What to do with Iran?
Once again I caught myself listening to conservative talk on AM radio. This time it was Glenn Beck, who has sat in for Rush in the past, whenever the fat man was having another one of his junky binges. It was startingly difficult to choke down my lunch while listening to this guy. Like many of his compatriots, he was whining for war with Iran. This was another round of noise reverberating through the conservative echo chamber. I could almost see him reading directly off the American Enterprise Institute's talking points sheet. Beck is saying these things because Cheney, Rove and Bush want him to say them.
You'd have to live in a bubble not to realize that the Bush Administration is targeting Iran for another round of "regime change". They are part of the "Axis of Evil" after all. Their nuclear activities are being presented as a threat to American security. Of course the argument seems entirely familiar. But if the Iranians truly are working on nuclear weapons, who can blame them? Their security is by no means assured by anything else at this point. I'm sure that US warships and air power demonstrations in the Perisan Gulf do nothing to inspire Iranian confidence. It's likely that the presence of American troops in every nation bordering Iran has an unsettling effect as well.
The United Nations has already passed economic sanctions against the roiling nation. It's only a matter of time before ordinary people in Iran begin to feel the effects. Financial assets of individuals and entities within the country have been seized. The suspension of Iran's nuclear program has been cited as a precondition for the normalizing of diplomatic relations.
I am not certain that we aren't already at war with Iran. It is widely reported by media sources outside the US that the Bush administration has already implemented plans to destabilize the Iranian government. That constitutes a secret war as far as I am concerned. Iran's detention of British military personnel is said to be an act meant to provoke a public response from the Western powers. Apparently there is a lot of civil unrest in Iran, and the Khomeinist Mullahs would like to deflect attention toward an outside threat.
It loooks extremely unlikely that the Iranians will get what they want out of this situation. They are gambling that the political will does not exist in the US citizenry to support another invasion. But what the people want may end up being beside the point. It's not like Bush and Cheney concern themselves with what the rest of the country wants. They'll marshall their base and goad the Republican party into calling for war. Apparently our ludicrously expanding national debt is not much of a concern for them. Their goal is to bankrupt the federal government, and they want their friends and cohorts to get paid through no-bid government military contracts. An invasion of Iran would suit their agenda. Whether or not the GOP will support Bush and Cheney's plans is another issue. The party already lacks a viable 2008 presidential candidate, and getting embroiled in yet another war is not going to improve their chances with an increasingly weary populace.
As much as Glenn Beck (or Hannity, Coulter, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, etc.) bemoans the fact that the American people lack the "stomach" for another invasion... it seems to be the case. Perhaps diplomacy and international cooperation will be the new strategy. Despite the fact that the Bush administration has little experience with this type of politics, it can't possibly be less effective than it has shown itself to be with the doctrine of pre-emption. Or could it?
You'd have to live in a bubble not to realize that the Bush Administration is targeting Iran for another round of "regime change". They are part of the "Axis of Evil" after all. Their nuclear activities are being presented as a threat to American security. Of course the argument seems entirely familiar. But if the Iranians truly are working on nuclear weapons, who can blame them? Their security is by no means assured by anything else at this point. I'm sure that US warships and air power demonstrations in the Perisan Gulf do nothing to inspire Iranian confidence. It's likely that the presence of American troops in every nation bordering Iran has an unsettling effect as well.
The United Nations has already passed economic sanctions against the roiling nation. It's only a matter of time before ordinary people in Iran begin to feel the effects. Financial assets of individuals and entities within the country have been seized. The suspension of Iran's nuclear program has been cited as a precondition for the normalizing of diplomatic relations.
I am not certain that we aren't already at war with Iran. It is widely reported by media sources outside the US that the Bush administration has already implemented plans to destabilize the Iranian government. That constitutes a secret war as far as I am concerned. Iran's detention of British military personnel is said to be an act meant to provoke a public response from the Western powers. Apparently there is a lot of civil unrest in Iran, and the Khomeinist Mullahs would like to deflect attention toward an outside threat.
It loooks extremely unlikely that the Iranians will get what they want out of this situation. They are gambling that the political will does not exist in the US citizenry to support another invasion. But what the people want may end up being beside the point. It's not like Bush and Cheney concern themselves with what the rest of the country wants. They'll marshall their base and goad the Republican party into calling for war. Apparently our ludicrously expanding national debt is not much of a concern for them. Their goal is to bankrupt the federal government, and they want their friends and cohorts to get paid through no-bid government military contracts. An invasion of Iran would suit their agenda. Whether or not the GOP will support Bush and Cheney's plans is another issue. The party already lacks a viable 2008 presidential candidate, and getting embroiled in yet another war is not going to improve their chances with an increasingly weary populace.
As much as Glenn Beck (or Hannity, Coulter, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, etc.) bemoans the fact that the American people lack the "stomach" for another invasion... it seems to be the case. Perhaps diplomacy and international cooperation will be the new strategy. Despite the fact that the Bush administration has little experience with this type of politics, it can't possibly be less effective than it has shown itself to be with the doctrine of pre-emption. Or could it?
posted by Merge Divide at 5:14 PM
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