Meteor Blades has an excellent diary up, BBC Calls Nuking of Iran ‘Improbable.’ In my view, today’s announcement by Iran’s president Ahmadinejad that they had achieved unranium enrichment to the 3.5% level,- Reuters reporting “Iran in nuclear technology step”- may just hasten the Bu$hCheney attack plans for Iran.
Three very good articles caught my attention; two following up on Sy Hersh’s explosive report in The New Yorker is not comforting. Hopefully, the third, an editorial- “The World’s only supersuicide bomber” presents some options that can be acted upon. Title sounds too radical?
More below fold
Today, Thom Hartmann, heard on Air America, writes in Commondreams.org “Democracy Be Damned“- laying out why
“Republicans Need another War”
[..] that Bush/Cheney/Rove and the Republican cabal lied us into invading Iraq. Ginning it up just before the 2002 midterm elections was largely done so Republicans could take back the Senate in 2002 after losing it because of Jim Jeffords’ defection. The 2003 attack was timed, we now can see, so Bush would improve his chances to win the White House in the election of 2004.
So, too, it appears that Bush is now ginning up a new war just in time for the 2006 midterm elections, and Karl Rove probably has a 2007 continuing war in mind to help swing the 2008 elections (or postpone them).[.]
Oil, to the Republicans, would be a nice bonus. And let’s not forget those profits for Halliburton and other big Republican contributors.[..]
Did you notice Hartmann’s in referring to 2008 wrote “or postpone them”!?! Is this what America has become?
Confirming Hartmann is the anonymous Spengler, a contributor to The Asia Times, in his predicting:
“Bush’s October surprise – it’s coming
The Republicans will win November elections in 2006. according to Spengler, a known advocate for military action. It is his opinion that a ‘US attack on Iran is inevitable and unavoidable.’
One hears not an encouraging word about US President George W Bush these days, even from Republican loyalists. Yet I believe that Bush will stage the strongest political comeback of any US politician since Abraham Lincoln won re-election in 1864 in the midst of the American Civil War.
Two years ago I wrote that Bush would win a second term as president but live to regret it. Iraq’s internal collapse and the president’s poll numbers bear my forecast out. But Bush’s Republicans will triumph in next November’s congressional elections for the same reason that Bush beat Democratic challenger John Kerry in 2004. Americans rally around a wartime commander-in-chief, and Bush will have bombed Iranian nuclear installations by October.[..]
An Atimes Australia reader demanded to know where the editor stood on Spengler’s arguments for bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities. The editor responded beyond laying out policy issues – giving a personal view under the title:-
The World’s Only Supersuicide Bomber
[..] “Editor’s Note” I will spell out my stance on the bombing of Iran, but first I want to explain why that stance should not be of compelling importance to readers.
[..] Asia Times Online does not exist to push specific causes or philosophies, and we should never be confused with propaganda vehicles such as Fox News or Jihad Now! or subtler, smarter vehicles like the New York Times. For this reason, ATol has no qualms about publishing opposing points of view on any subject, as long as they are well argued, informative and original. We do this in the belief that readers wish to be fully informed about all sides of a dispute, and thus more able to make an informed judgment.
[..] However, I will not sidestep Mr Mazir’s demand. Actually, I’d be crazy to throw up this chance of having my two cents’ worth. It’s strictly personal, and does not necessarily gel with those of my colleagues or ATol’s owner. I provide it in the hope that it will contribute something to the debate.[..]
Nuclearizing its friends while using force against its foes invites disaster for the US. Who knows who will be the United States’ friends and foes 30 years hence? It was not so long ago that India was regarded as an ally of the Soviet Union, while Iran under the shah was a docile US client state. Remember how the US armed and funded the Afghan mujahideen to fight the Soviets, and how that came back to haunt it on September 11, 2001? And now it wants to allow its “friends” to have potential nuclear weapons capability?!
(Or does neo-conservative hubris feed a belief that in 30 years’ time the US will have no enemies, only a worldful of bombed-out client states? If so, God help us all, especially the Americans.)[..]
To this end, a new proposal to resolve not only the Iran crisis but proliferation in general comes from a somewhat surprising source: Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to former presidents Gerald Ford and George H W Bush. It has much to recommend it. Its originality lies in that it flattens the nuclear playing field – in other words, it avoids dividing the world into the nuclear-privileged “us” and the to-be-deprived “them”. Whether it’s workable and whether the Iranians would accept it, I won’t hazard a guess, but at least it should be one of the options that are, like the bombs, “on the table”.[..]
The editor recommends {Bush and others} should read Scowcroft’s proposal,
“How to resolve the Iran-US nuclear standoff:”
Scowcroft: “Nuclear weapons technology is no longer a closely guarded secret in the possession of a handful of countries. And an approach that relies on determining the character of regimes to assess worthiness to use nuclear energy is full of loopholes.
Only by creating a new international regime – and applying it without exception across the board – can we hope to guarantee that all countries can enjoy the
benefits of nuclear energy without risking the spread of the world’s deadliest weapons.”Editor concludes:
[..]”Bombing Iran to deprive it of its nuclear fuel cycle would be akin to putting out a fire with gasoline while there are safer alternatives at hand. Bombing would likely result in a month of September 11s. It would likely throw previously antithetical states into each others’ arms and open the way for uncontrollable nuclear proliferation as these states join forces against the world’s bully-boy.
If it bombs Iran, the US is going to have to continue bombing, more and more, around the globe. That’s apparently not a prospect that deters some of those currently making US foreign policy, but it is something that US citizens ought to consider.
Spengler calls for Iran to be bombed before it’s “too late”. If indeed President Bush agrees with Spengler, Americans may decide it’s a better idea to impeach their president before it’s too late.
[emphasis added]
We do regret that Bush exiled Scowcroft when he warned on Iraq. Is there some adult that can sit Bush down, ground him, rescind his war powers until his term ends? Sandra Day O’Connor can you help? Maybe put in a call to Ma Bush.
Before the atomic clock is put on fast forward does anyone think we can raise up a few courageous Senators, Congressmen and women to march into the Oval Office read Bush his articles of Impeachment OR alternatively, just put a stop payment on that blank check you gave him – don’t fund this war?