There has been a surge of anti-Iran propaganda in recent days, as US military forces gather in the region for potential strikes in supposed retaliation for Iran’s crackdown on protests.
The New York Times ran a long article yesterday purporting to document a brutal campaign to suppress anti-government protests without mercy. It uses much of the same evidence that has been presented by the Iranian government but to argue the opposite, that is, that the security forces rather than organized black clad rioters directed by the Mossad were mercilessly killing civilians on the orders of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Mossad involvement doesn’t even get mentioned in the piece except as an Iranian claim to be dismissed. “In many places, riots flared in parallel with peaceful protests; government buildings, commercial properties, mosques and police stations were set on fire,” the Times says, claims which were also documented by Iranian authorities.
The Times report, however, relies, among other things, on data provided by the Institute for the Study of War and American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project, both neo-con outfits with ideological agendas. Much of the video evidence and eyewitness accounts included by The Times could be interpreted either way depending on what context they were put in.
The Times report puts the death toll at 5,200 with the implication that it could rise still higher but still far less than some claims of more than 30,000 deaths.
