Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble, Bush is Cooking Up Two New Wars

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Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble, Bush is Cooking Up Two New Wars

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http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts09302005.html

 

 

September 30, 2005

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

Bush is Cooking Up Two New Wars

 

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

 

Mired in interminable conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush

administration is moving toward initiating two more wars, one with

Iran and one with North Korea. With no US troops available, the Bush

administration is revamping US war doctrine to allow for " preventative

nuclear attack. " In short, the Bush administration is planning to make

the US the first country in history to initiate war with nuclear

weapons. The Pentagon document, " Doctrine for Joint Nuclear

Operations, " calls for the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear

adversaries in order " to ensure success of US and multinational

operations. "

 

In the case of Iran and North Korea, the Bush administration is using

diplomacy not for diplomatic purposes of reaching agreements, but in

order to set the two countries up for nuclear attack. In the case of

Iran, the Bush administration's plan is now obvious. The Bush

administration is leveling false charges against Iran, just as it did

against Iraq, of conspiring to make nuclear weapons. These charges are

known to be false by the Bush administration and by the entire world.

 

For the past two years the International Atomic Energy Agency has had

unfettered access to inspect Iran for any sign of a nuclear weapons

program. The head of the IAEA has announced that there is no sign of a

weapons program. The Bush administration nevertheless insists that

Iran is making weapons, but can produce no evidence. As in the case of

Iraq, the Bush administration substitutes allegations for facts.

 

Gordon Prather, an expert on the subject, has reported the straight

facts in fine detail. Readers can become familiar with them by

consulting his archive at Antiwar.com.

 

By bullying the 35 members of the IAEA, the Bush administration last

week managed to get 22 votes that could lead to the referral of Iran

to the UN Security Council. The Bush administration will now lobby for

the referral. Once it has the referral, even if the Security Council

does not act on it, the Bush administration can use it as an excuse to

attack Iran. The Bush administration knows that few Americans have any

knowledge of international law and procedures and will simply believe

whatever President Bush says. The highly concentrated US media is a

proven walkover for the war-mongering Bush administration.

 

As Dr. Prather has shown, Iran has gone beyond compliance to propose

that new additional safeguards be established to monitor its nuclear

energy program. The bad intentions are on the part of the Bush

administration.

 

The Bush administration's plan is to create Iranian intransigence in

place of cooperation by forcing the Iranian government to stand up to

the bullying by reducing its cooperation. The goal of the Bush

administration is to attack Iran, not to create cooperative relationships.

 

Needless to say, Iranians are angry at the Bush administration's

manipulation of the IAEA members. Last Wednesday protesters in Tehran

attacked the British embassy, which serves as a proxy for the

non-existent US embassy, and legislation was introduced that, if it

passes, will scale back Iran's cooperation with the IAEA. Iran has

also threatened to cut off oil deliveries to some of the countries

that caved in to US pressure, thereby permitting the US to increase

tensions and escalate the conflict.

 

The Bush administration is betting that it can demonize Iran the way

it did Iraq. As both Congress and the American public have failed to

hold Bush accountable for deceiving them about Iraqi weapons of mass

destruction, the administration assumes that its tactics will work a

second time.

 

However, a nuclear attack on Iran would leave the Bush administration

isolated. The US would instantly become a pariah nation, loathed and

hated everywhere else.

 

Moreover, it would leave our battered troops in Iraq in a perilous

situation. The only reason our army in Iraq has not been destroyed is

that the Shi'ites, who comprise the vast majority of the population,

have not taken up arms against us, expecting the US to turn over Iraq

to them. As the Iraqi Shi'ites are allied with the Iranians, who also

are Shi'ite, the US cannot attack Iran without destroying its position

in Iraq.

 

The Bush administration, filled with hubris and delusion, is too

stupid to know this.

 

The American people need to ask themselves why of all the countries in

the world, only the US and Israel believe that it is imperative to

attack Iran. If Iran is such a threat to the world, why isn't Russia,

for example, concerned and ready to invade?

 

Americans need to ask themselves the same question about North Korea.

Why is the US, half a world away, so concerned about North Korea? If

North Korea is such a threat, would not China, sitting on its border,

know it? Wouldn't Japan know it? South Korea? Wouldn't some other

country besides the US see the problem and take action? According to

the Voice of America (August 11, 2005), " Senior South Korean officials

on Thursday defended what they say is North Korea's 'natural right' to

pursue civilian nuclear power. The move may cause friction with the

United States, which has expressed firm opposition to the North having

any nuclear facilities whatsoever. "

 

If the US doesn't want other countries to develop nuclear weapons, the

US must stop bombing, invading and threatening invasions and nuclear

attacks. How does President Bush serve the cause of peace by making

countries paranoid by declaring them to be our enemies.

 

For there to be peace, the US must drop its belligerent role. The

proper function of diplomacy is to build trust by drawing countries

into economic and cultural relationships, not to isolate them for

attack. It is past time for the US to give up its quarter century feud

with Iran. US interference in Iranian internal affairs was the source

of the feud. We need to acknowledge it and get over it.

 

The Korean war ended a half century ago. Isn't it time the US

acknowledged the war's end and signed a treaty with North Korea? The

Korean war was essentially a war between the US and China. It was

Chinese troops that prevented American victory. Yet we are getting on

with China, a much greater potential threat to the US than North Korea

or Iran could ever be.

 

By creating instability in the Middle East, the US undermines Israel's

security. As a few thousand Iraqi insurgents have proven, American

armies are not going to be able to sit over the oil in the Middle

East. If we can't produce enough valuable goods or maintain a strong

currency, we won't have access to the oil. There is no possibility

whatsoever of the US pushing around powers like China, India, or Russia.

 

Bush's hubris makes him unrealistic. He greatly overestimates

America's power. Congress and the American people must find a way to

supply the judgment that is missing in the executive branch.

 

There would be no terrorism if the US would stop interfering in the

internal affairs of Middle Eastern countries and if Israel stopped

stealing the West Bank from the Palestinians. The Bush administration

knows this, and that is why the administration spreads the

propagandistic lie that " they " (Muslims) hate us and our way of life.

This lie is the excuse for American aggression.

 

Paul Craig Roberts has held a number of academic appointments and has

contributed to numerous scholarly publications. He served as Assistant

Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. His graduate

economics education was at the University of Virginia, the University

of California at Berkeley, and Oxford University. He is coauthor of

The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at:

paulcraigroberts