But see, we already knew this:
US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran in the upcoming months, before the end of his term, Army Radio quoted a senior official in Jerusalem as saying Tuesday.
The official claimed that a senior member of the president’s entourage, which concluded a trip to Israel last week, said during a closed meeting that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action was called for.
And they’ve always been of that opinion; at no point could they be appeased.
As I’ve said before, I’ve little doubt Iran is actually pursuing nuclear weaponry. They’d be foolish not to, given what we did to their neighbor (Iraq) and what we’ve vowed to do to them - declaring them a charter member of the “Axis of Evil”; and the only member of that “Axis” that’s so far escaped the gunsights is North Korea, which has nuclear weapons.
You draw the connection.
But I get a laugh when those like Sullivan consider that Iran, upon getting the bomb, might just act as one big suicide bomber; sacrificing the entire nation, all its people, all the leaders’ own power, in order to try and take out Israel. “Try” being the operative term, because Tehran knows full well that any nuclear attempt on Israel means the utter obliteration of Iran.
And so the assumption is that Iran cannot be trusted to act in a rational manner - a manner that seeks to improve its own position. We cherish this notion - so freaked out are we about the phenomenon of individual suicide bombers - that Iran would sacrifice everything for just one shot at Israel - because that, of course, is all it would get.
No. Iran wants nuclear weapons specifically that it might prevent Israel, and the United States, from attacking Iran. It wants the deterrent, for it’s learned the North Korea lesson; if you have the deterrent, then you will not be attacked. And from there, you can continue to seek to improve your position in the region. The United States’ position would, consequently, be weakened; no longer would we (and our ally Israel) possess nuclear hegemony over the region; no longer would we have the unquestioned final say.
And that is exactly why we will attack Iran before November comes. Leave “morality” out of it, because those making the decisions certainly do. This is a game of power politics; the United States cannot permit Iran to accumulate any additional power lest our own clout in the region, so key for its oil and other reasons, be diminished. The only thing that’s missing, then, is the causus belli. But I’m sure we’ll conveninently have one of those just days before the bombs are scheduled to drop.
