Method In
The Madness
Why They Want
To Attack
Iran
By Ed Kinane
23/07/08
"ICH" -- -
These days
we’re on
needles and
pins. We
keep our
fingers
crossed. We
hope the US
won’t attack
Iran. There
are good
reasons to
believe it
won’t.
Elsewhere
I’ve argued
the folly of
doing so.
Cheney and
Bush, no
doubt, have
heard such
reasons and
yet still
itch to
attack.
They’ve got
the aircraft
carriers and
Cruise
missiles in
place. They
keep poking
Iran hoping
to get an
overreaction.
They keep
saber-rattling.
Why, we all
wonder,
would they
replay the
same -- or
even greater
– debacle as
in Iraq?
Many readers
may be too
humane to
fathom what
goes on in
those men’s
minds.
Sociopaths
are hard to
understand.
Nonetheless
we must try.
Who knows?
Part of
Cheney and
Bush’s
crusade may
be
theological.
Isn’t it
god-like to
unleash the
Predators?
Isn’t it
god-like to
threaten and
surge, kill
and explode?
Islamic Iraq
and Islamic
Afghanistan
may seem to
those men
like
latter-day
Sodoms and
Gomorrahs.
Having smote
them, let
Islamic Iran
be next.
Besides,
having
failed to
force Iraq
and
Afghanistan
to submit,
they may
well crave
another
chance. They
certainly
seek to
shore up
their
faltered
administration.
They’ve seen
how a new
war
distracts
from
scandals in
high places.
And how it
distracts
from policy
disasters,
both
domestic and
international.
A new war
puffs up
otherwise
plummeting
presidential
and vice
presidential
polls. Our
cowed and
co-opted
Congress
rolls over
during war.
War pumps up
executive
power.
But for much
of the power
structure
backing
Cheney and
Bush, it’s
economics
that rule.
The
anti-Iran
orchestra
has all the
might and
momentum of
the Imperium.
The US –
with its
proxies and
puppets, its
air, land
and sea
forces, its
Delta and
Special
forces --
now occupies
not only
Iraq but
much of the
Middle East.
The
threatened
attack is
bigger than
Cheney and
Bush. The US
is engaged
in a
bi-partisan,
multi-administration,
region-wide
resource
war. The US
oiligarchy
covets the
region’s
(including
Iran’s) vast
energy
reserves.
[See Michael
T. Klare’s,
“Blood and
Oil”
(2004)].
Reinforcing
that
imperial
thieving are
other,
subsidiary
greeds,
other
hungers for
power.
Demonizing
Iran is an
old trick.
It does what
demonizing
the Soviet
Union did
decades ago:
it pumps up
the jingo
mindset. It
pumps up
military
budgets.
Military
spending
draws down
domestic
spending – a
key
right-wing
agenda.
Attacking
Iran keeps
the pot
boiling. It
perpetuates
the phony
war on
terror. More
war provides
more enemies
and so more
pretext to
erode civil
liberties.
Unscrupulous
politicians
and certain
corporations
thrive when
fear keeps
people dumb
and dazed.
With another
invasion the
Halliburtons
and
Blackwaters
get to lap
up more
contracts.
Realpolitik
demands we
crush our
rivals.
Despite its
intense
resistance,
militarily
Iraq is
broken – in
the Middle
East that
just leaves
Iran. Going
after Iran
would
further
align our
power
structure to
Israel’s
military
machine and
to its
allies here
in the US.
Neutralizing
Iran would
further
strangle
those pesky
Palestinians.
But note:
it’s
delusory to
think that
attacking
Iran will
just be a
spasm of
quick,
“surgical”
air strikes.
Wars morph;
violence
bounces.
Violating
Iran will
generate
enormous
blowback,
both in the
region and
here in the
US. This
country will
polarize.
Widespread
dissent or
“terrorist”
retaliation
– contrived
or otherwise
-- might
lead to
martial law.
Surely the
think
tankers have
explored the
martial law
card and
have worked
out every
last detail
of
implementation.
The plans
are right
there on the
shelf.
Martial law
could
provide the
pretext for
postponing
the November
election.
Far fetched?
Does the
gang in
Washington
act as if
it’s ready
to bow out?
Can it
really allow
subpoena
power and
indictment
power to
fall into
unfriendly
hands?
Now, if
elections do
go forward
and we’re
bogged down
with Iran,
McCain --
marketed as
the tough,
commander-in-chief
type – will
be more
likely to
win this
otherwise
uphill vote.
But even if
Obama wins,
at least his
White House
years might
be hamstrung
cleaning up
one vast
mess. An
Iran war
begun before
either the
election or
inauguration
would,
conveniently,
derail any
partisan
domestic
agenda he
and a
Democrat-controlled
Congress may
have.
***
If you’ve
read this
far, go with
me a little
further.
Consider
this back
room
scenario.
Sometime
late this
summer
Cheney and
Bush’s
people offer
the Obama
camp a deal:
“Have your
new attorney
general drop
any Iraq war
crime
charges and
we won’t
drop the
bombs...”
Kinane
visited Iran
in 2007.
Reach him at
edkinane@verizon.net
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