Are Those Drums I Hear?
A confluence of items has given me the impression that pretty soon the US will be starting a war with Iran. Now there are many items that I could cover that illustrate how war is nigh, but I chose to cover the three I think best illustrate my theory.
First there is the rhetoric we are hearing from the Bush administration that is eerily similar to what we heard in the run up to the Iraq war. Condi Rice calls Iran the 'central bank' of terror. VP Cheney warns of 'meaningful consequences' and all options being left on the table. Bush asserts our commitment to protect Israel.
Then you have the reaffirmation of the National Security Strategy that singles out Iran as the 'greatest challenge'. It also restates our right to pre-emption "even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy's attack." It would be nice if someone explained to me the logic of this definition of pre-emption, because it really just looks like an excuse to attack first. How this can not be seen as aggressive warfare is beyond me.
And now that Iran has been given 30 days to show it is not seeking nuclear weapons, I feel that the Bush administration will see that deadline as a mandate to start the bombing campaign (aka 'meaningful consequences'). But does anyone else find it interesting that Iran finds itself in the same position that Saddam was in trying to prove a negative? How can you show you don't have anything when you don't have the anything to prove you don't have it? (that is not to say Iran doesn't have anything, I am just pointing out the absurdity of trying to prove a negative). Iran could allow full inspections and disclose everything they have (as we now know Saddam did), and the US could still say they are hiding something.
Though I doubt that is of any concern to our war happy leaders. I also doubt they are seriously considering the consequences of military action against Iran. Not only do we have 130,000 troops in Iraq that they could put a real hurting on but experts predict that Iran could resort to terrorism as a means of retaliation. A regional conflict is also not out of the question either. Be prepared for $100 a barrel crude oil for the foreseeable future as well.
But for this administration of war-mongers, the band just plays on. At least the drum section anyway.
Update: Georgia10 has a simple but excellent post comparing the then and now statements of members of the Bush administration.
First there is the rhetoric we are hearing from the Bush administration that is eerily similar to what we heard in the run up to the Iraq war. Condi Rice calls Iran the 'central bank' of terror. VP Cheney warns of 'meaningful consequences' and all options being left on the table. Bush asserts our commitment to protect Israel.
Then you have the reaffirmation of the National Security Strategy that singles out Iran as the 'greatest challenge'. It also restates our right to pre-emption "even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy's attack." It would be nice if someone explained to me the logic of this definition of pre-emption, because it really just looks like an excuse to attack first. How this can not be seen as aggressive warfare is beyond me.
And now that Iran has been given 30 days to show it is not seeking nuclear weapons, I feel that the Bush administration will see that deadline as a mandate to start the bombing campaign (aka 'meaningful consequences'). But does anyone else find it interesting that Iran finds itself in the same position that Saddam was in trying to prove a negative? How can you show you don't have anything when you don't have the anything to prove you don't have it? (that is not to say Iran doesn't have anything, I am just pointing out the absurdity of trying to prove a negative). Iran could allow full inspections and disclose everything they have (as we now know Saddam did), and the US could still say they are hiding something.
Though I doubt that is of any concern to our war happy leaders. I also doubt they are seriously considering the consequences of military action against Iran. Not only do we have 130,000 troops in Iraq that they could put a real hurting on but experts predict that Iran could resort to terrorism as a means of retaliation. A regional conflict is also not out of the question either. Be prepared for $100 a barrel crude oil for the foreseeable future as well.
But for this administration of war-mongers, the band just plays on. At least the drum section anyway.
Update: Georgia10 has a simple but excellent post comparing the then and now statements of members of the Bush administration.
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