OR: More Bush Where the Last One Came From
We want the world to be happy, like us. We want terrorism removed from the Middle East. We will say that we want democracy, free trade and general abundance. Of course, to do this, we might have to do a little inventing. But Americans won't mind, they like invention.
Since the war ended in Iraq last year the quiet voices in the Bush Administration (Wolfowitz, in particular, but Rumsfeld to a degree) have been considering what our "next best move" is in the Middle East. Now that Mr. Bush is in a re-election campaign the strategy of reworking the Middle East (in our image) has been underplayed as the continuing Iraq resistance gets more and more organized and violent. But increasingly the Iranians are becoming more and more fearful (stepping up troop deployments on the border with Iraq) and retaliatory (arresting anyone who crosses the Tigris).
The Iranians, more than Iraqis, have something to fear from the U.S. Iran has been a sore spot with the U.S. since the hostage crisis in the late 70's and the animosity over terrorism, possible nuclear weapons development and radical Muslim thought (from a very conservative inner circle in government) is more than enough justification for the Bush administration to move forward. Add to the mix that they have openly supported the "resistance" in Iraq and you have the makings of another spring storm across the desert.
Up until now the U.S. has acted unilaterally in the Middle East to rid the world of the ravages of Saddam Hussein, his family and their friends. Even those Arabs who were our allies (the Saudis, Turks and Quwaitis) appreciated the spot we felt we were in and officially, at least, were not in a position to oppose our actions. But military action against Iran poses a more difficult scenario and could threaten to forge an alliance out of strange bedfellows (Russia, France, Germany and the rest of the Middle East not controlled by the U.S.).
Consider the alternatives for the U.S. and you quickly get a picture of the worst case scenarios if we don't march on Iran next spring. Iraq is costing the U.S. in lives and dollars much more than what we want to admit. By handy accounting methods (charging military requests and troops against other allocations) we are spending ever increasing amounts to stabilize the country without calling it spending in Iraq. The propoganda war is being lost on a daily basis in the Middle East. One sign of the frustration came this week when Al Jazeera had their Baghdad office closed for not supporting the "Iraqi" government. (Remember, freedom of the press is an American, not Iraqi freedom). Of course, the Iraqi government was elected by....hmmm, well, chosen by us and relies on us for security but closing down a press organization couldn't have been inspired by us, could it?
CNN reported:
"The Paris-based media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders agreed, calling the closure "a serious blow to press freedom."
U.S. officials have been highly critical of Al-Jazeera's reporting."
Ultimately the muslim extremists are counting on the U.S. to get tired of fighting and go home (they've read about Viet Nam too). This would be perfect for Iran as an alliance between them and the Iraqis would solidify a good portion of Middle Eastern oil. This is not a scenario Bush can allow as Iraq very well would become the breeding grounds for terrorism he says it was before the war.
So not being able to leave, can we just hold the line? Well, no, once again, consider Viet Nam. The alternatives then are either to ally with Iran (ok, stop rolling on the floor) or invade. We most certainly can use the same intelligence that we had on Iraq to justify it and indeed that intelligence is being written daily. I think the Iranian American Defense League must have at least a few defecting lieutenants available to testify that the Iraqis have WMD's too!
Once again the American people will be "told" that it is the only thing we can do, must be done to protect our freedoms.
But until the election is over, Iran doesn't even exist to the Bush administration. But I hear the spring is lovely in Teheran!