A
New Congress? Not When It
Comes To Iran
By Joshua Frank
09 January, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Now
that the Democrats are back in power, the American public can finally
exhale. Bush is doomed. Cheney is on the ropes. Condi is updating her
résumé while Rove prepares his exodus. Well, such an optimistic
outlook is boldly misguided. The Democrats may have regained control
of both houses of government after twelve long years, yet small changes
are all we’re likely to see come out of the 110th United States
Congress.
On the surface things look
like they are moving in the right direction. Democrats are enthused
to increase the minimum wage and roll back subsidies to the oil cartels.
They want the Fed to work with Big Pharma to give Americans access to
cheaper prescription drugs. Democrats also want to lower interest rates
on student loans. Not bad for the first 100 hours in office. But not
all that wonderful either.
Most of what Democratic leaders
are proposing are minor, long-overdue reforms, not the type of progressive
restructuring we really need. As Ralph Nader recently warned, “Early
and troubling signals from Capitol Hill indicate that the Democrats
are not going to move to remove the brazen Bush tax cuts for the wealthy,
are not going to go after the huge waste and redundancy in military
weapons contracts ... are not going to end massive corporate welfare
… and are not going to propose a serious crackdown on widespread
corporate crime, fraud and abuse.”
Perhaps even more alarming
than Nader’s prescient omen is that our Middle East foreign policy
isn’t on the road to recovery. Israel will continue to have an
affable government in the U.S. that funds the occupation of Palestine
and supports Israel’s bullying of Iran. As The Times in the UK
recently revealed; Israel may be planning a nuclear strike on Iran to
destroy the country’s uranium enrichment facilities, something
Israel denies. All contradictions aside, the Democrats in Washington
overwhelming back such an attack.
Following these reports, the new House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told
the Jerusalem Post that Democrats wouldn’t rule out using force
on Iran to block Tehran’s nuclear aspirations. In the past similar
remarks had been made by Democratic leaders Sen. Harry Reid and Rep.
Nancy Pelosi, along with presidential hopeful John Edwards and Sen.
Hillary Clinton. Even superman Barack Obama won’t challenge the
Bush administration’s erroneous Iran approach.
As Obama told the Chicago
Tribune in September of 2004, "[T]he big question is going to be,
if Iran is resistant to these pressures [to stop its nuclear program],
including economic sanctions, which I hope will be imposed if they do
not cooperate, at what point ... if any, are we going to take military
action? ... [L]aunching some missile strikes into Iran is not the optimal
position for us to be in" given the ongoing war in Iraq. "On
the other hand, having a radical Muslim theocracy in possession of nuclear
weapons is worse."
Some other Democrats seem
to have come to their senses, and many plan on objecting to Bush’s
push for more troops in Iraq, a commonsense position that we should
hardly congratulate them for taking. Sen. Harry Reid had initially supported
such a surge, but later back-peddled after realizing he’d see
repercussions from the antiwar wing of his party.
Similarly, if we want the
Democrats to change their tune on Israel and Iran, we’ve got to
hold their feet to the fire. If left to their own devices Democrats
will continue to mimic the neocon’s strategy for the Middle East,
not alter it.
Joshua Frank
is the author of Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush
and edits www.BrickBurner.org
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights