Deja Vu All Over Again
Barry Gordon
February 22, 2006
In a comprehensive and frightening article, Heather Wokusch tells us that the neocons are at it again, this time getting ready for military action against Iran in the name of -- what else? -- the threat of WMD. While even France and Germany seem to be jumping on the "stop Iran" bandwagon this time, the evidence against Iran is murky at best, and, according to Wokusch, the consensus among U.S. intelligence experts is that Iran is still ten years away from having a nuclear weapon.
We, of course, have them in abundance and the article tells us that we are drawing up contingency plans to use them in a future attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Admittedly, we have contingency plans for battling extra-terrestrials, so a plan all by itself doesn't mean much. The problem is that an all-too-clear pattern is emerging, and it's beginning to seem like the only real difference between the run up to the war in Iraq and the run up to a potential war in Iran is that one ends in "q" and the other in "n." Let's look at the pattern.
1. Promoting democracy -- Long before the Iraq war, the Congress overwhelmingly passed the Iraq Liberation Act, which authorized the President to spend close to $100 million to "support a transition to democracy in Iraq." The money was to be used to enhance broadcasting into Iraq, help train opposition military forces, and provide humanitarian assistance to those who refused to cooperate with Saddam's regime. It explicitly did not authorize U.S. military action by the U.S., hoping that change would come from within Iraq, with a little boost from us. At the time, CENTCOM commander Anthony Zinni warned in the Washington Post that he saw "no 'viable' opposition to Saddam Hussein." The money didn't accomplish anything other than making Ahmad Chalabi an even richer man.
Never one to learn from history, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked Congress last week for $85 million to "promote democracy" in Iran. The goal was to increase Farsi-language broadcasts of Voice of America and to provide assistance to "Iranian reformers, political dissidents and human rights activists." Again, experts are warning that efforts along these lines "could aid the wrong people or backfire on them if the financing becomes public." Hello? Forgive me for stating the obvious, but it's already public. And what are we going to talk about in those 24 hour a day broadcasts? How great everything is in Iraq?
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http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m20912&l=i&size=1&hd=0