War or Peace: Obama Faces a Choice

After Obama successfully implements his controversial medical reform, he will move on to resolving external problems caused by mistakes in strategy. The fate of the whole world rests in a pivotal decision Obama must make. The major point is war or peace: Will Obama start the war against Iran?

On Aug. 1, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen indicated that the U.S. has a plan to attack Iran. Mullen’s remarks caused shock to ripple around the world. In fact, before this the U.S. Congress had already passed the plan to launch a military attack on Iran. America’s Western allies also agreed that they would support the U.S. in the use of military means against Iran when economic sanctions fail.

Israel, America’s pawn, is itching for a try. It is possible that the war against Iran would first be launched by Israel, and the United States would get involved later. A few days ago, the incident of an Israeli military plane crashing in Romania attracted the world’s attention because Romania has an air defense system similar to Iran’s: Both are Soviet SA-missile air defense systems. The purpose of Israel’s military exercise here is self-evident. In July, Obama had embraced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, giving up criticism of Israel’s policy, in order to gain support from American Jewish financial groups.

International media have compared Obama to former President Lyndon Johnson. When Johnson was in power, he had successfully abolished racial segregation in the U.S., but he also launched the Vietnam War,* which led to a great failure for the United States. There are many surprising similarities in history.

When a great power is in decline, mistakes and failures will come one after another. The fiasco of U.S. and UN forces in the Korean War didn’t teach the U.S. a lesson, and the U.S. dragged itself into the Vietnam War soon after. But the U.S. still didn’t learn the lesson from the failure of the Vietnam War, and it fell into the quagmire of Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the U.S. is planning on a war against Iran, which would obviously become a failure.

Would Obama wage war against Iran? There is a 60 percent possibility. Obama himself is becoming a puppet president because he has no political experience: He was neither a mayor nor a governor nor a minister. Instead, he ascended into the presidency from serving as a senator. If we take a look at the sophisticated politicians around Obama, we would find that Obama is like a manipulated little brother. Obama’s key cabinet members include the following troika:

The first member of this troika, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has surpassed the president in public support. According to the latest poll, Obama has 41 percent support, while she has an approval rating of 61 percent. Clinton was supportive during her husband’s term. Former President Bill Clinton launched the Desert Storm war** against Iraq and attacked Yugoslavia. As a senator in Bush’s administration, she showed active support to Bush’s decision to launch the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. She is a genuine military hawk.

Another troika member, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, was a member of President George W. Bush’s war cabinet and formerly served as the CIA Director. The CIA has always been a hotbed of war in the United States and the headquarters of the right-wing militants — downright belligerent hawks.

The last person in the troika is Vice President Joe Biden, the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who has participated in much of the U.S. government’s military war planning, also with war hawks.

The troika says they are helping Obama, but, in fact, they are manipulating Obama. They are fighting for the interests of the U.S. big bourgeoisie and arms dealers. If Obama launched a war against Iran, the unemployment rate would decline, and the GDP would rise by 2 percent. Also, the U.S. could control the oil recourses of the second largest oil producer in the world. In the meantime, the U.S. could suppress China since a third of China’s oil is imported from Iran. The main purpose to launch the war against Iran is to gain support for Democrats and to win re-election for Obama. November, being the time for midterm elections, would be a sensitive and delicate period.

If Obama does launch a war against Iran, would the problem be solved? On Aug. 8, Cuban leader Fidel Castro warned President Obama against starting a war. He believes it would lead to nuclear war and would destroy the world.

Judging from the U.S.’ wars against other countries following World War II, the countries which the U.S. has attacked are certain to not have nuclear weapons. If Iran does have nuclear weapons and uses them to attack the U.S. and Israel — and the U.S. gets revenge with nuclear weapons — it’s hard to tell what would happen.

Can it be said that the troika may decide Obama’s future — whether he chooses war or peace? History will reveal, after his term, whether Obama had a good or bad reputation.

*Editor’s Note: The Vietnam Conflict began prior to Johnson’s presidency.

**Editor’s Note: Desert Storm began during the presidency of George H.W. Bush.