Another
Step Toward War With Iran
By Joshua Frank
19 July, 2007
Countercurrents.org
It
was a slumber party on Capital Hill. Democrats held an all-nighter on
July 17 in an attempt to mollify the great antiwar sentiment that is
raging across the land. But their attempt to challenge Bush’s
war on Iraq was sanctimonious and superficial at best. Not only were
the Democrat’s pleas to set a timetable for withdraw fully pathetic,
so too was their moral indignation.
The Democrats certainly don’t
contest Bush’s Middle East foreign policy, they embrace it. Just
last week the Senate voted 97-0 in favor of moving toward war with Iran.
So while the Democrats call for withdraw of our troops from Iraq in
the future, they insist we must keep an eye on Iran, for the Iranians
are opposing the occupation of Iraq by allegedly arming the Shia resistance.
But the uprisings in Iraq
were foreshadowed long ago. The Shia make up 60% of the country’s
population, so they were sure to gain power with the outing of Saddam
Hussein. Iran, a Shia political stronghold, was certainly going to benefit
with the fall of Iraq’s dictator who remained an archenemy of
Tehran until his regime was toppled. The Democrats and Republicans most
certainly knew this. Regardless, both political parties see the rise
of the Shia as an opening for a confrontation with Iran.
Iran isn’t the first
scapegoat for the prevailing resistance fighting US armed forces in
Iraq. There was a time when we were told the death of Saddam would bring
stability to the country. It didn’t happen. Nor did the deaths
of his sons Uday and Qusay or the bloody murder of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Iraq remains in turmoil and will continue to be thanks to our illegal
invasion.
The Democrats don’t
really want to end the war despite their veneer of opposition. If they
desired to end the war they would have halted its funding long ago.
Likelise, if they really preferred to challenge the Bush falsehoods
regarding Iran, they would do so. Instead the Democrats, including their
top presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama who voted
in favor of holding Iran accountable for the killing of US soldiers,
seem to want to handle Iran militarily.
The amendment, H.R.1585,
written by Sen. Joe Lieberman, repeats the same round of vacant lies
the neocons have been advancing for quite sometime. Iranian influence
in Iraq is now becoming the accepted reason among American political
elites as to why US forces are failing. The Lieberman amendment also
claims that Iran is providing a safe-haven for al Qaeda fighters, even
though the group is allegedly blowing up Iraqi Shias daily.
American soldiers aren’t
being killed because of Iran; we are losing because there is no such
thing as real victory for the US in Iraq. There is only death.
Like Iran’s non-existent
nuclear arsenal, there is no evidence that Tehran is fudning the Shia
resistance. Most Iraqi citizens owned automatic weapons under Saddam
and most roadside bombs can be manufactured using household products
found in most American garages.
The Democrat’s Senate
sleepover was a fraud replete with staged confessions and overt hypocrisies.
They don’t want to end the war; the Democrats want to extend it
to Iran by making the case that the Iranians are behind the US catastrophe
in Iraq. Washington is covertly setting the stage legislatively for
a military confrontation with Iran. It’s our job to stop them.
Joshua Frank
is co-editor of Dissident Voice and author of Left Out! How Liberals
Helped Reelect George W. Bush (Common Courage Press, 2005), and along
with Jeffrey St. Clair, the editor of the forthcoming Red State Rebels,
to be published by AK Press in March 2008. Visit Joshua's
website.
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.