The President has ended the war in Iraq, pretty much, if you ignore our Baghdad “embassy,” a massive, high-tech redoubt defended by thousands of mercenaries, and is promising, pretty much, to end the war in Afghanistan too, the theory being, I guess, that we end wars once they get boring, and the thousands of needless deaths in Afghanistan are certainly getting repetitious, if not morally offensive, to the point that even the military is getting tired of the whole thing.*
So, does that mean “no more war”! No way! An America without war is, it seems, an America that doesn’t know what to do with itself. America needs a new war, and Iran is an obvious target. The Administration has put itself on record as saying that an Iran with nuclear weapons is unacceptable—precisely the same dodge as was used with Iraq. And so the Administration is desperately trying to pick a fight with Iran. The grotesquely false charge that Iran has been plotting with Mexican gangsters to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. makes LBJ’s lies over the Gulf of Tonkin and the Bush Administration’s endless whoppers regarding “Madman” Saddam Hussein look almost modest. And, of course, the U.S. is deeply involved in Israel’s disgusting campaign of assassination and sabotage directed against Iranian nuclear activities. Because it’s only terrorism when other people do it.
The basic goal of both the Obama Administration and Israel is provoke some sort of over-reaction on Iran’s part that will leave us “no choice” but to attack their nuclear facilities. Such attacks will be inconclusive, of course, and will simply provoke the Iranians to strengthen their resistance to our bullying. Such resistance will then be pronounced “intolerable,” justifying yet another attack, supposedly intended to “settle things” but in fact intended to keep them going.
Because we aren’t going to invade Iran. On that point, we have learned our lesson. Uncle Sam doesn’t do invasions any more. Too costly, too confusing. Invasions have made war unpopular. And we can’t have that.
Afterwords
A few liberals, like myself, have praised Ron Paul for being virtually the only politician in America to speak out against the massive corruption of the American spirit known as “the War on Terror.” Other liberals have expressed their outrage at this praise for Mr. Libertarian. Think of all the terrible things he’s said on domestic issues! At this point, I’m less concerned about what Ron Paul has said than what Barack Obama has done.
*The military’s thinking seems to be that if you spend fifteen years in a country, you’ve made your point, whatever that point was supposed to be.
