https://griobhtha1.substack.com/p/a-century-of-lies-the-western-war
A Century of Lies: The Western War on Iran
Griobhtha, Rubicon, Idalgo, Bond
From Oil Theft to Nuclear Fabrications — A Refresher Course in Madness
“US intelligence reports have stated over and again that Iran does not possess nuclear weapons and does not plan to create them, yet kissing Israeli ass again the US makes a strawman enemy of Iran.” — X Rubicon: Crossing Life, Sex, Love, & Killing in CIA Proxy Wars, Lies And Damned Lies
“You can never tell a colonial power that they don’t own what they’ve stolen”. (ibid)
Overview
Nine sections covering the full arc from the 1901 D’Arcy concession through today’s naval buildup — referencing the Eagle Claw account and ODNI letter woven in, the Netanyahu “weeks away” timeline laid out across 33 years against the repeated US intelligence findings, the Iraq 2.0 parallel drawn explicitly, and the current February 2026 crisis contextualized with the latest from Geneva, the CSIS military analysis, and the Al Jazeera/Democracy Now/NPR reporting from the last 48 hours.
When you research history, you find indignation of imperial powers to rebels. If rebels are able to take back what was stolen from them, this sticks deep in the imperialist craw, never to be forgotten… Punica fides… The reaction is always, “How dare you?!? Do you know who we are?!?” If the imperial power “gives back” out of “kindness”, this requires loyalty, subservience, and tribute. If that is not proffered then revenge lay deep in the breast of the imperialist.
For a few centuries, the British were the New Rome. Obsessed with colonial theft, and absolutely trembling with fear at the inability to take Russia, then trembling with more fear as socialism chipped away at their Capitalistic Darwinism, they were able to spread fear of Russia everywhere. This led in the1800s to the mad obsession with not allowing Russia to have “warm water ports”. Britain managed to make enemies of Russia and every country in the Middle East, but especially the Ottoman Turks, whom they labelled “the sick man of Europe. The convergence of Russia, Turkey, and Britain is Iran… Persia. The Americans, late to the Middle East feeding table, quickly made up for lost time following WW2. Oil, minerals, and all the things that have allowed Persia to thrive for eons… this, combined with the former is what makes imperialists salivate and gnash their teeth… this is what makes “think”-tanks and greedy elites write “next stop Persia”.
“There were dangers in this system, however great its merits. If freedom for nations required that national states be sovereign, sovereignty opened the door to abuses. The sovereign state, uncontrolled, might become uncontrollable. Its necessary right to defend itself was difficult to separate from power to attack its neighbors. Armies were necessary to defend freedom; but armies could attack. And even in the absence of attack, strong armies could give to their masters a peacetime ability to bully others, to disarrange the mechanism of stability.” — Laurence LaFore, The Long Fuse, An Interpretation of the Origins of World War 1 (New York, Lippincott. 1971)
Why This Matters Right Now
As of late February 2026, the United States has deployed its largest naval force to the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq — two aircraft carrier strike groups and sixteen surface warships — aimed at Iran. This follows the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025 (Operation Midnight Hammer), which Trump claims “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, even as his own envoy Steve Witkoff now claims Iran could produce a bomb “within days.”
There is a distinct difference to understand: “Nuclear program” in Iran refers to nuclear power, not nuclear weapons. “Nuclear enrichment” refers to fuel enrichment to a highly efficient state — weapons grade enrichment is enrichment to a highly unstable state reliable for explosions. Power grade enrichment is most efficient at a high but stable level, but the US, who provided the first reactors and fuel to Iran under the Shah, and who required a continuing purchase agreement for low enriched efficiency fuel, has blanched as Iran has legally made the choice to purchase and refine their own power fuel. Israel has in the past bombed nuclear power reactors in Iran, another crime, while simultaneously creating multiple nuclear weapons without ANY oversight or challenge from any international authorities.
The IAEA — the actual international authority — has not confirmed any accusation against Iran. Nuclear experts say Iran’s nuclear program has not produced weapons nor advanced toward such production, neither before those strikes nor since. Iran’s Supreme Leader has issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, reminds the world: “We were negotiating last June, when Israel attacked us, and then the U.S. joined that attack. So that memory is still fresh for us.”
