In 2002 many of us knew Bush would pull the trigger on Iraq – plunging the U.S. into needless, counterfeit war for domestic consumption purposes, both political and material. (Karl Rove calculated political dominance despite being handicapped with a below-par president if major war could be generated.) Others less attuned argued Bush was simply bluffing to get Saddam to step down. But indicators pointed otherwise – well before Bush’s theft of the presidency. We happened upon PNAC’s (Project for a New American Century’s) 1990s blueprint for conquest of Iraq and noticed the signatories on its website: Rumsfeld, Cheney, Jeb, Wolfowitz, Quayle, Kristol, and other war-whores who came to be known as “neocons” – landing in the White House as guests of GW, the clown-like figurehead.
We realized Iraq would spell disaster; others dismissed our concerns by predicting a cake-walk costing around $1.7 billion (possibly financing itself en toto via seized oil) and wrapping up in a month or two. Ten years later, a million lives lost, $3 trillion and a collapsed world economy – the Bushmen still refuse to recant. Republicans continue their rabid war-lust in full pursuit.
The same feel grips us of recent. Is war with Iran inevitable? Now we realize Israel is sucking America into the abyss to serve Jerusalem’s own interests.
This certainly feels like a similar slippery slope, not mere premonition, but a repeat from recent history.
Prodded by the Israeli lobby and cajoled by election-year opposition, Barack Obama is most likely to cave. The military option will probably be executed before November, not to play the “October Surprise,” but to appease the right – both at home and Israel. Obama’s pattern dictates it, Netanyahu demands it, and Republicans make it a moral imperative.
Prodded by the Israeli lobby and cajoled by election-year opposition, Barack Obama is most likely to cave and execute the military option, probably before November – his past practice serving as the credible predictor.
As in Bush’s phantom WMD, there’ll be no proof of nuclear arms development posthumously, although America will have committed national suicide, and the final proof will be a world lost in a cloud of poverty.
Objective intelligence realizes Iran is years away (if at all) from developing a nuclear weapon. Must the right again “fix the intelligence around the policy” to justify another military adventure?
Unfortunately, Iran is committed, at least through religious fervor, to annihilating the State of Israel. That’s the problem. Saddam Hussein’s mouth sealed Iraq’s fate through false boasts; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s mouth could be Iran’s ruin as he threatens Israel’s destruction.
What Benjamin Netanyahu neglects to calculate is Russia’s reaction to an attack on Iran. The returning President Vladimir Putin may be inclined to escalate the conflict into full-fledged war to prove his strength internationally and galvanize his power domestically. Putin’s questionable election will thus fade. Has the CIA role-played this contention?
The sensible option is clandestine political ops empowering Iranian youth to revolt against hardline theocrats – as was done in 2008-09. But is it too late? When given the chance, did the US blow it? Bunker-busters, the Pentagon concedes, cannot do the job; neither can the Israeli Air Force. So, what’s the purpose in threatening military action other than to appease war-hungry rightwingers?
And the mission to destroy any underground Iranian nuclear arms facility (real or imagined) would require more than the Seals swooping down for a heroic midnight raid. It’ll demand full-scale war resulting in a blockaded Strait of Hormuz and astronomical energy prices. (Can Obama win with $8 gas?)
That’s not the worst scenario. What if Putin pushes the button? What if the US and Russia finally exchange nukes? What if the world faces nuclear winter like it feared decades ago?
These nightmares are made possible by an ill-thought Iranian venture, an unnecessary concession to please hard-right Netanyahu and the rightwing GOP threatening to evict the present president if resisting compliance. Will Obama yield to temptation?
Wars are rooted in male dominance – testosterone tests to see who’ll mate with the flowering female. This metaphor is certainly true for the impending Iranian War. Obama must show strength by committing America to war for Israel, thereby trying to placate the right which is itching to replace him and at the same time is dominated by the religious, Zionist right. Putin must show strength by retaliating, thereby legitimizing his dubious election. And Netanyahu must show strength by dragging America into war, thereby relieving fears from the Israeli right that Iran could destroy them sometime in the unknown future. Israel cares not what happens to America after it’s done with her.
America hasn’t faced such dilemma since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The nation seems asleep at this time, unaware of the lethal dynamics and the characters on stage. Will Obama act wisely like JFK or will he cave to the right as he’s done so many other times before?
In 2002 many of us knew Bush would pull the trigger on Iraq – plunging the U.S. into needless, counterfeit war for domestic consumption purposes, both political and material. (Karl Rove calculated political dominance despite being handicapped with a below-par president if major war could be generated.) Others less attuned argued Bush was simply bluffing to get Saddam to step down. But indicators pointed otherwise – well before Bush’s theft of the presidency. We happened upon PNAC’s (Project for a New American Century’s) 1990s blueprint for conquest of Iraq and noticed the signatories on its website: Romney, Cheney, Jeb, Wolfowitz, Quayle, Kristol, and other war-whores who came to be known as “neocons” – landing in the White House as guests of GW, the clown-like figurehead.
http://www.newamericancentury.org/index.html
We realized Iraq would be disaster; others dismissed our concerns by predicting a cake-walk costing less than $1.7 billion (possibly financing itself en toto via seized oil) and wrapping up in a month or two. Ten years later, a million lives lost, $3 trillion and a collapsed world economy – the Bushmen still refuse to recant. Republicans continue their rabid war-lust in full pursuit.
http://thinkprogress.org/report/the-architects-where-are-they-now/?mobile=nc
The same feel grips us of recent. Is war with Iran inevitable? Now we realize Israel is sucking America into the abyss to serve Jerusalem’s own interests. This certainly feels like a similar slippery slope.
Prodded by the Israeli lobby and cajoled by election-year opposition, Barack Obama is most likely to cave and execute the military option, probably before November. His pattern