Mired in interminable conflict in Iraq
and Afghanistan, the Bush administration is moving toward initiating
two more wars, one with Iran and one with North Korea. With no
US troops available, the Bush administration is revamping US
war doctrine to allow for "preventative nuclear attack."
In short, the Bush administration is planning to make the US
the first country in history to initiate war with nuclear weapons.
The Pentagon document, "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations,"
calls for the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear adversaries
in order "to ensure success of US and multinational operations."
In the case of Iran and North
Korea, the Bush administration is using diplomacy not for diplomatic
purposes of reaching agreements, but in order to set the two
countries up for nuclear attack. In the case of Iran, the Bush
administration's plan is now obvious. The Bush administration
is leveling false charges against Iran, just as it did against
Iraq, of conspiring to make nuclear weapons. These charges are
known to be false by the Bush administration and by the entire
world.
For the past two years the
International Atomic Energy Agency has had unfettered access
to inspect Iran for any sign of a nuclear weapons program. The
head of the IAEA has announced that there is no sign of a weapons
program. The Bush administration nevertheless insists that Iran
is making weapons, but can produce no evidence. As in the case
of Iraq, the Bush administration substitutes allegations for
facts.
Gordon Prather, an expert on
the subject, has reported the straight facts in fine detail.
Readers can become familiar with them by consulting his archive
at Antiwar.com.
By bullying the 35 members
of the IAEA, the Bush administration last week managed to get
22 votes that could lead to the referral of Iran to the UN Security
Council. The Bush administration will now lobby for the referral.
Once it has the referral, even if the Security Council does not
act on it, the Bush administration can use it as an excuse to
attack Iran. The Bush administration knows that few Americans
have any knowledge of international law and procedures and will
simply believe whatever President Bush says. The highly concentrated
US media is a proven walkover for the war-mongering Bush administration.
As Dr. Prather has shown, Iran
has gone beyond compliance to propose that new additional safeguards
be established to monitor its nuclear energy program. The bad
intentions are on the part of the Bush administration.
The Bush administration's plan
is to create Iranian intransigence in place of cooperation by
forcing the Iranian government to stand up to the bullying by
reducing its cooperation. The goal of the Bush administration
is to attack Iran, not to create cooperative relationships.
Needless to say, Iranians are
angry at the Bush administration's manipulation of the IAEA members.
Last Wednesday protesters in Tehran attacked the British embassy,
which serves as a proxy for the non-existent US embassy, and
legislation was introduced that, if it passes, will scale back
Iran's cooperation with the IAEA. Iran has also threatened to
cut off oil deliveries to some of the countries that caved in
to US pressure, thereby permitting the US to increase tensions
and escalate the conflict.
The Bush administration is
betting that it can demonize Iran the way it did Iraq. As both
Congress and the American public have failed to hold Bush accountable
for deceiving them about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the
administration assumes that its tactics will work a second time.
However, a nuclear attack on
Iran would leave the Bush administration isolated. The US would
instantly become a pariah nation, loathed and hated everywhere
else.
Moreover, it would leave our
battered troops in Iraq in a perilous situation. The only reason
our army in Iraq has not been destroyed is that the Shi'ites,
who comprise the vast majority of the population, have not taken
up arms against us, expecting the US to turn over Iraq to them.
As the Iraqi Shi'ites are allied with the Iranians, who also
are Shi'ite, the US cannot attack Iran without destroying its
position in Iraq.
The Bush administration, filled
with hubris and delusion, is too stupid to know this.
The American people need to
ask themselves why of all the countries in the world, only the
US and Israel believe that it is imperative to attack Iran. If
Iran is such a threat to the world, why isn't Russia, for example,
concerned and ready to invade?
Americans need to ask themselves
the same question about North Korea. Why is the US, half a world
away, so concerned about North Korea? If North Korea is such
a threat, would not China, sitting on its border, know it? Wouldn't
Japan know it? South Korea? Wouldn't some other country besides
the US see the problem and take action? According to the Voice
of America (August 11, 2005), "Senior South Korean officials
on Thursday defended what they say is North Korea's 'natural
right' to pursue civilian nuclear power. The move may cause friction
with the United States, which has expressed firm opposition to
the North having any nuclear facilities whatsoever."
If the US doesn't want other
countries to develop nuclear weapons, the US must stop bombing,
invading and threatening invasions and nuclear attacks. How does
President Bush serve the cause of peace by making countries paranoid
by declaring them to be our enemies.
For there to be peace, the
US must drop its belligerent role. The proper function of diplomacy
is to build trust by drawing countries into economic and cultural
relationships, not to isolate them for attack. It is past time
for the US to give up its quarter century feud with Iran. US
interference in Iranian internal affairs was the source of the
feud. We need to acknowledge it and get over it.
The Korean war ended a half
century ago. Isn't it time the US acknowledged the war's end
and signed a treaty with North Korea? The Korean war was essentially
a war between the US and China. It was Chinese troops that prevented
American victory. Yet we are getting on with China, a much greater
potential threat to the US than North Korea or Iran could ever
be.
By creating instability in
the Middle East, the US undermines Israel's security. As a few
thousand Iraqi insurgents have proven, American armies are not
going to be able to sit over the oil in the Middle East. If we
can't produce enough valuable goods or maintain a strong currency,
we won't have access to the oil. There is no possibility whatsoever
of the US pushing around powers like China, India, or Russia.
Bush's hubris makes him unrealistic.
He greatly overestimates America's power. Congress and the American
people must find a way to supply the judgment that is missing
in the executive branch.
There would be no terrorism
if the US would stop interfering in the internal affairs of Middle
Eastern countries and if Israel stopped stealing the West Bank
from the Palestinians. The Bush administration knows this, and
that is why the administration spreads the propagandistic lie
that "they" (Muslims) hate us and our way of life.
This lie is the excuse for American aggression.
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