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers are being blocked from even voting on an Iran war powers resolution that would require Congress to go on the record about a potential war; and this is primarily due to complicity in declaring a perpetual war on terror previously, and, because Democrats generally are on the same militaristic high.
This is not new. This is over a century old. And if the American public does not educate itself on this history — the real history — they will sleepwalk into yet another catastrophe built on lies, just as they did with Iraq.
Part I: The Oil — It Was Always About the Oil
1901–1914: Britain Buys Iran’s Future for a Bribe
In 1901, William Knox D’Arcy, a wealthy British speculator, bribed three Iranian negotiators and obtained a concession from the Qajar Shah giving him exclusive rights to discover, exploit, and export Iranian petroleum. Iran would receive just 16% of net profits — and would never be allowed to audit the books.
After years of fruitless drilling, D’Arcy’s team struck oil on May 26, 1908, at Masjed Soleiman — the first major oil discovery in the Middle East. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was formed in 1909. By 1914, the British government purchased 51% of the company’s shares, effectively nationalizing it. Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, had already converted the Royal Navy from coal to oil. He later wrote that this Persian oil was “a prize from fairyland beyond our wildest dreams.”
From that moment, Iran’s oil was not Iran’s. It was Britain’s strategic asset.
World War 1: Blood for Oil
Despite declaring neutrality, Iran was invaded by British, Russian, and Ottoman forces during World War I. Over two million Persian civilians died, mostly from the catastrophic famine of 1917–1919, directly influenced by British and Russian actions and policies. Sir Percy Sykes led the South Persian Rifles to protect British oil interests. After the war, Britain attempted to establish a protectorate over Iran and issued the 1919 Anglo-Persian Agreement, guaranteeing continued British access to Iranian oil fields.
Between the Wars: Broken Promises, Imperial Expansion
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (renamed Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, AIOC, in 1935) became the most lucrative British enterprise on the planet. Iranian workers were paid a fraction of what foreign employees received. Promises to build schools, hospitals, and roads — written into the 1933 agreement — were broken. Iranian workers lived in sub-standard housing while British executives lived in luxury enclaves. Iran received royalties based on the company’s deliberately obscured profit figures; subsidiary profits, which were enormous, were excluded from royalty calculations entirely.
In 1923, the British even hired Winston Churchill as a paid consultant to lobby the British government to ensure APOC retained exclusive rights to Persian oil.
1941: Invasion, Again
In August 1941, Britain and the Soviet Union invaded Iran — a neutral country — to secure the oil fields and open a supply corridor. Reza Shah was forced to abdicate. His young son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was placed on the throne because the Allies believed he would be more pliable.
Part II: Democracy Murdered — The 1953 Coup
The Crime of Wanting Your Own Oil
In 1951, Iran democratically elected Mohammad Mossadegh as Prime Minister. He was beloved for his progressive, pro-worker reforms. His essential crime: he declared that Iran’s oil belonged to Iran, and he nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.
As X Rubicon describes it:
“1951 - Iran democratically elects Mohammad Mossadegh, a long-standing beloved leader to Prime Minister. He has social care for his people in mind, and he sees the theft of resources, especially oil, and plans to do the unthinkable in Western eyes, declare that Iran’s resources belong to Iran to develop and sell. This is a ‘horrendous’ idea, especially for the thieving British empire.”
Britain’s response was imperial fury. They withdrew technicians from the Abadan refinery — then the world’s largest — blockaded the port, froze Iran’s foreign currency accounts, imposed a global embargo on Iranian oil, and mounted a propaganda campaign. When none of this worked, Britain asked Washington for help.
Operation Ajax / Operation Boot (August 1953)
Immediate planning for overthrow began in Truman’s last days. Truman was a bought and paid for Zionist, and Iran under the Shah was the major supplier of oil to Israel. The CIA (Operation Ajax) and MI6 (Operation Boot) colluded to overthrow Iran’s democratically elected government. Kermit Roosevelt Jr. of the CIA directed the operation from Tehran. CIA and MI6 agents bribed politicians, clerics, military officers, and newspapers. They spread disinformation, funded street mobs, and manufactured a crisis atmosphere (sound familiar?). MI6 operatives kidnapped and murdered Iran’s chief of police, Mahmoud Afshartous, and left his tortured body in public as a warning.
