Administration Cherry Picking Facts Again

Nobody has to convince me of the danger that is posed by Iran. For years before the current Administration committed the strategic blunder of the last thirty years by invading Iraq, I stated Saddam Hussein could be useful to the United States because Iran posed the greatest threat to Western security and civilization of any nation on the planet. A strong Sunni dominated Iraq could have been an effective buffer against the hard line Shiite clerics in Tehran. Iran's Shiite regime which is run by the religious clerics has exported radical Islam to six former Soviet Republics, parts of Europe, much of Africa and throughout the Far East. Iran has for years been the chief exporter of international terrorism. Yet in both Afghanistan and Iraq our military has been used to prop up what appear to be pro Iranian leaning regimes where hard core enemies of Tehran existed before our intervention.

Iran is the biggest potential threat to the existence of Israel and has formed an alliance of convenience with China and Russia, two other very dangerous nations even though Iran is funding insurgents within both nations, and is involved in trying to topple several pro-Russian regimes in Central Asia. The case to attack Iran is simple: Iran is the world's pariah and they cannot be allowed to develop weapons of mass destruction. It's a simple argument and I for one would support any well thought out military action against Iran if it will result in an ultimate weakining of Tehran's growing domination of Central Asia and the Middle East.

However the Bush Administration has continued its inept handling of Middle Eastern policy by making a case that Iran is responsible for the quagmire we face in Iraq. This is not even close to reality. Iran if anything has kept it's Shiite allies more in check than the Sunni insurgents funded and armed by two American allies, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Recently, the Times of London estimated that 92% of allied casualties in Iraq were attributable to Sunni insurgents while only 6% could be blamed on the Shiites. (2% were blamed on friendly fire or other factors.) Moreover Iran has far more Democratic like institutions than Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Egypt, so the implications made by some neo-conservatives on television that Iran is impeding the implementation of Democracy in the Middle East is simply laughable.

So while Iran continues to bully the world while creating a network of alliances with rogue nations that themselves represent a grave threat to American military and economic supremacy (Russia and China) this administration has decided to attack Iran for something it is actually doing better than our own allies. Once again George W. Bush and his Foreign Policy team have proven they have no clue what is really going on in the Middle East.