Talking World War III Blues

From Dylan to Iran

By JAMES ABOUREZK
CounterPunch

"I’ve been listening to some old Bob Dylan songs, most notably his “Talking World War III Blues,” and “The Masters of War.” Dylan’s protest music was a shattering wake-up call to the country back then, and it is amazing to me how similar the words to those old Vietnam era folk songs are to what we’re seeing today. He sang of war profiteering, of the callousness of sending young men off to war to die for nothing while old men were talking.

When I was in the U.S. Senate, the CIA once held a briefing for those of us interested in Israel’s nuclear weapons program. I rarely attended those briefings, mostly because they swore us to secrecy, then gave us the same information that we could have read in the New York Times. In any event, in the 1970s we were told by the CIA that Israel had some 20 nuclear warheads. Israel had developed its nuclear weapons program with the help of Apartheid South Africa, back then the only country that would allow Israel to conduct nuclear testing.

Mordechai Vanunu, who was jailed for publicly blowing the whistle on that country’s weapons program, spent years in prison for his sins. He is now out of prison, but prevented from leaving Israel or from talking to anyone about his knowledge, which at this time is surely outdated. But Vanunu’s offense was to disclose that Israel had some 200 nuclear weapons at their Dimona facility......

..... “Obliterate” is the word Hillary Clinton used to describe how she, as president of the U.S., would react if Iran attacked Israel.

But madness is the operative word here. Israel’s war hawks, along with the Israeli Lobby, are frothing at the mouth about Iran, which has no nuclear weapons, and, as experts say, are not likely to have them for a number of years. Ahmedinejad may very well be nothing more than a loudmouth and certainly he may be crazy, but the Mullahs who really run Iran are not......"

Talking world war III blues:



The Masters of War: