Deja-vu All Over Again

More evidence today that the Bush Administration continues an ever-escalating spiral toward a military confrontation with Iran, using Iran's nuclear policy as its primary focus..  The President said recently that “…if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."

At a White House news conference Wednesday, Mr. Bush said, that he takes the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran very seriously. He noted that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Israel should be destroyed.

Please, don’t misunderstand me.  This is not an argument that we should do nothing with respect to Iran’s nuclear ambitions or that it would be acceptable for Iran to have an nuclear weapon, but this is beginning to feel a lot like, as Yogi Berria says, “deja-vu, all over again.”   

Do you remember “We cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud,” and do you remember how Mr. Bush vilified Saddam Hussein?  Substitute Iran for Iraq and Ahmadinejad for Saddam Hussein and there he goes again.    

What’s wrong with this picture?  First, we don’t know just what Iran’s nuclear ambitions are.  Iran says, it wants nuclear power for peaceful civilian purposes.  Should we trust their word?  Absolutely not!!!  But, we don’t have to bomb them just yet.  There are a other avenues to try first.    

Do we really need to worry that Ahmadinejad will start something with Israel?  Ahmadinejad is a petty martinet, whose elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top floor.  But, he’s no threat to Israel or the United States.  As President of Iran, Ahmadinejad has very little power.  Iran is a religious oligarchy, and the real power resides with a few mullahs, who rule Iran.  Ahmadinejad does nothing without their approval and they are a good deal smarter than Ahmadinejad.  These guys might not be overly friendly toward us, but they do not want a war with Israel or the United States. 

This is really be happening again, just a few years after a pointless invasion of Iraq which has left hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead, along with more than 3,800 American soldiers.  We must find another way of solving our international problems, beside bombing those that don’t do what we want.          

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