ANTI-WAR DEMO
TUESDAY 4 APRIL 1-2PM
BBC BROADCASTING HOUSE,
PORTLAND PLACE, LONDON W1A 1AA
Called by stop the War Coalition
Leaflet attached (pdf) -- please distribute widely

2. COUNTDOWN TO WAR IN IRAN
Media Workers Against War is launching an Iran war countdown alert,
monitoring belligerent statements by the allied coalition as it seeks
to manufacture consent for an assault in Iran. We believe the media is
failing to ask the right questions and hold governments and
corporations to account. We will be publishing a regular e-bulletin
with the latest anti-Iran public pronouncements by Bush, Blair et al.

IRAN WAR COUNTDOWN BULLETIN ONE:

Last week Tony Blair made an ominous threat to Iran. He said it should
stop meddling in Iraq and accused it of involvement in terrorism there
(1).

Bush and Blair are now floating an Iran-al Qaeda linkage, much the way
they tried to connect Saddam Hussein to the 9/11 attacks. In fact,
Shiites run the Iranian government - and al -Qaeda's Sunni leadership
has denounced the Shiites as infidels.

Perhaps even more surprising was Blair's statement that "None of this
means, incidentally, that the invasion of Iraq or Afghanistan was
right" (2).

Few media outlets picked up on this remarkable and arrogant admission -
an admission made lightly during the same speech in which Blair pressed
the case for another potentially disastrous attack.

We urge members to send complaints to the media organizations which in
a free democracy are supposed to keep us informed. You can find a full
list of media contacts here: http://www.medialens.org/contacts/

You can also send messages to your MP and local Labour councillor and
warn them they will lose your vote May at the local council elections
and at the next general election if they support Blair on this latest
crusade.

Please distribute widely and send your own examples of anti-Iran
sabre-rattling to:

brucek3@aol.com

Thank you - MWAW

(1) "The murder of the innocent in Beslan is part of the same ideology
that takes innocent lives in Saudi Arabia, the Yemen or Libya. And when
Iran gives support to such terrorism, it becomes part of the same
battle with the same ideology at its heart.

"True the conventional view is that, for example, Iran is hostile to Al
Qaida and therefore would never support its activities. But as we know
from our own history of conflict, under the pressure of battle,
alliances shift and change. Fundamentally, for this ideology, we are
the enemy...
"Why does Iran meddle so furiously in the stability of Iraq?

Tony Blair, speech to the Foreign Policy centre , Tuesday March 21, 2006
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1736105,00.html
(2) "None of this means, incidentally, that the invasion of Iraq or
Afghanistan was right; merely that it is nonsense to suggest it was
done because the countries are Muslim.

Tony Blair, speech to the Foreign Policy centre, Tuesday March 21, 2006
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1736105,00.html