Bush's Nutty Nuclear Braggadocio

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Thu, 20 Apr 2006 06:15:11 -0400 (EDT)

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Bush's Nutty Nuclear Braggadocio

 

 

 

http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/35179/

 

 

Bush's Nutty Nuclear Braggadocio

By Robert Scheer, AlterNet

Posted on April 19, 2006,

 

 

There is one clear standard by which President Bush has asked, over

and over, to be judged: his ability to keep us safe from rogue nations

or terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction. Unfortunately,

by any rational definition of that standard, his five-year

administration has been an abysmal failure.

 

The quandary in which Bush finds himself regarding Iran's apparent

quest for nuclear weapons is only the latest example in an astonishing

series of national security blunders.

 

First, he vacationed while a crescendo of intelligence warnings of

imminent terrorist attack blossomed into the spectacle of Sept. 11,

2001. Then, he allowed the mastermind of those attacks, Osama bin

Laden, to escape while diverting U.S. resources into Iraq to save the

world from Saddam Hussein's nonexistent WMDs. Now, tied down in Iraq's

civil strife, Bush holds no high cards in a dangerous poker match with

Iran.

 

A once swaggering president, who so convincingly wielded a bullhorn

and modeled a flight suit, now has assumed the pretzel pose of a

supplicant attempting to cajole our old enemy in Tehran into dropping

its nuclear ambitions while simultaneously initiating talks with Iran

aimed at bailing us out in Iraq. After the fiasco of using the blunt

instrument of military force to " democratize " Iraq, Bush now resorts

to mild talk of U.N. sanctions on Iran, the very weapon he had derided

in relation to quarantining Hussein. Bush's nutty nuclear braggadocio

on Tuesday -- " all options are on the table " -- was a sign of

weakness, not strength, hobbled as he is by various self-created

impediments.

 

One is that he has lost the trust of Americans, foreign leaders and

even many Republicans by lying about Iraq -- crying wolf, in essence

-- and then fumbling the occupation. Another invasion would be a tough

sell, both here and abroad.

 

Two, Iran is, as Republican Sen. Richard Lugar put it subtly, " part of

the energy picture. " In other words, it exports gobs of oil. U.S.-Iran

tension already has sent crude prices above $70 a barrel. " I believe,

for the moment, we ought to cool this one, " Lugar warned the White

House. " We need to make more headway diplomatically to be effective. "

 

Three, the United States is highly dependent upon Iran-trained Shiite

religious factions in Iraq for what is left of the tattered welcome

mat Bush & Co. told us to expect when we came to overthrew Hussein.

Key Iraqi Shiite leaders have stated they would support Iran in the

event of a U.S. attack. Cozying up to the Shiite fundamentalists in

Iraq is a bargain with the devil, born of weakness, the pattern for

this president.

 

To find another example, look no further than the source of Iran's

latest claimed breakthrough in the pursuit of weapons-grade uranium.

Last week, Iran's confrontational president disclosed that his regime

is " presently conducting research " on P-2 centrifuge technology that

would allow quicker uranium enrichment. Nuclear experts, according to

the New York Times, fear this is a serious indication that Tehran, as

long suspected, has obtained P-2 technology from Pakistan, thanks to

the global black-market nukes operation run for years by Abdul Qadeer

Khan, " the father " of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. U.N.

inspectors in Iran also found instructional bomb-making sketches

thought to have been supplied by Khan, who is now under " a loose form

of house arrest, " according to the Times.

 

The grim irony in all this is that Pakistan never has been held

accountable by the United States for Khan's black-market nuclear

proliferation racket, even though such a bold scheme could not have

thrived without significant support from Pakistan's powerful military

leaders. Of course, Khan, who was pardoned by Pakistan's military

dictator, doesn't have to worry that Bush is going to order the CIA to

spirit him to Guantanamo Bay for some rough Dick Cheney-approved

interrogations. Pakistan, like Saudi Arabia, is a tight ally of the

White House, despite having previously supported Bin Laden's old

Afghan friends, the Taliban. Indeed, the Bush administration was so

eager to secure the friendship of Pakistan after the Sept. 11 attacks,

it perversely ended the boycott imposed on that country in response to

its development of a nuclear weapon.

 

There you have it -- Hussein, who did not have a nuclear-weapons

program and was fundamentally at odds with Bin Laden, now sits in

prison, while the dictator of nukes-R-us Pakistan and the theocrats of

Iran have had their power immeasurably strengthened by Bush's

policies. Go figure. Actually, it would appear the public already has,

explaining why our fearless leader has fallen so far in the polls.

 

Accompanied by Iran's army commanders, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,

left, reviews weapons during a parade commemorating Army Day on

Tuesday, April 18. Ahmadinejad warned that Iran would " cut off the

hand of any aggressor " and insisted his country's military had to be

ready with the most modern technology. President Bush, speaking in

America, said that " all options are on the table " in reference to the

possibility of a nuclear strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

 

Robert Scheer is the co-author of The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us

About Iraq. See more of Robert Scheer at TruthDig.

© 2006 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.

View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/35179/