The nut-jobs in the US are at it again, making plans to attack Iran. It’s a repeat of the bullshit job done on Iraq, with the usual suspects claiming that Iran is a threat to global security, sponsor of terrorists, about to nuke Israel etc. Seymour Hersh has the details in the New Yorker.

“This is much more than a nuclear issue,” one high-ranking diplomat told me in Vienna. “That’s just a rallying point, and there is still time to fix it. But the Administration believes it cannot be fixed unless they control the hearts and minds of Iran. The real issue is who is going to control the Middle East and its oil in the next ten years.”

Another Iraqi official has said that his country is in the midst of a civil war:

Despite the violence, U.S. officials have discounted talk of civil war. However, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday that an “undeclared civil war’’ had already been raging for more than a year.

”Is there a civil war? Yes, there is an undeclared civil war that has been there for a year or more,‘’ Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal told The Associated Press. "All these bodies that are discovered in Baghdad, the slaughter of pilgrims heading to holy sites, the explosions, the destruction, the attacks against the mosques are all part of this.’‘

Even the U.S’s own assessments admit that the situation in Iraq is a mess, with only 3 out of 18 provinces deemed to be stable, though you’ll never hear the politicians describe the situation as a civil war. In fact, they’re all remarkably upbeat for some reason not supported by evidence. Propaganda perhaps?