"The idea of a nuclear strike on Iran is completely nuts..." - Jack Straw, British Foreign Secretary
Yep, just when you thought he couldn't sink any lower, you find out just what an evil, black-hearted, murderous, godless prick he really is.
In a familiar echo of the run up to the war in Iraq, Dubbyuh and his merry band are, publicly at any rate, embracing diplomacy as the means to disuade Iran from devloping nuclear weapons. Behind the scenes though, it's a different story.
According to Seymour Hirsch in an
April 8th story, the Administration is already preparing for attacks in Iran. Teams already have boots on the ground in Iran to gather targeting data and work on forging ties with groups oppsed to the Iranian government.
Granted Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a certifiable nut-case, but so is Kim Jong-Il...And he already has nukes. But there's no oil under North Korea, so it's not a target. Never mind that intelligence estimates tell us Iran is 5 to 10 years away from developing a useable weapon. The Bush administration is already planning to bomb Iran into the stone age, and use nukes to do it. And let's not forget that before Dubbyuh started babbling about an "Axis of Evil" moderates were begining to make gains in Iran. But that moderates quickly faded away as Dubbyuh launched an illegal and unjust war against Iraq. After that, all bets were off, and the radical mullahs began to take the reigns of power once more. So now, we have Iran's current president who is just as foaming-at-the-mouth crazy as Dubbyuh.
Both seem to be under the impression that God is on their side. Both seem to buy into this apocalyptic end-time prophecy foolishness. So what have they got to lose if they drag the rest of the world down with them? They, and their followers, each believe they are guaranteed a place in heaven according to their respective beliefs. SO who's right?...Neither.
Since the Bush Administration, and much of the rest of the country, haven't noticed, the world is very nervous about these two loonies squaring off. It's patently obvious that Dubbyuh and his merry band have given little, if any, thought to the consequences of attacking Iran. It is their belief that a massive bombing campaign will cause the "common folk: in Iran to rise up against their fundamnetalist masters and overthrow the regime. Remember now, these are the same folks who predicted US troops would be welcomed with flowers and the eternal gratitude of the Iraqi people...That military operations in Iraq would be completed within "...six days, six weeks, certainly not six months..."...That Iraq's oil revenues would cover the costs of military operations. Well, we all know how far off the mark those prognostications were. So, how can anyone even begin to trust what these squirrely bastards are saying now? We can't.
Let's look at what would REALLY happpen in the aftermath of an attack on Iran. Firstly, purely in terms of economic caosts, how about oil and $90...$100...more per barrel? The purely economic shock of that would be enough to destabilize economies the world over. And, of course, there is the billions of dollars of US debt held by one of Iran's largest trading partners, China. I find it highly unlikely that China would simply sit still while one of their principle oil supplys was threatened. All CHina would have to do is call in their notes to send the US economy into a tailspin. If the Administration follows through with its plan to use "Bunker Buster" nukes, the human toll would be astronomical in terms of fallout, radiation sickness and civilian deaths. Something the Administration has clearly failed to take into account. Dubbyuh's protestation that the nuclear option was just "wild speculation" rang hollow, screechy and wholly false.
Then there's Israel, which could play the catspaw in any military action against Iran. Regardles of who strikes first, the US or Israel, there will be some 1.2 billion pissed off Muslims looking for revenge. And, unlike Iraq, Iran has the capability to strike back, hard, against US military and economic interests in the region and around the world. Through conventional military and terrorist tactics, they could drag the rest of the region into the fray. Beyond that, Russia and China might feel compelled to step in militarily. Can you say "World War III?"...I knew you could. No matter what happens, the US will be alone in this. Our only real ally in Europe, Britain, is already seriously questioning the sanity of the the Bush Administration in this attempt to repeat the failure of Iraq, as should we all.
And where is Congress in all of this? On vacation...raising money for the next election cycle. And that is where we, the People, need to make our voices heard. Vote anyone out of office who supports these crazy bastards and elect any reasonably sane politician, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Communist or Silly. It really doesn't matter at this point, just as long as they're willing to remember that their oath of office requires them to support and defend the Constitution. And they must also remember that their first loyalty and duty lies, not with party nor even the President, but with the Constitution. And if that duty calls them to hold this Administration accountable for its actions, even to the point of impeachment, then they will do so.
To be honest though, I'm not really expecting anything like that. We can consider ourselves lucky if they just provide a check to the neo-imperialists in the Bush White House. There's too much money floating around out there for anyone involved with the current system to make any serious changes. If we want to make any serious changes, we may have to do it ourselves...A new national convention.
