Despite the obvious consequences of starting a conflict of any scale with Iran the Beltway Boys are continuing to rattle their sabers over Iran's nuclear program and Iran, obviously enough is rattling back. The continued rush to conflict by the Bush Administration and others in the West is truly amazing considering that Iran is years away from building nuclear weaponry, if indeed they are pursuing nuclear weaponry-something yet to be proven.
The powers that be, including Iran's rulers seem eager to rush into any form of conflict without regard for the people who will be affected. Iran, in pushback mode has threatened "harm and pain" to the U.S., (and one assume to others who join with the U.S. in any face off). Can they pull it off? Yep. Does anyone want to see the price of oil go to $5 a gallon? Or more? Iran is in a position to do that, simply by imposing their own "sanctions" and refusing to sell oil to countries allied against them. They also have a geographical advantage where the Persian Gulf if concerned, if they choose to block shipments of oil from leaving the Gulf region. Our Navy has not had to face Exocets in the Gulf....yet. Iran has a number of options available to them should they really get their backs up.
It's time for all the parties concerned to step back, take a breath and find a sane solution before this escalates to a point of no return. It's a sad day when Russia is the leader in diplomacy, as they attempt to diffuse the situation via trade, rather than belligerence. It's a certainty that the people of Iran are not looking for a conflict or a nuclear weapon, even if their leaders are. It's certain that the people of the US aren't looking for another conflict, even if Mr. Bush, Israel and his supporters are.
The facts of the matter are that our guys and gals in uniform have more than enough on the plates they've been given and the last thing they need is one more politics inspired danger to make their lives more difficult.
While the US does need to hurry up on some things, (like getting our fiscal house in order before it's too late), this is NOT a time when we need to hurry anything. The UN is unlikely to do anything substantive and the same is likely true of the EU, but that is no reason for the US to once again act in a unilateral manner and bring further instability to the Middle East and economic ruin to multiple countries. We have the time, so we'd better use it wisely...this should not be yet another political scheme to gain poll numbers. The stakes are too high.
Technorati Tags:Iran, Politics, George Bush, Nuclear Weapons, Libertarian
No comments:
Post a Comment