by Paul Craig Roberts
If you were President George W. Bush with all available US troops tied down by the Iraqi resistance, and you were unable to control Iraq or political developments in the country, would you also start a war with Iran?

Yes, you would.

Bush’s determination to spread Middle East conflict by striking at Iran does not make sense.

First of all, Bush lacks the troops to do the job. If the US military cannot successfully occupy Iraq, there is no way that the US can occupy Iran, a country approximately three times the size in area and population.

Second, Iran can respond to a conventional air attack with missiles targeted on American ships and bases, and on oil facilities located throughout the Middle East.

Third, Iran has human assets, including the Shi’ite majority population in Iraq, that it can activate to cause chaos throughout the Middle East.

Fourth, polls of US troops in Iraq indicate that a vast majority do not believe in their mission and wish to be withdrawn. Unlike the yellow ribbon folks at home, the troops are unlikely to be enthusiastic about being trapped in an Iranian quagmire in addition to the Iraqi quagmire.

Fifth, Bush’s polls are down to 34 percent, with a majority of Americans believing that Bush’s invasion of Iraq was a mistake.

If you were being whipped in one fight, would you start a second fight with a bigger and stronger person?

That’s what Bush is doing.

Opinion polls indicate that the Bush regime has succeeded in its plan to make Americans fear Iran as the greatest threat America faces.

The Bush regime has created a major dispute with Iran over that country’s nuclear energy program and then blocked every effort to bring the dispute to a peaceful end.

In order to gain a pretext for attacking Iran, the Bush regime is using bribery and coercion in its effort to have Iran referred to the UN Security Council for sanctions.

In recent statements President Bush and Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld blamed Iran for the Iraqi resistance, claiming that the roadside bombs used by the resistance are being supplied by Iran.

It is obvious that Bush intends to attack Iran and that he will use every means to bring war about.

Yet, Bush has no conventional means of waging war with Iran. His bloodthirsty neoconservatives have prepared plans for nuking Iran. However, an unprovoked nuclear attack on Iran would leave the US, already regarded as a pariah nation, totally isolated.

Readers, whose thinking runs ahead of that of most of us, tell me that another 9/11 event will prepare the ground for a nuclear attack on Iran. Some readers say that Bush, or Israel as in Israel’s highly provocative attack on the Jericho jail and kidnapping of prisoners with American complicity, will provoke a second attack on the US. Others say that Bush or the neoconservatives working with some “black ops” group will orchestrate the attack.

One of the more extraordinary suggestions is that a low yield, perhaps tactical, nuclear weapon will be exploded some distance out from a US port. Death and destruction will be minimized, but fear and hysteria will be maximized. Americans will be told that the ship bearing the weapon was discovered and intercepted just in time, thanks to Bush’s illegal spying program, and that Iran is to blame. A more powerful wave of fear and outrage will again bind the American people to Bush, and the US media will not report the rest of the world’s doubts of the explanation.

Reads like a Michael Crichton plot, doesn’t it?

Fantasy? Let’s hope so.

What the fuck is the point of voting Democrat if the guys you vote in pussy out every time somebody looks like saying something nasty about them? Seriously what is the point?

Or do you like having Bush leading the way to apocalypse while the so called Left in congress do bugger all? Actually vote in support of it in greater numbers then the frigging right.

Vote independent for every Democratic seat which shows zero spine, and then maybe something will change. The independents don’t all support Bush, and frankly what you have here is the result of two party politics, where the fucking Republican liars, cheats and thieves think they can neutralise their corruption by painting the Democrats as liars, cheats and thieves. If you three parties it is that much harder to use that weasel tactic.

Face it, the Democrats have had plenty of calls to arms before and they haven’t done shit about them. Kerry issued a call to arms, as did Murtha, and nothing, fucking nothing happened. You need liberal independents and smaller parties to get in now because frankly at this point the Democrats as a whole are NOT acting as viable opposition.

If you want to see Bush impeached, find out about your local independents, find out about the other parties and actually think more in terms of what you want in your government then what you want in your party. Vote independent if your Democrat representative has a nasty habit of not representing you or what you voted for. Vote independent when your Democrat representative shows so little integrity as to vote against a resolution he feels to be neccessary because he is afraid to be called a traitor. Vote Independent when your Democrat lacks ballls. Otherwise, if you agree with them, vote Democrat, but for once, open your eyes and look at the parties in front of you. There is more then just two of them.

