WorldNetDaily is a particularly vocal choir in the larger arrangement of right-wing noise America is treated to each day. The site's traffic is either as high as that of Daily Kos or even higher, depending on which metrics you believe. It gets its audience from frequent mention on right-wing talk radio as well as the right blogosphere. It is funded by conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife.
So I thought you might be interested in what songs this particular choir of Scaife's has been singing lately. As it turns out, all the songs seem to be from the same tragic opera.
The lead story:
Pentagon plan: Annihilate Tehran's military in 3 days
No 'pinprick strikes' – 1,200 targets ID'd for massive attack on nuke sites
The Pentagon has formulated a "three-day blitz" plan to annihilate Iran's military that targets 1,200 sites, including Tehran's nuclear facilities, in order to render its military incapable of conducting offensive, defensive or retaliatory missions.
According to the London Sunday Times, citing Alexis Debat, director of terrorism and national security at the Nixon Center, the Pentagon has rejected a strategy of "pinprick strikes" against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Rather than send you to WND, I'll send you to the Murdoch-owned Sunday Times article if you care to read it.
Next up, from the AP:
Iran replaces head of Revolutionary Guard amid U.S. move against the force
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei named a new head for the elite Revolutionary Guard, an organization Washington is looking to list as a terrorist group, state media announced Saturday.
Khamenei appointed Mohammed Ali Jafari, described only as a senior figure in the hardline force, to replace General Yahya Rahim Safavi who has led the force for the last decade.
Third, from the conservative London Telegraph:
Will President Bush bomb Iran?
The United States, no longer prepared to tolerate the risk that Iranian nuclear weapons will be used against Israel, or passed to terrorists, has already launched a bombing campaign to destroy known Iranian nuclear sites, air bases and air defence sites. Iran has retaliated by cutting off oil to America and its allies, blockading the Straits of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf bottleneck, and sanctioned an uprising by Shia militias in southern Iraq that has shut down 60 per cent of Iraq's oil exports.
The job of the officials from the Pentagon, the State Department, and the Departments of Homeland Security and Energy, who have gathered in an office just off Massachusetts Avenue, behind the rail terminus, Union Station, is to prevent a spike in oil prices that will pitch the world's economy into a catastrophic spin.
The good news is that this was a war game; for those who fear war with Iran, the less happy news is that the officials were real.
Well, it's good to know we'll be keeping our eye on the oil prices, but what do they mean, "The good news is that this was a war game?" Item four reveals:
The good news about nuclear destruction
What possible good news could there ever be about nuclear destruction coming to America, whether it is dirty bombs, terrorist nukes or ICBMs from afar?
In a word, they are all survivable for the vast majority of American families, if they know what to do beforehand and have made even the most modest preparations.
Tragically, though, most Americans today won't give much credence to this good news, much less seek out such vital life-saving instruction, as they have been jaded by our culture's pervasive myths of nuclear un-survivability.
This is labeled as an "exclusive," which is the delicate word WND uses to clarify items otherwise confused as satire. So that you don't feel compelled to read it yourself, here's the comedic spoiler: "The public urgently needs to be instructed in Civil Defense basics, like the good news that thousands can be saved employing the old 'Duck and Cover' tactic."
With that, I give you item five, an offer for a WND newsletter, available with an attractive $7.50 price tag:
MOST DANGEROUS NATION ON EARTH: Why America must wake up now and deal with Iran's imminent threat
"This Whistleblower issue will shock many readers with the imminence and severity of the threat from Iran," said Managing Editor David Kupelian. "And it provides cutting-edge information on the very real prospects of a pre-emptive attack on Iran, by the U.S. or Israel or both, to prevent Iran from having operational nuclear weapons. This is a must-read."
There you have it, the top five items. And if you don't think Scaife's propaganda chorus is evidence enough that the right is being prepared for an attack on Iran, perhaps you haven't checked in with the Murdoch orchestra?