Déjà vu: The Rollout for Another War in the Middle East

Sadly, these days and nights I feel like I did when it became evident that Bush planned to launch an attack on Iraq. This time it’s Iran.

I’ve expressed my concern to many people, and often their response is “But that’s insane!” That’s how I felt about the impending attack on Iraq, and it happened.

If you think that Bush couldn’t possibly be considering attacking Iran, take two minutes and listen to Elizabeth de la Vega, former federal prosecutor and author of U.S. v. Bush, et al., who spoke in Santa Rosa, California on January 19.

As you read the mainstream news and wonder if Bush is justified in killing and capturing Iranian “agents in Iraq, take 30 seconds and read the following excerpt from Juan Cole's January 27 post, which I’ve titled “Another Pretext for War”:

Bush says US troops are authorized to "kill or capture" suspected Iranian intelligence agents operating in Iraq. Thousands of Iranians go in and out of Iraq as pilgrims to the Shiite holy sites, so personally I'm skeptical you can know which ones are spies. And, like, it wouldn't be good to kill the pilgrims. Might cast the US in a bad light with the Shiites and all that. I'd say this man is looking for a pretext for another war.

Plus, when you look at where US troops are being killed, it is in Sunni Arab al-Anbar Province, and Sunni Arab Salahuddin, Diyal, Mosul, and West Baghdad. Those Sunni guerrillas are not being helped by Iran. They are being helped by Sunnis in countries allied to the US.

And then, the US hold over 10,000 prisoners swept up on suspicion of insurgent activity in Iraq. What number of them is Iranians? Slim to none. More Syrians and Jordanians and Saudis by far than Iranians.So if 99 percent of the problem is with the Sunni Arabs of Iraq, why all this big talk about Shiite Iran?

Because this man is looking for a pretext for another war.