And no, I am not a rightwinger, I am actually left wing, and proud of it. I don’t strive to tell lies when my arguments fail me, and I don’t strive to smear my opposition when they are clearly correct. I certainly don’t believe in the marriage of church and state, which only serves to breed illogical crap. I am an Atheist liberal fucking truth teller and I do not, see the point of supporting a party just because it isn’t the other guy. Lots of people aren’t the other guy.

That would be the first problem. NOT ELECTED.

Secondarily, surely you agree that the UCMJ required you to refuse to follow illegal orders.

• Did you receive any training in the Geneva or Hague Conventions?

YEAH, because losing the House so we can’t impeach the bastards is REAL important for progressives.

Bruce, which rightwing group do you work for? Or are you just the civilian wing of the Pentagon’s new outreach to liberals?

Third party this.

The idiot soldiers (stupid dogs of war) have been used as pawns in an illegal war yes folks you heard it here first visit real jobs dot com

To the 2300 us service men i say ….Yeee HAA they deserved it
and to the wounded i say ……You should have listened to your mums and not join up

what do you say to a women with two black eyes………you should have listened the first time

so therefore to the wounded american soldiers who live by the sword serves you right…idiots without mugs like you bush would have had to go it alone and he aint got guts to fight his way out his own crisp packet

But other than that, nice work……

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20060311-0257-chicagoimmigrationmarch.html

I served in the US Army from 1986 until 1990 as a Private/Private First Class/Specialist working on computers at the Pentagon. I’ve sent money to my friends serving in Afghanistan & Iraq to helpo save thier lives over this “war for oil”, and you jump down my throat for serving?

Once you sign on the bottom line for your service, you life is in the hands of our elected leaders. You no longer have a choice over where you serve. I was the top of my class, so I got to spend my time at the Pentagon where my computer skills were useful.

Trust me, the majority of people I know currently serving in the military are probably more likely to NOT want to go to war. Who really wants to get killed so Pres. Bush & his buddies get more money?

I served for multiple reasons: I felt it was my patriotic duty to give back to my country; I wanted a chance to get OTJT for sumputers, I wanted to “see the world” outside of hicks-ville New Mexico.

Take a chill pill, back away from the keyboard, and unpucker buddy.

Raw Story.com has a link to Salon which has the full story and 276 pictures with a video.

Same as North Korea …Korea has enough centrifuges to build many bombs….BUT to much jungle………and America is running scared of North Korea………they like easy targets with oil

gonna get the shit kicked out of them in IRAN …….ha ha ha

Horn of Africa… What the fuck are you asseholes doing in my country? The Horn is South Africa, we are the relatively well off African country, you know the one that currently isn’t at war with anyone and is actually in a position to give aide South Africa.

Southern Africa okay, but what are you doing to the horn of Africa? Cape Town is pretty fucking well off, apart from Koburg (SP?) being on the fritz. If you want to do “good things” go north and deal with Zimbabwe. South Africa, is comparatively speaking fine, and we really do not want a US sponsored coup here.

Comment by Clif — March 15, 2006 @ 10:57 am

Count on it Mr. Hogan ;)

Comment by Clif — March 15, 2006 @ 9:16 am

Excellent post Clif! Don’t think anyone could have said it better.

The government wastes our money and them makes us suffer the consequences by cutting funding to our programs. It’s about time they started being accountable to us for their actions. Why is he here spending our resources when children in poverty didn’t get breakfast this morning, and Paris Hilton can buy another $50,000 tank top? I’m tired of the lies and corruption as well.

See you in the gulags! :)

I can’t believe we’re hearing the same shit about Iran that we heard about Iraq and people are actually listening. Call me naive, but I really don’t care if anybody builds nuclear weapons. The world is full of them and anybody who attacks the USA with them has to be suicidal and they know it.

We have nuclear weapons and we’re not to be trusted with them. How can we call any other country out for building them? After all, we actually used them a couple of times. And it was the wrong thing to do.