Plans To Bomb Iran Move Forward

Yesterday President Bush arrived in Jerusalem where he was to be briefed on a range of military options that could be used in striking Iran. These briefings come less than two months after President Bush’s own intelligence network informed him that Iran terminated their nuclear program in 2003.

This is the Bush Doctrine in all of its horrific glory. The NIE complied by his own intelligence organizations did not come up with the correct answer, so he has decided to get a second opinion. He conveniently asked Israel for that second opinion, knowing full well that they are eager to bomb Iran. I wonder if he will take the time today to ask anyone in Palestine their thoughts on the matter, I’m guessing no.

On top of the hubris of even publicly holding this meeting in Israel under the guise of Israeli/Palestinian peace talks (an issue Bush has chosen to ignore for seven years now, not only allowing the occupation of the West Bank but also funding it), President Bush decided to comment on the incident that took place yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz.

Bush said the incident was "a very dangerous gesture" on the part of Iran. He continued by adding,

"We have made it very clear, and they know our position, and that is: There will be serious consequences if they attack our ships, pure and simple."

It is important to remember that he is quick to use this rhetoric although it is still unclear whether or not the speed boats did belong to or represent the Iran Revolutionary Guard (the US offered up one boat’s display of an Iranian flag as proof). Also,the threat of an attack that was heard on the US aircraft carrier has not been confirmed to have come from the speed boats let alone the Iran Revolutionary Guard.

No person involved is surprised that Bush would use this rhetoric without any solid evidence, in the light of him using the now infamous World War 3 language when it is now believed that he had full knowledge of the NIE that would be released weeks later.

The reality is that the Bush administration wants to bomb Iran. They do not have the support or political capital they need in this country to do so. So they are going to have Israel do the bombing for them.

That is if we don’t soon see a Gulf of Tonkin incident soon in the Strait of Hormuz, or even on the Iran/Iraq border.

Once a single bomb is dropped in Iran, all bets are off. Iran’s reaction to an Israeli/US bombing of a target within their borders is unpredictable at best. At the very least our military would see a drastic increase in violence in the streets of Iraq. At worst we could see retaliation on our own soil here in the United States.

Another question that comes to mind is once the bombs are dropped and the war widens in the Middle East, how does the US military recruit the troops to fight this war?