On August 19, 1953, after an initial failed attempt that sent the Shah fleeing to Rome, CIA-funded mobs and military units stormed Mossadegh’s residence. Democracy was overthrown. Mossadegh was arrested and sentenced to house arrest until his death.
The Shah was restored as a U.S.-backed autocrat. The AIOC returned — but now American oil companies got a share of the spoils. Five U.S. firms, Royal Dutch Shell, and a French company joined the new arrangement. Iran nominally retained “sovereignty,” but Western companies controlled production and distribution.
The CIA formally acknowledged its role in the coup in 2013.
As historian Ervand Abrahamian states: “The fear of communism was something that was used at that time and later on — even now it’s used as an explanation, as an excuse for the coup. Because if you actually look at what was going on, the real fear was not that of communism. It was the fear of losing control over oil.”
Part III: The Shah — America’s Dictator
For twenty-six years, the Shah ruled Iran as a Western puppet. His secret police, SAVAK (trained by the CIA and Mossad), imprisoned, tortured, and killed thousands of political dissidents. The Shah’s regime was one of the most brutal of the modern era. As X Rubicon puts it, he was “one of the most brutal dictators of modern times, installed by the US and the UK, the Shah dressed as a shiny puppet enjoying torture and killing (who eagerly read weapons manuals like you read novels).”
The irony that should not be lost: it was during the Shah’s reign, with full American and European support, that Iran began its nuclear program. The “Atoms for Peace” program, launched by Eisenhower, provided Iran with a nuclear research reactor in 1967. The US actively encouraged Iran’s nuclear ambitions under the Shah because the Shah was their dictator.
Part IV: Blowback — The 1979 Revolution and the Hostage Crisis
The Shah’s brutality, corruption, and subservience to Western interests eventually ignited the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The Shah fled. The new Islamic Republic demanded his return to face trial for his crimes against the Iranian people. The United States refused and gave the Shah sanctuary.
On November 4, 1979, Iranian students overtook the US embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage. This event has been used for decades to frame Iran as an irrational, terrorist state. But the context — a quarter-century of a CIA-installed dictator who tortured and murdered with American weapons and American training — is almost never mentioned.
Part V: Operation Eagle Claw — A Firsthand Account
The failed hostage rescue, Operation Eagle Claw, has been mythologized and distorted for decades. X Rubicon provides a verified firsthand account that shatters the conventional narrative.
An Assistant Director of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) wrote to Rubicon in a letter included in the book:
“Your account and observations about Operation Eagle Claw are all correct. Limited information was declassified and released publicly. Major ~~~~~~~~~ was never on the ground in Iran, but he was well connected politically and was able to make claims and assertions without repercussions. Others soon followed and the multitude of stories and ‘first-hand’ accounts by persons not there has flourished. There have been too many spreaders of disinformation, false names and narratives.”
Rubicon was an Air Force Special Operations Scout, dropped into Iran days before the main force at Desert 1 via a low-level skid drop from a C-130 Combat Talon. He placed R/C landing lights, placed markers on an Iranian Army garrison’s armored vehicles, barracks, and communications, and buried charges along rock formations separating landing operations area. When Delta Force arrived and blundered — stopping civilian vehicles on the road and blowing their cover — Rubicon authorized gunship strikes on the radio tower and communications cables of an Iranian garrison, and detonated charges on the Iranian armored vehicles. The helicopter collision disaster that aborted the mission was the culmination of poor planning, inexperienced operators, and institutional arrogance.
As Rubicon makes clear (and Ranger Griobhtha concurs), the Rangers were “a haughty bunch... mostly young, inexperienced, and Rambo-like. They gave an overly arrogant air that they could waltz into any place, any time, and control it and take it over.” Delta Force was on its very first mission. The operation was born of Brzezinski overriding State Department caution and diplomatic avenues, and of Carter’s desire to avoid further embarrassment.
