Iran…*sigh*
It goes without saying that the administration has no credibility on…anything. But this entire discussion about “Has Iran assisted hostilities in Iraq?” begs the question of, “If so, so what?” The Bush administration has been very successful at framing the debate to make the answer to that implicit: If Iran is mucking around in Iraq, the White House reasoning stands, then George W. gets to go gallavanting with bombs and missiles into an even darker future he has utterly no ability to predict or control.
The debate itself is rather uninteresting. More relevant questions include: Why wouldn’t Iran be messing around in Iraq? Why shouldn’t they? They’re no different or worse than most of the parties in Iraq, Iran simply favors a Shiite-friendly outcome. Is that something we’re against? Are you sure? Does Iran have less national interest at stake in Iraq than we do? Do we have the right to tell Shiites in Iraq they can’t enlist the help of Shiites from other countries? Why aren’t we planning anything in response to Saudi Arabia’s known assistance of the Sunnis and vow to step it up if we leave? Did George W. Bush ever know what the fuck he was doing?
Whoops, no debate on that last question.
Before the Iraq War, I asked people why, even if Saddam had weapons (and he could have only had a meager amount), it was assumed that we had to go to war with him. One thing did not necessarily dictate the other. With nuclear secrets floating around the Middle East like traces of depleted uranium shells, very little pointed to Saddam being the most likely culprit to give weapons to terrorists, and much evidence ruled him out.
The real hard questions never got asked in the public debate on Iraq, and we have suffered mightily for it. The question is, has our mechanism for national internal dialogue been fixed, or does it still work the exact same way?
More importantly, even if our reasoning points against an attack on Iran, what can be done to stop “The Decider”? What good is it to decide somebody is too drunk to drive if you don’t take the keys away?
-jb
Update: Josh Marshall says much the same, probably says it better…
February 13th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Excellent post! I hope that Congress takes the keys away from this madman before he bombs Iran, but I’m afraid the Democrats don’t have the brass to do it. They’re too afraid of looking weak.