JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I wanted to ask you another
question that came in, from Melbourne, Australia,
Aaron Bryla.
He said, "Defense Secretary James Mattis this
week described Iran as the greatest threat
to the United States.
My question: Why does the U.S. insist on setting
the potential grounds for war with Iran?"
NOAM CHOMSKY: That’s been going on for years.
Right through the Obama years, Iran was regarded
as the greatest threat to world peace.
And that’s repeated over and over.
"All options are open," Obama’s phrase,
meaning, if we want to use nuclear weapons,
we can, because of this terrible danger to
peace.
Actually, we have—there’s a few interesting
comments that should be made about this.
One is, there also is something called world
opinion.
What does the world think is the greatest
threat to world peace?
Well, we know that, from U.S.-run polls, Gallup
polls: United States.
Nobody even close, far ahead of any other
threat.
Pakistan, second, much lower.
Iran, hardly mentioned.
Why is Iran regarded here as the greatest
threat to world peace?
Well, we have an authoritative answer to that
from the intelligence community, which provides
regular assessments to Congress on the global
strategic situation.
And a couple of years ago, their report—of
course, they always discuss Iran.
And the reports are pretty consistent.
They say Iran has very low military spending,
even by the standards of the region, much
lower than Saudi Arabia, Israel, others.
Its strategy is defensive.
They want to deter attacks long enough for
diplomacy to be entertained.
The conclusion, intelligence conclusion—this
is a couple years ago—is: If they are developing
nuclear weapons, which we don’t know, but
if they are, it would be part of their deterrent
strategy.
Now, why is the United States and Israel even
more so concerned about a deterrent?
Who’s concerned about a deterrent?
Those who want to use force.
Those who want to be free to use force are
deeply concerned about a potential deterrent.
So, yes, Iran is the greatest threat to world
peace, might deter our use of force.
AMY GOODMAN: Today is the 50th anniversary
of Dr. King giving his "Beyond Vietnam" speech
at Riverside Church, where he said the United
States is "the greatest purveyor of violence
on Earth."
Your thoughts today, as we wrap up, and if—in
the last 30 seconds?
NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, that speech by King was
very important, also other speeches he gave
at the same time, which have, at the time,
seriously harmed his reputation among liberal
Northerners.
He sharply condemned the war in Vietnam, which
was the worst crime since the Second World
War.
AMY GOODMAN: Five seconds.
NOAM CHOMSKY: The other thing he was doing
was trying to create a poor people’s movement,
a non-racially separated poor people’s movement.
AMY GOODMAN: And we’re going to do Part
2 of this discussion and post it at democracynow.org.
Our guest, Noam Chomsky.
I’ll be with him at the First Parish church
in Cambridge on April 24th, and then to Denver
this weekend, as well as British Columbia.