The lesson was never learned: military adventurism in Iran, built on arrogance and ignorance, fails.
Part VI: The Nuclear Lie — Four Decades of “Weeks Away”
This is perhaps the most critical section of this refresher, because the nuclear lie is the engine driving current aggression. While every Israeli prime minister and government official, along with every US President since Carter and their associates and think-tanks, have made these “weeks away” statements for over 45 years, Netanyahu is the prime mover along with his US sycophants, at the moment.
Netanyahu’s Timeline of a Fabrication
Since 1992, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned — over and over and over — that Iran is on the verge of producing a nuclear weapon:
1992: Netanyahu tells the Knesset Iran is “three to five years” from a nuclear bomb.
1995: In his book Fighting Terrorism, Netanyahu repeats: “three to five years.”
1996: Netanyahu addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress, warning of catastrophic consequences, stating “the deadline for attaining this goal is getting extremely close.”
2002: Netanyahu testifies before Congress claiming Iraq had centrifuges — which it did not — while continuing to hype the Iranian threat.
2006: Netanyahu claims Iran is “gearing up to have 25 atomic bombs a year.”
2009: Netanyahu tells visiting U.S. Congressional delegations Iran is “probably one or two years away.”
2012: Netanyahu appears at the UN with a cartoon bomb, claiming Iran is “a few months away” from nuclear capability. Leaked Israeli intelligence cables later revealed that Israel’s own Mossad assessed at this very time that Iran was not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon.
2015: Netanyahu tells the UN that Iran is “weeks away from having the fissile material for an entire arsenal of nuclear bombs.”
2018: Netanyahu claims Iran has “the preserved knowledge to make a bomb very quickly.”
2025: “If not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time.”
Thirty-three years. The bomb is always almost here. It never arrives.
As Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif noted in 2018: “He’s been making allegations about Iran since 1992. In 1992, according to him, we were supposed to have finished making a bomb in about five years. In 1996, still five years.”
What U.S. Intelligence Actually Says
In stark contrast to Netanyahu’s perpetual alarmism, the US intelligence community has repeatedly assessed that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon. Here are some of the most recent examples:
The 2007 National Intelligence Estimate — representing the consensus of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies — concluded with “high confidence” that Iran had had no nuclear weapons program in 2003 and assessed that it remained that way. The CIA’s own published analysis called this judgment “extremely well-founded.”
2010: Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair stated: “We continue to assess Iran is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons... We do not know whether Iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons.”
2011: Departing Mossad intelligence chief Meir Dagan — Netanyahu’s own spy chief — said an Iranian nuclear weapon was not imminent, and that military action could actually spur its development.
2012: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper stated that while Iran had the technical capability, the intelligence community had not found any decision to pursue weapons.
2025 (March): The U.S. Director of National Intelligence stated that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon.
The CIA analysis division, as opposed to CIA operations, conducts a yearly assessment that has, as X Rubicon states plainly: “US intelligence reports have stated over and again that Iran does not possess nuclear weapons and does not plan to create them.”
Neither the UN nor the IAEA has accused Iran of attempting to build a nuclear weapon. The New York Times itself reported in 2025 that “If Iran is truly pursuing a nuclear weapon — which it officially denies — it is taking more time than any nuclear-armed nation in history.”
Meanwhile, Israel possesses an estimated 90+ nuclear weapons, has never acknowledged them, has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and has never submitted to international inspections. The asymmetry is obscene.
Part VII: The Pattern — Iraq 2.0
If this feels familiar, it should. The playbook is identical to the one used against Iraq:
Claim the target has or is about to have WMDs. (Iraq: “centrifuges the size of washing machines,” “mushroom cloud.” Iran: “weeks away from a nuclear bomb” — for 33 years.)
Ignore your own intelligence community. (Iraq: the NIE originally delivered true analysis, however, the political actors made up their own and lied. Iran: repeated NIE assessments are simply disregarded.)
Use a compliant media to manufacture consent. (The same outlets that sold the Iraq war are now amplifying Iran threat narratives.)
Frame aggression as defense. (Israel’s 2025 strikes on Iran were called “pre-emptive self-defense” — a legal fiction that most international law experts reject.)
