3-2-1… America Prepares To Attack Iran

November 5, 2007
Editorial by Webster Brooks 111

Hartford, Connecticut — In November 2008, Americans will elect a new president. The Bush administration will end with America at war in Afghanistan and Iraq , and unless Tehran suspends its uranium enrichment program a military strike against Iran is almost certain before Bush leaves office. In a recently released October Zogby telephone poll of likely voters – 52% would support a U.S. military strike to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, and 53% believe it is likely that the U.S. will be involved in a military strike against Iran before the next presidential election. The Bush administration’s propaganda blizzard aimed at boosting support to attack Iran has achieved its central objective and moved America one step closer to war with Iran .

Just how fast the clock is ticking on plans to strike Iran is clearly evidenced by the acceleration of confrontational rhetoric, sanctions against Iran , and preparing military options to strike Tehran. In the past three months the Bush administration’s drive to war with Iran has been heightened by the following events:

October 25 – The U.S. Congress approves new sanctions on Iran designating Iran ’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as “proliferators of weapons of mass destruction.â€? Iran ’s elite Quds Force is designated as a “terrorist organization.â€?
October 25 – The U.S. Congress imposes sanctions on Iran ’s Bank Melli and Bank Mellat. The banks are identified as helping finance Iran ’s proliferation programs. Bank Sederat was designated as a financial enabler and supporter of terrorism. The sanctions call on businesses in the U.S. and internationally to cut commercial ties with all three banks.
October 17 – President Bush makes the statement “If you’re interested in avoiding World War 111 it seem like you ought to be interested in preventing them [Iran] from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.â€?
September 26 – The U.S. Senate passes the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment that endorses the de-facto use of force against Iran in Iraq . The approved amendment reads “it should be the policy of the United States to stop inside Iraq the violent activities and destabilizing influence of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies.”
September 21 – Press stories break revealing that Israel ’s surprise air strike against an alleged “nuclear reactorâ€? in Syria on September 6 was done with full U.S. knowledge and support. The U.S. intelligence community cannot confirm the site was nuclear. The Bush Doctrine of Pre-emption is resurrected and the warning to Iran is clear.
On September 10, America’s top general in Iraq, David Petreus accuses Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi of being an Quds member and says ‘It is increasingly apparent to both Coalition and Iraqi leaders that Iran through the use of the Quds Force seeks to turn special groups into a Hezbollah-like force to serve its interest and fight a proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition forces in Iraq.�
Having racheted up enough support to claim the majority of Americans support an attack to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon; the Bush administration is ready for executive action. With no real opposition from the Democrats, whose complicity in this enterprise has been Bush’s greatest asset, the time to strike Iran is close at hand. Bush’s position as a lame-duck president provides him greater freedom to attack Iran . Already blamed for mishandling the Iraq War and allowing the gains in Afghanistan to slip away, Bush has little to lose by launching massive air strikes against Iranian “nuclear sites.�

A U.S. strike cannot totally destroy all of Iran ’s nuclear sites, but at the end of the day Bush will argue that he acted decisively to delay Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Should Iran respond to the air strikes by going after U.S. troops in Iraq , the Bush administration will counter that Iran has already been producing weapons and directing their use by proxy Shiite militias to kill Americans. If Iran targetsr U.S. troops in Afghanistan , it will prove that Iran has been supporting the Taliban against U.S. interests. And, if Iran cuts Hezbollah loose in Lebanon , it will be argued that it confirms how dangerous a state sponsor of terrorist groups Iran really is, and that a price must be paid for their bad behavior.

As for Iran ; suspending its uranium enrichment program as a pre-condition to convene talks is not an attractive or practical option. One rarely takes its strongest bargaining chip off the table before negotiating. In reality, the United States doesn’t want Iran to suspend its program. A suspended program can always be re-started. The strike packages to surgically hit Iranian targets have already been developed and refined, and the Bush administration is only interested in giving the green light to attack and destroy as many sites as possible. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that during these air strikes, there will be a precision guided weapon fired with Mahmoud Ahmadinijad’s address on it.

Most American’s will find it difficult to believe the U.S. would open another war front in the New Middle East given the problems in Iraq, Afghanistan, border clashes between Turkey and Kurdistan and the imposition of martial law in Pakistan. Perhaps they should think again. In the twisted logic of the Bush administration, the din of conflict in the Middle East is all the more reason to deliver a destructive blow to Iran’s nuclear program.

Wars have uncertain outcomes. Like the quick victory the Bush administration predicted four years ago in Iraq, the attack on Iran as advertised will be quick and pristine surgical air strikes—a couple of weeks and the planes will be back on the tarmac. The United States is on a very dangerous course. An attack against Iran is will take America past the point of no return in the Middle East.

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Webster Brooks 111 is the Managing Editor of the U.S. Iran Peace Project’s website: www.usiranpeace.com. His writings have appeared in newspapers, websites and blogs in Lebanon, Iraq, Kurdistan, Egypt and Iran. U.S. Iran peaces advocates the full restoration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Iran.