The occasion was a farewell dinner for President George W. Bush. The host was UK PM Gordon Brown. The special guest was Rupert Murdoch. A gaggle of historians sat in to capture the mood as two seasoned war pigs reminded the relatively new boy that this age of war cannot end.
Not yet.
Although the crowd of protesters was only a few thousand strong, their chants of derision at Bush could apparently be heard inside the building, where Iran was served as the main meal.
A new war, the start of a bigger war, is good news for Rupert Murdoch.
Not so for Gordon Brown, or Iran. Or American troops in Iraq. Or for those who don't think Russia and China should be given easy reasons to ferment a deeper military alliance.
With hundreds of newspaper front pages to fill, when the Iraq War is slipping deeper into the middle pages, and with tens of thousands of hours of cable news programs demanding a big issue focus, a War On Iran, in particular a nuclear war on Iran (or with Iran) would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in profit for Rupert 'Always Wrong On Iraq' Murdoch. Massive jumps in newspaper sales, bigger cable TV news audiences. Just like the Iraq War did. Fox News never had such big audiences as it did during the 'Mission Accomplished' days of 2003.
Any media Murdoch owns will rise in value just before the new war begins. Murdoch knows War On Iran will be good for business. His business anyway. And the war industry.
Murdoch creates realities. That is his business. He openly admits he tells his readers what to think, that his world media followed the Bush line of War On Iraq propaganda and that he influences editors into running his agenda. Was there any Murdoch newspaper in the world that was not fully for the War On Iraq? It will be the same this time. In fact, it already is.
Pumping War On Iran reality has suddenly become a priority for Murdoch media around the world.
Witness the very recent sudden interest in Iran exhibited by well-used Murdoch war propagandist Andrew "The Iraq War Has Been Won" Bolt, who reaches about 10% to 20% Australians regularly, through standard Murdoch city tabloids, appearances on taxpayer-funded national TV and shouty-I'm-So-Outraged blogs haunted by one theme - Hit Iran Now - commenters.
Bolt was one of the most vicious propagandists against those who opposed the War On Iraq, including generations of war veterans who knew the horrible reality of war that would result from the illegal invasion and occupation of the country. Bolt now stands ready to go in again against those who oppose his boss's latest crusade.
Thursday, June 12 :
Under the headline, 'Watch Iran', this Murdoch typewriter claims he hasn't noticed the steady rise in his own media preparing the public for a War On Iran reality :
I haven’t been paying enough attention, despite Bush’s recent visit to Israel, and Olmert’s to the US...The US and Israel exchanging leader visits means more war?
All these warnings, all these serious talks...Something is up. And maybe soon. At least before the US elections in November.
Plenty of people are betting real money on the possibility.
Yes, including his own boss, ex-Australian Rupert Murdoch.
Bolt then calls a War On Iran "nuclear disarmament."
Monday, June 16
Under the headline : 'Tick, Tick, Tick...', Bolt messages to the Australian masses :
Talk won’t budge Iran...Bolt then brands the majority of Americans who think the War On Iraq is a disaster, and only eventuated due to a sustained campaign of lies and deceptions, as simply being "Left" and making arguments that "look weaker by the day".
If unacceptable, and if Iran won’t stop…
But they're not arguments, they're facts. The War On Iraq was based on lies and it was a disaster. What moron can't see than now?
Bolt then lavishly brands those opposed to war, and more war, people who are genuinely motivated by concern for those who are likely next to be killed in more war (innocent people) as not holding objections "to war or invasion, but the real identity of the target - in this case a Muslim tyrant."
All those opposed to the War On Iraq, you see, were and always will be Saddam lovers.
This was a vile piece of propaganda spouted by Murdoch propagandists across his network of television, newspapers and web sites, in the months before the start of the War On Iraq. And here it is again, about to put back into service, against the two-thirds of so of Americans who shudder at the thought of launching a pre-emptive War On Iran.
In the Rupert Murdoch media reality, War On Iran looms, because the world is against their plans for nuclear energy, and believes they could never be trusted with nuclear weapons, unlike Israel and Pakistan.
In the Rupert Murdoch media reality, it's only a matter of time before Iran attempt to "wipe Israel off the map", and soon there will be no choice but to hit the Iranian nuclear plants.
Does Iran have nuclear weapons? Does Iran even want nuclear weapons? It doesn't matter.
The prime ministers and presidents change, but the Murdoch agenda continue. More war.
The historians at No. 10 Downing Street yesterday surely think they have witnessed history. No doubt they have.
But did Bush and Murdoch ask Gordon Brown what he thought about War On Iran, or did they, as with Tony Blair and the War On Iraq, instead tell him the way it's going to be?
And what did Murdoch say to Bush? Did Murdoch remind Bush of what he said, back in early 2003, about how history would judge the American president if he didn't 'win' the War On Iraq?
Still crashing, and still burning."He will either go down in history as a very great president or he'll crash and burn."
