July 20, 2004
With the 9/11 commission revealing that at least eight of the terrorists traveled through Iran prior to the September 11 attacks, the heat is on in Tehran.
Already, the neocons, after conning America to go to war against Iraq, are rubbing their hands together for another intervention.
There was James Woolsey, former CIA director and a member of the Project for the New American Century, appearing on the Today Show and barely able to restrain his glee at the prospect of another country for Bush to attack.
That's nothing new for the Project for a New American Century, whose Gary Schmitt sent out a memo on February 24 entitled "Regime Change for Iran." The project's website also features a reprint from the Weekly Standard (that's convenient, since William Kristol is the editor of the Standard and the founder of the project) entitled "Going Soft on Iran." This article warns not to let "fatigue from rebuilding Iraq" get in the way of "gaming out worst-case contingency plans" for dealing with Iran.
Bush himself has been revving up the rhetoric against one of his charter members of the Axis of Evil.
"I have long expressed my concerns about Iran," Bush said on July 19. "After all, it's a totalitarian society."
Bush is blind to the ongoing battle for democracy in Iran, epitomized by Shirin Ebadi, the lawyer, feminist, and human-rights activist who won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize. For Bush, Iran has just one shade: totalitarian.
Earlier this year, Bush warned that Iran "will be dealt with, starting through the United Nations," if it doesn't dismantle its nuclear programs.
So if you like the Iraq mess, there's more where that came from.
By the way, as to Iran's alleged ties to Al Qaeda, the 9/11 commission reportedly says that the Iranian government was not in on the September 11 plot. And, anyway, there are two other countries that had even closer ties to Osama bin Laden: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
But you don't hear Bush warning that Pakistan or Saudi Arabia "will be dealt with."
Hey, they're Bush's friends.
They can get away with it.