I am beginning to think that the biggest enemy Iran has is its own president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Today in Tehran, he is hosting a Forum on Holocaust Denial with a full deck of participants including Orthodox Jews who espouse this erroneous point of view.
His rhetoric in the last 2 years has handed Israel the can of gas to pour on his head and he is personally trying to light the match!
In reality, he is a figure head ruler. He has no authority in foreign affairs. He can't declare war. He has no authority over the armed forces, the revolutionary guard or the police. His bluster to "wipe out Israel" is as one Iranian past president put it, "a knife without a blade."
On the other hand his statements have been jumped on by Israel to prod the United States into preparing to make another fatal error by attacking Iran. George Bush is set to do this very thing before the end of his term. Israel has been using the language of fantasy to prod him on. In the words of Israels Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, "We in the Middle East have been following American foreign policy for a long time, and we are very much impressed and encouraged by the stability that the War In Iraq has brought the Middle East".
Even Israels staunchest supporters like U.S.Rep.Gary Ackerman(D-NY) observed that this is a very unrealiistic observation to say the least. Almost everyone agrees now that the Iraqi policy was a major blunder and has only increased the instability of the entire planet!
Iran is a country that has not attacked another country in over 250 years. Attacking Israel would be sheer suicide and they know it. The CIA puts Irans ability to create a nuclear weapon 10 years in the future. Even though Israel was outraged by Robert Gates admission, they have at this time an arsenal of over 250 nuclear weapons.
What is fact abouut Iran is that it is a very young country demographically. A large portion of the male population was wiped out in the Iran/Iraq war in the early 1980s. The young population seems to be very eager to taste freedom but nationalism is being used and they are being manipulated by fear the same way Americans are manipulated by the War on Terror and the constant spector of 9/11. Ahmadinejad was elected when George Bush made constant speeches about the freedom of elections in Iran. The hardliners were able to use the nationalistic feelings to win votes by appealing to the Iranian peoples pride.
I believe that the majority of Americans don't want to be mired in another insane war in the Middle East. I believe that the majority of Democrats in the government realize the total illogic of attacking Iran. Unfortunately, George Bush does not and sees this as one of his divine goals and believes he has a unique positiion to go ahead and do this because of the enormous powers granted to him under legislation on the war on terror.
Lately, with the Iraq Study Group Report, the idea of actually talking to Iran as a power in the region to assist in ending the Iraq war has become a reality...But, if theiir president isn't muzzled, he just might show us all how to destroy his own country with his big mouth!
1 comment:
Of course it's History! My Uncle was an assistant to Frank Capra when he went into the camps at the end of the war to film the gruesome reality!
Why is Iran even tolerating this position? It will do no good in helping to find a solution to the Palestinian Crisis which more and more people are admitting is one of the most destabilizing factors iin the Middle East.
It is pure provocation.
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