Engaged and Entrenched in "the Mother of All Wars" in Iraq, we aren't quite in the position to rattle sabers toward Iran. Our intelligence on Iran is worse or no better than that on Korea. And who believes Bush's allegations anymore anyway? Of course we may send another warship to the region to flex muscles and beat our chests. Of course The New Yorker is going to report that the Pentagon is hatching plans to bomb Iran. And of course the UK is leaking a secret request by Israel to America to fly bombing missions over Iran. There is nothing new or surprising in all of this. These are tense times. But it was diplomacy that just got the North Koreans to agree to disarm. The sincerity of such promises is another question as well. It was not threats between political leaders and name calling or mudslinging that got the Koreans to abide. We cannot further inflame the Middle East with theats of war with Iran. That would strengthen everyone in the Middle East, from the militants and Al Qaeda to the religious leaders who shall all have more reason to resist us. It must be diplomacy that brings us peace. We must speak to our enemy.
We already have lost some credibility and standing in the world with Bush's lies and misadventures.
We have only more lives to lose in further participation in Iraq. The force of ammunitions will not persuade for the establishment of democracy and no occupation will precipitate the foundations of any democracy...as we must remember that we at one time fought off a foreign power to gain our own dear liberty.
We can't pacify Muqtada Al-Sadr, a man of immense, immeasurable and supranatural influence, like that of our own...in a region which we cannot control...in a land over which we have no say in the internal militia wrangling. Let's not even talk about Iran before we solved Iraq.
Wellstone's 1991 remarks portend a dark reality that has come true...a war with Iraq will spark instability and anti-American sentiment the world over like no other event in history and the Middle East will be enraged to slide deeper into its cycle of suspicion and hate for the US...why don't we listen?
"If you want peace, talk to your enemies, not your friends." - Israeli General Moshe Dayan
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