[lit-ideas] Iran and 'civilian militarists'

From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
To: polidea@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2006 10:22:05 -0700 (PDT)
There is strong evidence that as the Bush
administration is mulling over plans to bomb Iran, the
simmering conflict between high-ranking military
professionals and militaristic civilian leaders is
bursting into the open. 

The conflict, festering ever since the invasion of
Iraq, has now been heightened over the US
administration's policy of an aerial military strike
against Iran. While civilian militarists, headed by 



Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld, are said to have drawn plans to bomb
Iran, senior commanders are openly questioning the
wisdom of such plans. [1] 

The administration's recent statements that it is now
willing to negotiate with Iran might appear as a
change or modification of its plans to launch a
military strike against that country. But a closer
reading of those statements indicates otherwise: such
pronouncements are premised on the condition that, as
President George W Bush recently put it, "The Iranian
regime fully and verifiably suspends its uranium
enrichment." 

In light of the fact that suspension of uranium
enrichment, which is nothing beyond Iran's legitimate
rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, is
supposed to be the main point of negotiation, Iran is
asked, in effect, "to concede the main point of the
negotiations before they started". [2] 

Military professionals question the administration's
plans of a bombing campaign against Iran on a number
of grounds. For one thing, they doubt that, beyond a
lot of death and destruction, the projected bombing
raids can accomplish much, ie, destroy Iran's nuclear
program. 

For another, they caution that the bombing campaign
could be very costly in terms of military, economic
and geopolitical interests of the United States in the
region and beyond. 

More important, however, the professionals' opposition
to the administration's bombing plans stems from the
fact that, as pointed out by renowned investigative
reporter Seymour Hersh, "American and European
intelligence agencies have not found specific evidence
of clandestine [nuclear] activities or hidden
facilities" in Iran. Hersh further writes, "A former
senior intelligence official told me that people in
the Pentagon were asking, 'What's the evidence? We've
got a million tentacles out there, overt and covert,
and these guys - the Iranians - have been working on
this for 18 years, and we have nothing? We're coming
up with jack shit.'" [3] 

So far, the jingoistic civilian leaders do not seem to
have been swayed by the expert advice of their
military experts. And the discord over Iran policy
continues. 

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HH16Ak01.html

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[lit-ideas] Iran and 'civilian militarists'

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