'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)    


View of Nuclear Facilities Near Natanz, Iran,
some 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Tehran.
The Iranians are Said to Ready to Restart
Enrichment Activities There This Month. (above).

BBC NEWS VIDEO: U.S. 'Dismisses' Report of
Military Attack on Iran, Apr. 10, 00:01:59RealVideo


RealVideo[LATEST NEWS PHOTOS: Iran].

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Takes a Tour
of the Natanz Nuclear Facilities in February. (below).






Investigative Reporter Seymour Hersh Contends in His Newest
Article in The New Yorker, Says President Bush is Planning to
Go to War to Stop Iran from Acquiring Nuclear Weapons. (above).


BBC NEWS AUDIO: Interview With Seymour Hersh
On His Report Charging that the White House
Mulls Nuclear Strike on Iran, Apr. 10, 00:05:51RealVideo


[RealVideoSeymour Hersh's Report in The New Yorker]

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Not Every Iranian's Favorite,
But Would a U.S. Attack Rally Iranians to His Side? (below)






President George W. Bush: Not Every
American's Favorite, But Would an Attack
on Iran Rally Americans to His Side?. (above).

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An American publication has disclosed that the Bush Administration plans a massive bombing campaign against Iran. According to The New Yorker [RealVideo], 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'

WindowsVideoIRIB/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