Articles by Phyllis Bennis

No Picture

If War Breaks Out with Iran, It Won’t Be an Accident

Phyllis Bennis July 3, 2019 Phyllis Bennis

Source: Foreign Policy in Focus

A range of U.S. policies have been deliberately designed to provoke an Iranian response.

Some things are still unclear about Trump’s recent decision to bomb Iran — and his rapid-fire follow-up decision not to.

We still don’t know what he or his bomb-Iran cheerleaders — National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — thought the bombing would actually accomplish. We also don’t know why Trump decided to recall the bombers. (Trump claimed it’s because a general told him 150 people would die in the attack. But given Trump’s indifference to civilian casualties in Yemen and elsewhere, I’m willing to bet the store that had little to do with it.) read more

No Picture

Is Trump’s Abandonment of the Iran Nuke Deal a Prelude to War?

Phyllis Bennis May 14, 2018 Phyllis Bennis

Source: The Nation

President Trump’s decision to abandon the Iran nuclear deal ranks as his most reckless policy move yet. It is also his biggest triumph so far in his continuing bid to reverse or shatter every one of his nemesis-predecessor’s major accomplishments, regardless of the consequences.

And there will be consequences. Some may turn out to be rather narrow, while others could have a global impact. Some may emerge as the direct result of US actions, while others will depend on how other governments and nongovernmental actors respond. Life will almost certainly become more difficult for ordinary Iranians, who are still coping with crippling US-imposed economic sanctions unrelated to the nuclear deal. read more

No Picture

Why We Need to Remember the Iraq War—As Well as the Global Resistance to It

Phyllis Bennis February 23, 2018 Phyllis Bennis

Source: The Nation

The Middle East is still suffering from the consequences of the US invasion 15 years ago.

Fifteen years ago, on February 15, 2003, the world said “No to War”: Some 10 million to 15 million people, in hundreds of cities and dozens of countries all over the world, embraced the same slogan, made the same demand, in scores of different languages. A war against Iraq was looming, with Washington and London standing virtually alone in their false claims that Baghdad had amassed stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. read more