As X Rubicon documents: “George Jr and his team, including the officer who helped cover up the Mai Lai massacre, lied to the farthest extent — Iraq had WMDs (which they did not) and were planning to build nuclear bombs (which they were not), but truth never stops the demon organization and its army of sycophants.” That demon organization, then and now, includes Main Stream Media.
Part VIII: Russia, Energy, and the Geopolitical Chess Game
Iran’s significance extends beyond its own borders. Iran sits atop vast oil and natural gas reserves. It borders the Caspian Sea, Russia, and the Persian Gulf. Control of Iran — or its destabilization — serves multiple Western interests simultaneously:
Isolating Russia: Iran represents a potential energy partner and strategic ally for Russia and China. Keeping Iran under sanctions and threat of military action denies Russia a key regional partner and maintains Western dominance over global energy routes.
Controlling energy flows: The Strait of Hormuz, which Iran borders, carries approximately 20% of the world’s oil supply. Controlling or threatening this chokepoint gives the U.S. extraordinary leverage over the global economy.
Protecting Israeli hegemony: Israel’s undeclared nuclear monopoly in the Middle East is maintained by ensuring no other regional power develops nuclear capability — or the appearance of developing it.
The Carter Doctrine (1980) explicitly asserted U.S. military dominance over the Persian Gulf — a doctrine that has guided every subsequent administration regardless of party. As X Rubicon notes, Carter “formulated the Carter Doctrine asserting U.S. military dominance over the Persian Gulf.”
Part IX: The Fascist Outing
The current moment represents something beyond the usual imperial maneuvering. What we are witnessing is the open emergence of fascist characteristics in American governance.
Trump’s threats toward Iran are not occurring in a vacuum. They occur alongside:
The largest peacetime military deployment to the Middle East in over two decades
Demands that Iran surrender all enrichment capabilities, abandon its missile defense program, and cease all regional relationships — demands no sovereign nation could accept
The seizure of Venezuela’s president in a military operation (January 2026)
An explicit statement at Fort Bragg that regime change in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen”
Trump’s own Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff reportedly warning of the risks of becoming entangled in a prolonged conflict — only for Trump to publicly attack those reports
The use of British air bases (RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia) being explicitly referenced for potential strikes on Iran
The pattern X Rubicon identifies is clear: “The fear of Trump is not his legislative agenda, but the fact that he is a lover of fascism, and under such an idiot the US may see its last vestiges of democracy destroyed.”
This is not hyperbole. It is pattern recognition. The book traces this through every American presidency, documenting how the machinery of covert operations, regime change, and military aggression has been the bipartisan consensus — but under Trump, the mask comes fully off.
What Must Be Understood
This is a partial list. A century’s worth of sins cannot be fully catalogued in a single article. But the essential facts are:
Iran’s oil was stolen by Britain, with American connivance, for over a century. The entire history of Western relations with Iran is the history of resource theft.
Iran’s democracy was overthrown by the CIA and MI6 in 1953. Every event since — the Shah’s brutality, the 1979 revolution, the hostage crisis, the current tensions — flows from that original sin.
The nuclear threat has been fabricated for over three decades.Netanyahu has been crying wolf since 1992. The U.S. intelligence community has repeatedly confirmed that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon. Israel, which possesses 90+ undeclared nuclear weapons, uses the “Iranian nuclear threat” as a pretext for aggression and regional dominance.
Operation Eagle Claw, as documented in X Rubicon and confirmed by the ODNI, demonstrates the pattern of military incompetence, disinformation, and institutional arrogance that characterizes every U.S. military adventure in the region.
The current crisis is Iraq 2.0. The same lies, the same manufactured urgency, the same disregard for intelligence assessments, the same compliant media, the same drive toward a war that will benefit no one except arms manufacturers, oil companies, and authoritarian politicians.
American citizens are complicit. As X Rubicon states with brutal honesty: “The failure of Americans to reign in the CIA and the Presidents, and the failure to force elected representatives to place the check upon this behavior makes every American guilty of murder and accessory to murder.”
