In my usual AM rounds I checked in on Nico Pitney. Apparently some upcoming House Hearings on Iran a couple of bona fide NEOCON operatives have been added to a list already void of any alternative voices. Developments in Iran over the last few weeks have not trended in the direction we would like, but more bellicose statements coming out of the US will only reinforce Ahmadinejad, the Revolutionary Guard, and the hard-liners in general. While you're at it, Roger Cohen's column, referenced in the abbreviated pundit roundup is also a cracking good read.
Here are some of the important takeaways from both:
- It is not good for Michael Rubin, an associate of Douglas Feith, to speak to the House, while Trita Parsi seems not important enough to get on the schedule.
- The advocates of military action against Iran still seem to be getting priority treatment in the discussion of US policy.
- Cohen's column highlights the sophistication of Iranian culture, and the need for some sort of resolution to what has become an embarrassing internal conflict displayed to the world.
I'm having a really hard time with the idea that anyone who was an advocate for war in Iraq is listened to by anyone in the US government. However, I should remember that there are many powerful forces that do not want any sort of reconciliation with an Islamic Republic of Iran, EVER. They consist of the ex-Shah people, many who were SAVAK, who still whisper into our intelligence apparatus, and the many powerful Americans who lobbied for allowing the Shah into the US for medical treatment in 1979. These people never want to see any analysis or re-visiting of their actions in 1979-80.
If the frozen assets issue comes up, then all kinds of questions about Kissinger and the Rockefellers and their relationships to Chase Manhattan Bank will be dredged up, and they very much want to keep that history buried deep and plastered over with wounded US national pride over the hostages, and depictions of Ayatollah Khomeini as Satan incarnate as opposed to a Revolutionary leader that really upset the US applecart, particularly the many Defense Contractors who did serious business in Iran before the Revolution. We had 60,000 Americans in Iran in 1978, and only a handful of them were archeologists studying Persepolis. The bulk of them were greasy businessmen throwing money around and getting the Shah's government to buy the latest multi-million dollar weapons system or jets he did not need. Meanwhile, as many villages had electricity as did in 1960, and sewage ran in the streets of South Tehran.
I know this is a bit of a rant, and it borders on CT, but Nico Pitney's post really set me off. I promise to expand with better documentation at a latter date on some of these themes. In the meantime, please do as Nico Pitney implores and call the CongressCritters listed in his blog re: Upcoming Iran Hearings. Thanks.