@@ Dangerous delusions about Iran @@
Arash
December 14, 2004
Dangerous Delusions About Iran
By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith
(http://www.antiwar.com/orig/barry.php?articleid=3545) is the neocon
Likudnik who was tasked with cooking up the false "intelligence" that
President Bush used to deceive the U.S. public into supporting an illegal
invasion of Iraq. With the U.S. military now trapped in the Iraqi quagmire,
Feith wants the U.S. to attack Iran.
President Bush falsely claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction,
that Iraq was linked to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, and
that Iraq would give weapons of mass destruction to anti-American
terrorists. Senior members of the Bush administration terrified the U.S.
public with prospects of mushroom clouds going up over U.S. cities.
Having been proved 100% wrong about Iraq, the Bush administration now claims
that the nonexistent WMD are in Iran, or maybe Syria. During recent weeks,
the Bush administration worked overtime to terrify the U.S. public into
believing that Iran is building nuclear weapons and missiles with which to
destroy American cities.
To ward off yet another gratuitous and illegal U.S. attack on a Muslim
country, Europe, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and U.S. experts
such as Dr. Gordon Prather (http://www.antiwar.com/prather) have exposed the
Bush administration's false claims. But the Bush administration ignores
factual truth. Bush has his own "truth," a delusional "truth" independent of
all evidence.
Israel's right-wing Likud Party regards Feith as one of its own. The
Jerusalem Post described Feith as "a staunch supporter of Israel." In an
exclusive interview, Feith told that paper that despite the intercession of
Britain, France, Germany, and the IAEA against a U.S. attack on Iran, the
Bush administration has not ruled out taking military action against Iran.
In other words, the neocon Bush administration has already decided to attack
Iran and Syria. The only question is what kind of lie can Bush use to get
away with it.
But first Bush has to take over the IAEA, which has steadfastly refused to
go along with Bush's propaganda against Iran. According to the Washington
Post, the Bush administration has been tapping the telephones of the head of
the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, hoping to find damaging information with which
to frame, blackmail, or taint him as an Iranian ally.
Unable to find or to manufacture any evidence against ElBaradei, the Bush
administration is using an orchestrated campaign of anonymous accusations in
an effort to oust the IAEA director and to replace him with a U.S. puppet.
The problem is that ElBaradei is more highly regarded than any member of the
tainted Bush administration, including President Bush himself. So far, Bush
cannot find anyone anywhere in the world, including our British puppet, who
is willing to be associated with the Bush administration's disgraceful
intentions.
The important unanswered question is: why do the neocons, with their proven
record of duplicity and delusion, still hold the reins of power in the Bush
administration? Why isn't Feith in prison? Martha Stewart is in prison for
"lying" about a non-crime. Feith's lies have killed thousands. The Iraq war
is based entirely on neocon lies. The war is costing the U.S. a fortune it
does not have. The war is producing U.S. casualties comparable to those of
the Vietnam war and has killed a minimum of tens of thousands of Iraqi
civilians.
The neocons have destroyed Iraq's infrastructure, alienated the entire
Muslim world, and made the U.S. the most hated country on the planet.
What does Douglas Feith think the effect would be on Shi'ite Iraq of a U.S.
attack on Shi'ite Iran? The only reason the U.S. Army in Iraq has not been
totally destroyed is the wait-and-see attitude of the majority Shi'ites, who
expect to take control of Iraq once there is an election. If the U.S.
attacks Iran, the Iraqi Shi'ite clerics will not be able to maintain their
neutrality toward the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
The current Iraqi insurgency is drawn from Sunni ranks. Sunnis comprise only
20 percent of Iraq's population. Yet, Sunnis have tied down eight U.S.
divisions while inflicting horrendous casualties on U.S. troops. If Bush
escalates U.S. aggression in the Middle East, he will create a larger
insurgency.
Imagine the U.S. casualty rate if the Iraqi insurgency were drawn from 80
percent of the population. The temporary Shi'ite insurgency of the minor
cleric Sadr caused tremendous U.S. consternation. What would be the U.S.
casualty rate if, instead of sitting on their hands, all the Shi'ites had
joined the insurgency?
Iran covers almost four times the area of Iraq and has more than 2.5 times
the population. If Bush attacks Iran, he will create an insurgency there as
well, one that could spill over into Pakistan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and
Egypt.
Bush's war is achieving a Shi'ite unity that will redraw Middle Eastern
boundaries and eliminate secular Muslim governments. Shi'ite unity will
merge with the anti-American terrorists and drive all Western expatriates
out of the Middle East. Indeed, the departures are already underway. Israel
will be isolated, exposed to the consequences of its aggression against the
Palestinians.
Fox "News" and right-wing talk radio crazies misinform us that we are
kicking terrorist butt, but in non-delusional reality, we are unifying Islam
and ending forever Western influence in the Middle East.
* Dr. Roberts is John M. Olin Fellow at the Institute for Political Economy
and Research Fellow at the Independent Institute. He is a former associate
editor of the Wall Street Journal and a former assistant secretary of the
U.S. Treasury. He is the co-author of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.
http://www.antiwar.com/roberts
http://www.vdare.com/roberts
http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts-arch.html