- Mired in interminable conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan,
the Bush administration is moving toward initiating two more wars, one
with Iran and one with North Korea. With no US troops available, the Bush
administration is revamping US war doctrine to allow for "preventative
nuclear attack." In short, the Bush administration is planning to
make the US the first country in history to initiate war with nuclear weapons.
The Pentagon document, "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations,"
calls for the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear adversaries in
order "to ensure success of US and multinational operations."
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- In the case of Iran and North Korea, the Bush administration
is using diplomacy not for diplomatic purposes of reaching agreements,
but in order to set the two countries up for nuclear attack. In the case
of Iran, the Bush administration's plan is now obvious. The Bush administration
is leveling false charges against Iran, just as it did against Iraq, of
conspiring to make nuclear weapons. These charges are known to be false
by the Bush administration and by the entire world.
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- For the past two years the International Atomic Energy
Agency has had unfettered access to inspect Iran for any sign of a nuclear
weapons program. The head of the IAEA has announced that there is no sign
of a weapons program. The Bush administration nevertheless insists that
Iran is making weapons, but can produce no evidence. As in the case of
Iraq, the Bush administration substitutes allegations for facts.
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- Gordon Prather, an expert on the subject, has reported
the straight facts in fine detail. Readers can become familiar with them
by consulting his archive at LewRockwell.com.
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- By bullying the 35 members of the IAEA, the Bush administration
last week managed to get 22 votes that could lead to the referral of Iran
to the UN Security Council. The Bush administration will now lobby for
the referral. Once it has the referral, even if the Security Council does
not act on it, the Bush administration can use it as an excuse to attack
Iran. The Bush administration knows that few Americans have any knowledge
of international law and procedures and will simply believe whatever President
Bush says. The highly concentrated US media is a proven walkover for the
war-mongering Bush administration.
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- As Dr. Prather has shown, Iran has gone beyond compliance
to propose that new additional safeguards be established to monitor its
nuclear energy program. The bad intentions are on the part of the Bush
administration.
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- The Bush administration's plan is to create Iranian intransigence
in place of cooperation by forcing the Iranian government to stand up to
the bullying by reducing its cooperation. The goal of the Bush administration
is to attack Iran, not to create cooperative relationships.
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- Needless to say, Iranians are angry at the Bush administration's
manipulation of the IAEA members. Last Wednesday protesters in Tehran attacked
the British embassy, which serves as a proxy for the non-existent US embassy,
and legislation was introduced that, if it passes, will scale back Iran's
cooperation with the IAEA. Iran has also threatened to cut off oil deliveries
to some of the countries that caved in to US pressure, thereby permitting
the US to increase tensions and escalate the conflict.
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- The Bush administration is betting that it can demonize
Iran the way it did Iraq. As both Congress and the American public have
failed to hold Bush accountable for deceiving them about Iraqi weapons
of mass destruction, the administration assumes that its tactics will work
a second time.
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- However, a nuclear attack on Iran would leave the Bush
administration isolated. The US would instantly become a pariah nation,
loathed and hated everywhere else.
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- Moreover, it would leave our battered troops in Iraq
in a perilous situation. The only reason our army in Iraq has not been
destroyed is that the Shi'ites, who comprise the vast majority of the population,
have not taken up arms against us, expecting the US to turn over Iraq to
them. As the Iraqi Shi'ites are allied with the Iranians, who also are
Shi'ite, the US cannot attack Iran without destroying its position in Iraq.
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- The Bush administration, filled with hubris and delusion,
is too stupid to know this.
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- The American people need to ask themselves why of all
the countries in the world, only the US and Israel believe that it is imperative
to attack Iran. If Iran is such a threat to the world, why isn't Russia,
for example, concerned and ready to invade?
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- Americans need to ask themselves the same question about
North Korea. Why is the US, half a world away, so concerned about North
Korea? If North Korea is such a threat, would not China, sitting on its
border, know it? Wouldn't Japan know it? South Korea? Wouldn't some other
country besides the US see the problem and take action? According to the
Voice of America (August 11, 2005), "Senior South Korean officials
on Thursday defended what they say is North Korea's 'natural right' to
pursue civilian nuclear power. The move may cause friction with the United
States, which has expressed firm opposition to the North having any nuclear
facilities whatsoever."
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- If the US doesn't want other countries to develop nuclear
weapons, the US must stop bombing, invading and threatening invasions and
nuclear attacks. How does President Bush serve the cause of peace by making
countries paranoid by declaring them to be our enemies?
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- For there to be peace, the US must drop its belligerent
role. The proper function of diplomacy is to build trust by drawing countries
into economic and cultural relationships, not to isolate them for attack.
It is past time for the US to give up its quarter century feud with Iran.
US interference in Iranian internal affairs was the source of the feud.
We need to acknowledge it and get over it.
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- The Korean war ended a half century ago. Isn't it time
the US acknowledged the war's end and signed a treaty with North Korea?
The Korean war was essentially a war between the US and China. It was Chinese
troops that prevented American victory. Yet we are getting on with China,
a much greater potential threat to the US than North Korea or Iran could
ever be.
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- By creating instability in the Middle East, the US undermines
Israel's security. As a few thousand Iraqi insurgents have proven, American
armies are not going to be able to sit over the oil in the Middle East.
If we can't produce enough valuable goods or maintain a strong currency,
we won't have access to the oil. There is no possibility whatsoever of
the US pushing around powers like China, India, or Russia.
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- Bush's hubris makes him unrealistic. He greatly overestimates
America's power. Congress and the American people must find a way to supply
the judgment that is missing in the executive branch.
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- There would be no terrorism if the US would stop interfering
in the internal affairs of Middle Eastern countries and if Israel stopped
stealing the West Bank from the Palestinians. The Bush administration knows
this, and that is why the administration spreads the propagandistic lie
that "they" (Muslims) hate us and our way of life. This lie is
the excuse for American aggression.
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- October 1, 2005
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- Dr. Roberts [send him mail] is John M. Olin Fellow at
the Institute for Political Economy and Research Fellow at the Independent
Institute. He is a former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal,
former contributing editor for National Review, and a former assistant
secretary of the U.S. Treasury. He is the co-author of The Tyranny of Good
Intentions.
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- Copyright © 2005 Creators Syndicate
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