- The drumbeat for war against Iran has begun again, led
by Sen. Joe Lieberman, the independent Democrat from Connecticut, and
the usual pro-Israel crowd. Lieberman seems to be under the impression
that the U.S. can bomb Iran and not get into a full-fledged war.
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- Well, we know all about cakewalks and how they turn into
long, bloody and dreary marches. We learned nothing from Vietnam, and
apparently some of the people have learned nothing from Iraq, now a cakewalk
war that has lasted longer than World War II, though not with the same
intensity and mass.
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- If the senator, who seems to be one of those who loves
war as long as he doesn't have to fight it, really believes that we can
attack Iran without Iranian retaliation, then he's naïve. If he knows
better, he's a liar, and to lie the American people into a second war
before the other lied-into war in Iraq is even over is despicable. He
should be shunned by all decent people.
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- I don't see how any honest man can believe that Iran
is a threat to the United States or its neighbors. Iran has not invaded
anyone in the past 100 years. Iran has from the beginning insisted that
its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes, and there has been
no evidence I repeat, no evidence to the contrary. The Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty explicitly authorizes countries to enrich uranium.
In other words, Iran has not done anything illegal.
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- Iran has no intercontinental missiles, and the only country
in the Middle East with nuclear weapons is Israel. Please note that the
United States flatly refuses to endorse the idea of a nuclear-free Middle
East. Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel has
refused to sign it. Iran admits international inspectors. Israel flatly
refuses to allow international inspectors. The only country in today's
Middle East with weapons of mass destruction and a history of invading
and occupying other people's countries is Israel.
-
- As for Iran's alleged threat to "wipe Israel off
the map," that is propaganda based on a mistranslation. Nobody in
Iran has ever threatened to attack Israel militarily. The accurate quotes
from Iranians have been simply that Israel as a Zionist state will eventually
collapse, just as the Soviet Union as a communist state did. Iranian officials
have even explicitly said they have no desire or intention of attacking
Israel.
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- You should ask yourself, What is the real motive of people
who deal in lies? What is the real agenda of people who wish to paint
Iran as a threat to the world? (Remember what a threat they said Iraq
was?) Why, if the United States is really concerned about preventing the
spread of nuclear weapons, has it steadfastly refused to endorse the
idea of a nuclear-free Middle East something Iran and the Arab countries
have proposed time and again?
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- Finally, of course, there is the matter of deterrence.
Deterrence worked against the Soviet Union's 30,000 nuclear weapons and
the means of delivering them. Anybody who says Iran would not be deterred
from using a handful of nuclear weapons assuming it even developed
them is a fool or a liar.
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- Furthermore, Iran would gain nothing by attacking Israel,
the U.S. or Europe. Americans might disagree with how Iranians choose
to run their country, but that doesn't mean that Iran's leaders are insane.
They are, in fact, intelligent and well-educated.
-
- As for the United States' latest claim that Iran is supplying
weapons to the Taliban, I simply don't believe it. The U.S. government
has lied and lied to the American people. It has zero credibility. Iran
is a Shiite country; the Taliban are a fanatical Sunni sect. Iran volunteered
its assistance during the initial American attack on Afghanistan. Why
would Iran suddenly change its mind?
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- Charley Reese [send him mail] has been a journalist for
49 years.
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- © 2007 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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