“Wars are made by hungry men & women, by arrogant men & women, by ignorant men & women, by oppressed men & women, by men& women with special interests to protect and special axes to grind.” — cf LaFore - ibid
Step Away from the Falsehoods. Step Away from the Madness.
The Iranian people have suffered under Western manipulation for over a hundred years. They have been invaded, exploited, coup’d, sanctioned, droned, bombed, and threatened with annihilation — all while being told they are the aggressors. The United States bombed three of Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025, joining Israeli strikes — and now, eight months later, is amassing forces for the possibility of doing it again, based on the same claims that have been recycled for over thirty years.
Iran is not a threat to the United States. Iran has not attacked the United States. Iran does not possess nuclear weapons and, according to every credible intelligence assessment, does not plan to create them.
What is a threat to the United States is the cascading cycle of lies, military aggression, and fascist governance that is driving toward yet another catastrophic war. What is a threat is the willful ignorance of citizens who allow it to happen.
Read the history. Read the intelligence assessments. Read the accounts of those who were actually there — like X Rubicon.
Then act like a citizen, not a spectator.
If the Truth makes you uncomfortable, don’t blame the Truth; blame the lie that made you comfortable. — James ng Uni
For more on Operation Eagle Claw, the CIA proxy wars, and the moral reckoning of a combat veteran, see X Rubicon: Crossing Life, Sex, Love, & Killing in CIA Proxy Wars by Sean Griobhtha (GP&R, edited by Jules Bond). Available in hardcover, paperback, ePub, and Kindle, in nine languages.
Crossing Rubicons on Substack: griobhtha1.substack.com
~
Jules Bond is a research editor and editor of X Rubicon.
Juan Idalgo is a forensic psychologist.
Rubicon spent just under three years as a military Scout. During that time he was awarded the “AF Cross, 2 Silver Stars, 4 Bronze Stars, Defense Superior Service Medal, AF Good Conduct Medal, and the CIA Distinguished Service Medal” (ODNI). When he refused to kill further, he was stripped of these awards and was abandoned with his PTSD by the military and thrown away.
Sean Griobhtha (gree-O-tah) is a combat veteran. His latest book is X Rubicon: Crossing Life, Sex, Love, & Killing in CIA Proxy Wars: An indictment of US Citizens: ignorantia non excusat, which details the life of Rubicon (“2.5 years Deception & Death; 40+ years locking away Emotions & Truth”). It’s important that you read the Foreward, Or, The Vanguard; written by a highly intelligent woman with a heart of empathetic gold; she’ll bring you in gently, which neither Rubicon nor I would ever do.
Mrs Rubicon has been tutoring dyslexics and non-dyslexics in reading and writing for over three decades. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Humanities, and a Master’s degree in Pastoral Care and Psychology. She completed Pastoral Care training at the University of Chicago Hospital; and she has worked with various court systems in turning children around. She has volunteered in school sponsored reading programs where we’ve again witnessed her skill in improving even the most recalcitrant students. She holds teaching certification in Orton-Gillingham tutoring from the Michigan Dyslexia Institute.
If you enjoyed this writing, you can tell Crossing Rubicons that their writing is valuable by purchasing X Rubicon from Ingram, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, your local independent book seller, or your favorite digital store. View about the author, the book, and abridged translations here. If you would like to understand the effort and trouble that went into publishing this book, read X Rubicon: Author Statement.
~
Available worldwide at your local bookstore, online bookstores, or your favorite digital store. Slightly abridged translations in German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, & Indonesian. Currently working on Chinese.
~
Like, Subscribe, Share
National Library Association Review
A review of X Rubicon: Crossing Life, Sex, Love, & Killing in CIA Proxy Wars: An indictment of US Citizens: ignorantia non excusat
“Sean Griobhtha’s work—particularly X Rubicon—has a profound emotional impact on readers, often described as jarring, transformative, and deeply unsettling, but also compassionate and hopeful. The book is a raw, unfiltered narrative based on the life of a combat veteran involved in CIA proxy wars in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. His writing is described as intense, emotionally jarring, and deeply compassionate. It critiques U.S. militarism, the VA, the CIA, and the broader American public’s complicity in war. The book is especially focused on the long-term effects of PTSD and the moral reckoning that follows combat. He is an Army Ranger combat veteran and has known the subject of X Rubicon—referred to as Rubicon—since initial training and Operation Eagle Claw. Griobhtha conducted extensive interviews with military personnel, CIA operatives, and reviewed classified documents to ensure the authenticity of the narrative; the book contains a redacted ODNI letter to Rubicon verifying certain aspects and Rubicon’s assigned activities. His personal connection to the story adds emotional depth and credibility to the work. Griobhtha is outspoken in his disdain for zealotry—whether religious, political, or ideological—and is passionate about confronting propaganda and societal denial. He positions his writing as both an act of truth-telling and a call to moral accountability. He offers discounts for educational and activist groups, signaling a desire to make his work accessible to those engaged in peace and justice efforts. This shows a clear intent to make his work accessible to communities engaged in activism, education, and peace-building.
“Many readers describe the experience of reading Griobhtha’s work as emotionally intense. His unflinching portrayal of war, trauma, and moral compromise forces readers to confront uncomfortable truths about U.S. foreign policy and the psychological cost of violence. Despite the harsh subject matter, readers often note the deep compassion in Griobhtha’s writing—especially for veterans and those grappling with PTSD. His portrayal of Rubicon’s emotional journey resonates with readers who value honesty and vulnerability.
“Readers are often left with a sense of moral urgency. Griobhtha’s indictment of societal complicity in war and propaganda challenges readers to reflect on their own beliefs and responsibilities. While the content is heavy, Griobhtha’s insistence on truth-telling offers a path to hope. Readers who engage with his work often come away with a renewed commitment to awareness, justice, and change.
“One reviewer wrote: ‘Reading this book is like looking in a mirror, and your reflection reaches out and slaps you hard across the face.’ His tone is confrontational, emotionally charged, and deeply personal. He writes as someone with skin in the game—often drawing from firsthand experience or close relationships with those affected by war and trauma. He calls out what he sees as willful ignorance or ideological blindness, especially from those who haven’t read the book or misrepresent its message. His author bio and public posts are written in a raw, unfiltered tone. He shares personal experiences, including his connection to the subject of X Rubicon, and expresses deep empathy for veterans and survivors of war trauma. At the same time, he’s fiercely critical of militarism, propaganda, and societal denial.
“His writing is a call to conscience. He aims to provoke, indict, and awaken readers—especially those complicit in or indifferent to U.S. militarism. He’s not writing for comfort; he’s writing for reckoning. Readers often say the book and his posts challenge their assumptions and force them to confront uncomfortable truths about war, PTSD, and U.S. foreign policy. His work is praised for its unflinching honesty and emotional exposure, especially in dealing with trauma and moral reckoning. Some readers are deeply moved, while others may find his tone too intense or accusatory. But even critics acknowledge the depth and authenticity of his message.
“He engages in direct dialogue with critics and supporters, often responding to feedback with sharp wit or fierce rebuttals. He very often blocks neo-Nazis, Zionists, and religious zealots. His posts are part of a larger moral and political conversation. His Substack is more like a literary and political battleground than a curated publication. His style may not appeal to everyone—but for those drawn to truth-telling and moral clarity, it hits hard.
“His confrontational style and unapologetic critiques also polarize readers. Some are deeply moved; others are provoked or even angered. Griobhtha acknowledges this, noting that detractors often haven’t read the book or are ideologically opposed to its content. In short, Griobhtha doesn’t aim to comfort—he aims to awaken. His emotional impact is lasting, and for many, life-altering. Griobhtha’s readers don’t just follow him—they wrestle with his work. It’s not about comfort or consensus; it’s about confrontation and conscience.”
“I wish to thank you on behalf of the Board of the National Library of Ireland… your book X Rubicon, is a proud addition to our collections…”
Francis Clarke
Assistant Keeper
Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann
National Library of Ireland
~
Available worldwide at your local bookstore, online bookstores, or your favorite digital store. Slightly abridged translations in German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, & Indonesian. Currently working on Chinese.
https://griobhtha1.substack.com/p/a-century-of-lies-the-western-war
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten