From AmericaBlog
German Press reports Bush getting ready to attack Iran
Should get interesting when 350,000 Irani army members come swarming across the border into Iraq as a counterpunch.
This is why you don’t start frivolous wars, so you’re ready and able to fight the ones that matter. I don’t necessarily have a problem taking out Iran’s nuclear facilities, but for one itty bitty catch. Iran’s army was half a world away, now it’s literally on our border (i.e., Iraq).
There’s just so much wrong with this post from the normally excellent AmericaBlog. Invading based on claims of WMD is what got the US into the Iraq War quagmire. And, of course, all those claims were made-up lies. You think it’ll be any different with Iran?
AmericaBlog also seems to say it’s ok for the US to invade countries at will, but maybe y’know, just do it in a kinder, gentler, more sensible way. An odd view for a progressive blog to take, and just more of the imperialist mindset that got the US into Iraq in the first place.
Plus, Iran isn’t "literally on our border." It is on the border of Iraq, a country we invaded based on lies. To say it is somehow "our" border gives legitimacy to the invasion and simply isn’t true.
From Der Spiegel
Is Washington planning a Military Strike?
Recent reports in the German media suggest that the United States may be preparing its allies for an imminent military strike against facilities that are part of Iran’s suspected clandestine nuclear weapons program.
The attack, if it comes, will probably start with a missile strike on Iran’s alleged nuke facilities, and I’ll bet it will be launched by the US proxy in the Middle East, Israel.
The use of the word “frivolous” to describe U.S. wars such as the potential strike against Iran, the invasion of Iraq, and surely he must also mean things like the invasions of Grenada, Panama, the Dominican Republic and others, must come as quite a shock to the families of the dead, both foreign and American. I doubt they have thought ANY American war was “frivolous.” Illegal, yes. Immoral, yes. Unjustified and unjustifiable, yes. But “frivolous”? Sorry, no.
Iran has the ABSOLUTE RIGHT to defend itself from VERY REAL foreign enemies (the U.S. and Israel to name the two most prominent) any way it chooses. They say they have no intention to make nuclear weapons, and that’s fine by me, but if they decide that’s what’s necessary to defend themselves against nuclear-armed America and nuclear-armed Israel, that is most definitely NOT grounds to be attacked.
P.S. – AmericaBlog has done some good work. But there isn’t any question in my mind, based on reading it from time to time, that the author (John Aravosis) is a right-wing Democrat and not any kind of progressive.
Iran’s President Ahmadinejad: “We are in the process of an historical war between the World of Arrogance [i.e. the West] and the Islamic world, and this war has been going on for hundreds of years. …
The issue of this [World without Zionism] conference is very valuable. In this very grave war, many people are trying to scatter grains of desperation and hopelessness regarding the struggle between the Islamic world and the front of the infidels …
Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism? But you had best know that this slogan and this goal are attainable, and surely can be achieved…”
This, my friends, is what I would term a de facto declaration of war by a provably totalitarian and fascist nutcase.
And, just for fun, let’s go back and count the recent mistakes of the Left in matters of national security, shall we?
* Afghanistan would become a quagmire.
* Iraq would become a quagmire.
* Elections would never take hold in the Middle East.
* There was no illicit Pyongyang/Tehran/Islamabad nuclear parts network.
* Libya would never turn in its WMD program without a shot being fired.
* Syria would never get out of Lebanon.
I’ll be kind and not even mention the failures of the Left with respect to Communism, Welfare (say, the results of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act), or the Clinton era of treating terrorism as a law-enforcement problem.
If — and I hope it never has to come to this — the decision is made to take out Iran’s nuclear program, the “Irani army” referenced above will be introduced to what can only be called “the major leagues of violence.”
Well, heck yes, let’s continue the policy of the US invading wherever it wants. It worked so well in Korea and Vietnam, didn’t it?
Iraq and Afghanistan already ARE quagmires, and that’s hardly the fault of the Left.