'Rational Americans' Must Restrain Bush From 'Insanity'
In contemplating a nuclear attack on Iran, is President Bush 'held in thrall' by 'senseless power-mad Neocons and America's powerful Jewish lobby?' According to this plea from Pakistan's Frontier Post, 'rational' Americans must restrain an Administration from dramatically worsening an already dire situation.
EDITORIAL
April 10, 2006
Pakistan - Frontier Post - Home Page (English)
An American publication has disclosed that the Bush Administration
plans a massive bombing campaign against Iran. According to The New Yorker [
],
the White House is contemplating knocking out Iran's nuclear facility at Natanz with
bunker-busting nuclear bombs, hoping that the resulting humiliation of Iran's religious
leadership's triggers a mass upheaval, ending in its ouster.
Similar reports about the Bush Administration's intent to use
military action against Tehran for its nuclear program and to bring regime
change have surfaced in the Western media before, including in America.
But if sanity prevails, President Bush will restrain himself from
this stupidity. But given the fact that sanity is in very short supply in his
administration, held in thrall as it is by senseless power-mad Neocons and
America's powerful Jewish lobby, the likelihood of restraint looks very dim.
Similar utopian ambitions, including transforming occupied Iraq
into a utopian model for the Middle East, propelled Mr. Bush into that invasion.
Instead, what has become of Iraq? It has turned into an albatross around his
neck, which he is finding no way to shake off. And so would it be with Iran.
In fact, it never occurred to the Neocons and America's Jewish
dreamers that while Iraqis had no love for Saddam Hussein, they were not enamored
by the Americans either. The murderous U.N. sanctions, maintained for over a
decade and imposed on Iraq by the Americans with the collusion of their British
co-conspirators, Iraqi children and elderly where snuffed out in their hundreds
of thousands.
Iraqi anger over the tyrannical rule of their own regime is more
than matched by their hostility to the Americans and British, because of the
grief and tragedy that the sanctions inflicted on them. It's no wonder that crowds
failed to greet the invaders with garlands, even though U.S.-led forces freed them
from the tyranny of a ruthless dictator. And, predictably, there will be no
garland-giving crowds in Iran either.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may not be the political leader of
choice for each and every Iranian, just as President Bush himself is not every
American's favorite. Just as Bush has his political supporters and opponents,
so does Mr. Ahmadinejad. And Iranians may be a politically divided polity, just
as is the American polity.
But given the chronic hostility of Washington toward Tehran, there
are no lovers of America dying for Washington to invade their country, which is
no doubt why the Bush Administration is funding a campaign to sow dissension in
Iranian society. An American military operation against Iran is thus sure to
rally all Iranians behind President Ahmadinejad, regardless of affiliation, just
as the September 11 terrorist attack brought American's of all political stripes
on one platform to stand by Mr. Bush.
Nor should Mr. Bush remain oblivious of the dire implications of
his contemplated adventurism against Iran. With next-door neighbor Iraq harboring
a decisive Shiite majority which is already in turmoil, it is sheer
foolhardiness to even contemplate such a senseless military campaign. Every Shiite
faction calling the shots in occupied Iraq is closely linked to Iran. If there
is a military strike on Iran, it will be certain to outrage these
Iran-affiliated factions against the United States, making Iraq's turmoil all
the more turbulent and rendering it out of control.
This is likely to prompt the civil war that has been staring
occupied Iraq in the face to flare up and engulf it. This would be a dreadful outcome.
Such sectarian strife could not only lead to the fragmentation of Iraq, it may
well spill over into neighboring countries, to the great grief of people near
and far. Not only will an Iraqi civil war disturb the already fragile relations
between religious and political groups in neighboring States, it will jeopardize
the American military presence in Iraq, putting paid to Washington's dream of
having permanent bases there.
The American dream of Iraqi bases is looking ever-more uncertain,
given waning U.S. influence over the dominant Shiite factions. This is reflected
by Washington's failure to persuade Iraqis to quickly form a national unity
government.
Condoleezza Rice: 'We've made thousands of mistakes in Iraq ...
Now We're Ready to Make More!! [Alittihad, Palestine] (above).
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Moreover, the Iranians are not going to take the planned American
aggression lying down. They are sure to retaliate. And sitting as they are astride
vital sea-lanes [the Strait of Hormuz], if they decide to disrupt oil supplies,
not an inconceivable possibility, it would hit not only oil supplies, but would
raise prices on the international market. That could badly damage even prosperous
Western nations, including America itself.
With freely-elected leftist governments rising and anti-American
sentiment raging in their Latin American backyard, it is now time for the
American people to contemplate whether they can endure even more hostility in
the Muslim world.
The plan for another attack, for its patently religious undertones,
is sure to worsen the wave of anti-Americanism already sweeping this region. America's
Neocons, evangelical Christian groups and Jewish lobbies are too blinded by
their mad passions to think rationally. It is time for rational Americans to restrain
their administration from committing this stupidity.
VIDEO FROM IRAN: 'WE ARE CAPABLE OF BLOCKING OIL EXPORTS'
IRIB/Jaam-E-Jam3, Iran: Excerpts from an interview with General Hosein Salami, Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Air Force, Apr. 4, 00:03:39, Via MEMRI
"Iran can block oil export whenever necessary. Fox News doesn't have to make propaganda out of this. This is a natural ability of our country."
Iranian Air Force General Hosein Salami
[LATEST NEWS PHOTOS: Iran].
