Through Murky Waters: Wagging the Iranian dog
Bush’s war cries cannot indefinately pull the wool over our eyes
By Alex Sirney, senior writer
Posted on February 12, 2007

It’s very familiar rhetoric — the government accuses another country of having dangerous weapons, the flag is waved in the public’s face and everyone cheers while bombs fly.

The last time this happened, the United States invaded Iraq; Afghanistan fit the bill before that. Now, the cadence for war with Iran is starting to beat, and another mad conflict in the Middle East is looming. Americans have already seen two destructive wars begin with no end in sight, and must halt the country’s warmongering before the United States gets deeper in over its head.

Military officials have long accused Iranians of supporting insurgents in Iraq, but according to the BBC, they have pointed the finger at the Iranian government directly for the first time Sunday. Their accusations center around a type of explosive device called an explosively formed projectile which they say is capable of destroying a tank.

Regardless of the charge’s veracity, the possibility that Iran is actively supporting rebellion in its neighbor and long-time enemy will undoubtedly move the more hotheaded in Congress to demand military action, especially as Iran has been in focus as a result of its struggle to build a nuclear program against the wishes of the United Nations. The United States and its allies rightly fear a nuclear-weapon-capable Iran, but they should fear a nation that generally supports its government and would fight to the death for its sovereignty.

Now that the excuse to take care of the Iranian problem has been given, the administration may choose not to see the futility of military action. Twice before has the military stumbled into sticky situations in the last six years and is now facing a resurging Taliban in Afghanistan where the military is vastly outmanned and an alarming deteriorating situation in Iraq. A third disaster is the opposite of what the country needs right now.

The administration may not agree, however, because a fresh conflict would distract the public from the trouble the armed forces are facing in the Middle East already. Afghanistan was forgotten as soon as American troops set foot in Iraq and there is nothing to say that another war wouldn’t shift the focus again. This distraction technique worked for six years until the American people voted in a new Congress last year, and hopefully this mentality and the newly hostile Congress will be enough to stall any and all blustering generals.

The American people should be watchful, however, that their representatives don’t put the country in an impossible diplomatic situation, either. The current policies of refusing to negotiate with hostile countries and refusing to acknowledge other points of view or possible solutions has sent a precedent that could sour relations well after Bush leaves office.

It should be clear by now that the wars we have started are sapping our resources and claiming our soldiers’ lives without any clear gain or end in sight. What good was done is now covered by violence and a slow regression to pre-war conditions or worse.

This time, when the war drums start to beat, the American people must see Iran for what it is — another disaster designed to distract them from the one that this administration has become.

Alex Sirney is a senior anthropology/SMAD major.