Off To War We Go

It's been a common trope in the Republican primary to accuse President Obama of being an appeaser when it comes to Iran. The recent news of a downed U.S. drone in Iran, saber rattling over the Straight of Hormuz, cyber warfare attacks against Iran, Wednesday's assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist, the arrest of alleged CIA operatives in Iran, and the supposed Iranian plot to kill a Saudi ambassador on American soil, to list just a few points of contention, has ratcheted up tensions. Given these incursions, allow me to wish that Obama was more Chamberlainesque at least when it comes to Iran.

Indeed, war with Iran now appears to be a fait accompli. The game seems to be to make life as miserable as possible for Iranians through small scale military actions and economic sanctions, the Iranian Rial has crashed in value in recent days. Of course it wouldn't be a true romp in the Mideast without some encouragement from our friends in the oil industry, and rest assured that they are smiling and counting their stock options as oil prices have risen following Iran's threat to close the Straight of Hormuz.

Today comes the troubling news that Israeli Mossad agents conducted a false flag operation, pretending to act as CIA agents, recruiting members of the Sunni terrorist organization Jundallah. Jundallah has been a thorn in the side of Shia Iran, carrying out numerous terrorist acts. Given the fair and balanced nature of the Redel Traub Report, we tend to tread lightly when it comes to the topic of Israel, but suffice it to say its practically unthinkable that any other country would be allowed to impersonate CIA agents with relative impunity.

Just as in Iraq, the central tension is Iran's desire for WMD. Well given these recent attacks on Iran's sovereignty the desire for a nuclear bomb seems understandable, we can ignore the fact that the IAEA has stated that while Iran has acted suspiciously it doesn't appear to be that close to building a bomb. Why wouldn't any player on the international scale want to be nuclear? A nuclear bomb is de facto currency on the market that is foreign relations, North Korea has immunized itself from invasion by it's development of a bomb. An Iranian bomb would be worthless against the U.S. without a method to deliver it, and Israel, though in range, enjoys such weaponry superiority that an attack against it would be tantamount to national suicide.

Unlike the boogeyman it's portrayed to be, Iran is a relatively weak country. Ralph Nader points out that their GDP is smaller than that of Massachusetts and it's surrounded by the U.S. military on three of its borders. During the Bush era it made overtures of peace towards the U.S., including an offer to help depose the Taliban immediately after September 11th, an offer the U.S. may want to reconsider. Given the state of almost outright war, one shudders to think what would happen if our supposedly "dovish" president, is replaced by any one of the GOP candidates, with the notable exception of Ron Paul, who have all sworn to take a more hawkish approach in the region.