Iran is a danger, but not the one that the Bush Administration claims. With its known interests, it endangers the small Gulf countries. It occupies three UAE islands and refuses all sorts of negotiations. In addition, it tries to extend its authority to Iraq through agents and spies, some of whom are so ignorant that they support, for religious reasons, a country whose nationalistic ambitions are draped in religious cover.
Second, I wish that Iran would really be the danger that the Bush Administration is evoking. I expect to be surprised one day by a statement announcing Iran's possession of a nuclear bomb. I would prefer, for the Middle East and the world, that the Middle East be free of weapons of mass destruction. However, as long as Israel has them, as long as the US supports Israel and stands against any other Middle Eastern countries willing to have them, then I support the idea that all countries of the region, including Iran and Turkey, should possess nuclear weapons.
Thus, I agree with Bush Administration when it claims that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon. But unlike it, I wish Iran all success so long as Israel keeps its weapons. There is a race between the strike and the bomb. Iran's rejection of the incentives basket offered by the six world powers is nothing but an additional proof of its dishonest intentions.
The Bush Administration is preparing for a strike, which remains plausible, maybe very likely, if not confirmed, in the eyes of certain observers. For the reader, I say:
- The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice focuses on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Yet, she misses no opportunity during her tour to the region to instigate against Iran.
- Dick Cheney's tour in March was totally aimed at rallying the countries of the region behind an incoming strike. He added Turkey to the list of the countries he visited at the last minute and pressured its leaders to support the strike, but he was promised nothing. As for the Saudi position, it reflects the general Arab position. The US Vice President was told that the KSA opposed the strike and would not allow the use of its territories against Iran. King Abdullah bin Abul Aziz awarded Cheney a medal in compensation for returning empty handed.
- The US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that a second aircraft carrier would be dispatched to the Gulf as a warning sign to Iran. Iran was training and arming Iraqi militia men which, as he said, led to the death of US soldiers. He and others talked about "special groups" and the role of Quds Force in Iraq. Yesterday, Hezbollah was even claimed to train militia men in Iran.
- General Petraeus claimed in front of the Congress that Iran-armed militias were the gravest long-term threat to Iraq's democracy and that his men were preparing a dossier on Iran's role in Iraq.
- Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, said that Iran did not keep the promise it made a few months ago to stop sending weapons to terrorists and the resistance. As proof, modern Iranian-made weapons were found south Iraq.
If the US intelligence is supposedly correct, then who gave Iran this influential position in Iraq and other neighboring countries?
Saddam Hussein halted the exportation of the Iranian revolution and defeated Iran with American and Arab help. Then the US deposed him for false reasons, destroyed the country, killed one million Iraqis and drove five million others homeless. Now it is complaining about the Iranian influence that it helped create.
The Bush Administration is responsible for everything it is complaining about now. It is not easy to attribute the disaster to "idiocy." We are talking about a superpower with long-standing institutions. Therefore, the most logical explanation would be its intention to target Arabs and Muslims in every country and steal their oil. We, along with the US, have to bear our share of responsibility. When Arabs are divided into two clans and Muslims into Sunnis and Shiites, they facilitate the enemies' mission, an impossible mission without their help.
* Published in the London-based AL-HAYAT on May 6, 2008. |
