Atrios pointed out what should be obvious to anyone but may be lost on Democrats in positions of leadership: Iran is going to be made an issue in the upcoming months. Why is this the case? Look at the smoke screen that was thrown up before the invasion of Iraq. Nothing--and I mean nothing--was addressed other than the spectacle that was that vaudeville show. How better to distract the population from the quagmire of Iraq than to preoccupy them with this silly modern political game of "he said/she said"?
So it would seem logical that Democrats would formulate an immediate response to the politicizing of the mythical Iranian crisis. I would like to say that my faith in the Democratic Party would allow me to believe that they have crack marketing experts and political aces working on frames as we speak. I would also like to believe in unicorns, fairies and all manner of things that have never been substantiated by what we like to call evidence.
Follow me below the fold and I will offer a bit of a frame on the issue that is destined to emerge over the next two months.
First there is one simple point that should be made over and over and over whenever Iran is mentioned as a potential threat: Yes- they are a scary regime, but we cannot deal with them because this administration has bogged down our army in Iraq.
This very simple truth should be followed up by a corrollary that will hopefully cut off any rightwinger at the knees: George Bush and the GOP leadership had better hope there is no offensive action by Iran or its terrorist satellite groups, because the responsibility for that loss of life and property lies directly with George Bush and this GOP leadership. It was them that pushed for a war with Iraq when Iraq was the historical regional balance of Iran. It was George Bush that enabled the regional ascendancy of Iran by destabilizing the region while handing control of the historical regional balance to Iran-backed Shi'ites. And it will be George Bush and his administration that bears responsibility for any act of Iranian aggression.
The simple truth is that We are not in a position to wage a successful campaign in a war we started three and a half years ago. How could we possibly endeavor to do anything to Iran at this moment in history?
And speaking of history, this new context is a historical abberation. Our country has faced down many enemies in our two and a quarter centuries. We have stood down the USSR, which was the most powerful global threat to Western values ever. When Iran has a number of nuclear weapons trained on us that is counted in the hundreds, then it will be a different story; until then, Iran with its aggregate terrorist affilitations is in no way more threatening to us than the USSR during the Cold War. Furthermore, we have defeated the most powerful empire in history: twice. We've incinerated entire cities when it was deemed necessary. We have a legacy of military and diplomatic greatness that would have been formidable had this administration not squandered the global standing we gained after 9/11 as well as the entirety of our historical global standing.
We cannot fight Iran right now and that empowers Iran more than anything in its entire history. This is directly attributable to the "flowers and candy" brigade of post war planning. It is directly attributable to the administration that, in fact, never said Iraq was involved in 9/11 but sure allowed the insinuation to take root. Our very inability to wage a successful campaign against a foreign threat is attributable to the tactical decisions and lack of strategy that possesses those now rattling once more the sabres of war.
We cannot afford to be led into a third war by these ideologues.
No matter of fanciful war is going to change the simple fact that six years into a GOP dominated decade we are at our weakest point in over a hundred years. Our economy is not a source of strength as it only allocates wealth to those with wealth already to spare. Our education system is faltering under an underfunded and tyrannical federal vision brought to us by this administration. Our international prestige is to the point where we have spurned our oldest political ally and are called crap by our most important political ally. We are not respected and it is our respect that has always equated to our power.
Every military endeavor, ever domestic policy, ever Presidential signing statement under this administration has whittled away American power and dominance. We cannot allow this administration to once more take the reigns of anything, much less a war with Iran. That is why, as proud as we are as a country, we must submit the Iranian issue to the UN and leave that body to adjudicate the issue. We have our own messes to clean and given the magnitude of the failures this administration has heaped upon this great nation it is incumbent upon all patriots to deny them the foolishness of engaging Iran. To not stand fast against their bloodlust is to welcome another tiger into a home already full of dangers.
We must frame this issue around the failures of this administration. The Democrats must get off of their equivocating asses and grab the brass ring. They simply must use clear, hard language to impress upon the public that Iran is dangerous, that we live in a dangerous world, but that this administration as well as the GOP is never going to be able to get results other than failure in this dangerous world. Perhaps we should confront Iran in the near future; the interim between now and that future must hold a changing of the guard in Washington or we will never escape this mismanaged spiral of one failure after another.
Our way of life, in fact, is at stake. It is not Iranians who endanger us most greatly, but instead an administration unable to prosecute successfully any policy no matter its size or implication.
And the Democrats had better do is quickly. We all know how the GOP feels about rolling out new products in August. August is almost over and the push for Iran is about to begin. The Democrats must differentiate their record from the one of failure attributed to this administration; it is the weakness of the donkey that has allowed the elephant to rampage.
That must change and it must change now. If it does not, then we are headed toward an international catastrophe that will make Iraq pale by comparison.