Another Step
Toward War with Iran
Democrats as Leviathan
By Joshua Frank
07/19/07 "Counterpunch"
-- - -It was a slumber party on Capital Hill. Democrats
held an all-nighter on July 17 in an attempt to mollify the
great antiwar sentiment that is raging across the land. But
their attempt to challenge Bush's war on Iraq was
sanctimonious and superficial at best. Not only were the
Democrat's pleas to set a timetable for withdraw fully
pathetic, so too was their moral indignation.
The Democrats certainly don't contest Bush's Middle East
foreign policy, they embrace it. Just last week the Senate
voted 97-0 in favor of moving toward war with Iran. So while
the Democrats call for withdraw of our troops from Iraq in
the future, they insist we must keep an eye on Iran, for the
Iranians are opposing the occupation of Iraq by allegedly
arming the Shia resistance.
But the uprisings in Iraq were foreshadowed long ago. The
Shia make up 60% of the country's population, so they were
sure to gain power with the outing of Saddam Hussein. Iran,
a Shia political stronghold, was certainly going to benefit
with the fall of Iraq's dictator who remained an archenemy
of Tehran until his regime was toppled. The Democrats and
Republicans most certainly knew this. Regardless, both
political parties see the rise of the Shia as an opening for
a confrontation with Iran.
Iran isn't the first scapegoat for the prevailing resistance
fighting US armed forces in Iraq. There was a time when we
were told the death of Saddam would bring stability to the
country. It didn't happen. Nor did the deaths of his sons
Uday and Qusay or the bloody murder of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Iraq remains in turmoil and will continue to be thanks to
our illegal invasion.
The Democrats don't really want to end the war despite their
veneer of opposition. If they desired to end the war they
would have halted its funding long ago. Likelise, if they
really preferred to challenge the Bush falsehoods regarding
Iran, they would do so. Instead the Democrats, including
their top presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack
Obama who voted in favor of holding Iran accountable for the
killing of US soldiers, seem to want to handle Iran
militarily.
The amendment, H.R.1585, written by Sen. Joe Lieberman,
repeats the same round of vacant lies the neocons have been
advancing for quite sometime. Iranian influence in Iraq is
now becoming the accepted reason among American political
elites as to why US forces are failing. The Lieberman
amendment also claims that Iran is providing a safe-haven
for al Qaeda fighters, even though the group is allegedly
blowing up Iraqi Shias daily.
American soldiers aren't being killed because of Iran; we
are losing because there is no such thing as real victory
for the US in Iraq. There is only death.
Like Iran's non-existent nuclear arsenal, there is no
evidence that Tehran is fudning the Shia resistance. Most
Iraqi citizens owned automatic weapons under Saddam and most
roadside bombs can be manufactured using household products
found in most American garages.
The Democrat's Senate sleepover was a fraud replete with
staged confessions and overt hypocrisies. They don't want to
end the war; the Democrats want to extend it to Iran by
making the case that the Iranians are behind the US
catastrophe in Iraq. Washington is covertly setting the
stage legislatively for a military confrontation with Iran.
It's our job to stop them.
Joshua Frank is the co-editor of DissidentVoice.org, and
author of Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George W.
Bush, and along with Jeffrey St. Clair, the editor of the
forthcoming Red State Rebels, to be published by AK Press in
March 2008. He can be reached through his website,
BrickBurner.org.
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