Steve Soto refers to a NY Times Column by Mr. "We have to invade Iraq Now" Ken Pollack who is making the case that we
now have to invade Iran. Steve proceeds to take down his argument this way:
Pollack never touches on the simple fact that after the huge credibility gap that the Bush Administration created through its Iraq deceptions, there is no reason for the UN or Europe to believe any claims made by this Administration on Iran. And he never touches on what real lesson Iran or any other country has learned from the Iraq invasion: you better arm yourself with nukes if you want to keep George W. Bush from illegally invading your country.
While Steve's right, since when in the last 3 years have we needed international approval to invade another country? That alone should really make us understand what I believe will likely happen if Ken's dream is realized:
If we invade Iran, it's the start of World War III, with the US assuming the part of leading Axis Power.
The rest of the world is no longer just mad at Bush, but mad at the rest of America. Where we once could have righted a serious wrong, just as Bush did with the 9/11 sympathies, we squandered it. The world sees what the majority of America does not see: our country, by our majority vote, condoned, not condemned, the Iraq misadventure and all the horrors in and out of it. In essence, the American People endorsed an illegal war by international standards. So I seriously doubt that the world will stand by and watch as we proceed to invade another country, just as the world refused to stand by and watch as Germany rolled their tanks into Poland in September 1939.
It's possible that if we were to do the unthinkable and launch attacks on Iran in 2005, the world could simply watch us implode if they want to, knowing that we won't have enough troops to do the job, and a necessary draft will make America itself spawn another American Revolution that will break the country in two. The rest of the world could sit by and watch as we plunge our country into a never-ending abyss. But I don't see that happening. In an effort to retain some sense of dignity that international law and order must be applied to everyone, the world may have no choice but to condemn our invasive actions, and even go as far as to declare war on us. Should that happen, civilization as we know it will no doubt come to an end.
Even more tragic is the notion that we may not be able to control the situation, thanks to Israel's increasingly edgy trigger-finger on missiles they so want to launch against Iran's nuclear facilities. All in all, the more I see, the more I believe that it will really take a merciful miracle from God to save us all from certain disaster.