BUSY BUSH HAS TIME TO RUN THE WORLD
MWC News, Canada
Oct 30 2007
President Bush has been a busy man. Even though the quagmire in Iraq
threatens to worsen as Turkey prepares to invade the Kurdish north,
Bush has time to undertake the arduous task of preventing World
War III and begin the transition to democracy in Cuba. How does he
do it?! The president is on a sticky wicket in northern Iraq. The
Kurds have longed to unite with their brethren in Turkey, Iran,
and Syria to form independent Kurdistan. The big powers, the United
States included, have never been crazy about the idea. But that
hasn’t stopped American presidents from posing as champions of their
cause – until it’s inconvenient. That’s what it is now. Turkey is an
"important ally," as big powers like to say. For one thing, it’s been
a member of NATO almost from the beginning. The "NA" stand for "North
Atlantic," and the last time I checked a map, Turkey was nowhere near
the Atlantic Ocean. But never mind that; it’s an important ally that
gives the U.S. military easy access to Iraq and other parts of the
Middle East. No country that useful should be alienated. That’s why
the Bush administration opposed the resolution in the House labeling
Turkey’s slaughter of Armenians as "genocide" – in 1915! You’ve got
to hand it to the House. It sure stays on top of things. Anyway,
the Kurds have been assaulting Turkish troops across their border,
and the Turkish legislature has okayed an invasion of Iraq, warning
Bush he’d better tame the unruly Kurds or else. You can bet that
administration people are working overtime on that project. On the
other hand, the Iranian government has complained that the Kurds are
attacking their forces too. But I suspect that complaint is getting
a much less sympathetic hearing.
Which brings us to World War III. President Bush raised the specter
of another Great War during a news conference: "We’ve got a leader
in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So I’ve
told people that, if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it
seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having
the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon." Whoa! Let’s slow
down. Bush wants to leave the impression that Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad wants to attack Israel with nukes. Although he said he’d
like that state to disappear, he’s never threatened Israel. He’s not
that crazy. Israel has been a nuclear monopolist in the Middle East
since the 1960s. And it should be noted that Ahmadinejad is not the
actual leader of Iran. In that country the president is not the head
of state or leader of the armed forces.
More fundamentally, why is Bush linking Iran’s attitude toward Israel
and World War III? Is he saying he would plunge the world into war
if Iran attacks Israel? Isn’t that a little – well, ridiculous?
At any rate, it’s far more likely that the Iranian government
wants a nuclear weapon to deter the U.S. government from attacking
it. A bomb would have little offensive value, but it might keep
the U.S. away. That seems like a reasonable calculation, but it’s
not one Bush wants the American people to see. While I don’t think
he has decided to attack Iran (yet), he has a political interest in
keeping us agitated so that the option will be available if he decides
to go ahead. Re-read what he and his people were saying about Iraq
before the 2003 invasion and you’ll see what’s going on. Needless to
say, an attack on Iran would kill many innocents, further jeopardize
U.S. troops in Iraq, and light a fuse in the entire region. No stupider
idea has ever been proposed by an American president. And note that
Bush is out to prevent Iran from even learning how to make a weapon.
But Bush has things well in hand – so well that he has time to lecture
Castro about who should succeed him when he dies. As if that were any
of his business. Mr. Richman’s articles on population, federal disaster
assistance, international trade, education, the environment, American
history, foreign policy, privacy, computers, and the Middle East have
appeared in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, American Scholar,
Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Washington Times, Insight, Cato Policy
Report, Journal of Economic Development, The Freeman, The World & I,
Reason, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Middle East Policy,
Liberty magazine, and other publications. He is a contributor to the
Fortune Encyclopedia of Economics.
Articles by Sheldon Richman at MWC
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress