Yahoo News reports that former counterterrorism chief Richard Clark and former State Department official Steven Simon warn us in tomorrow's New York Times that "A U.S. conflict with Iran could be even more damaging to America's interest than the war with Iraq."
Former officials warn against US attack on Iran
.
In an op-ed article co-authored with Steven Simon, a former State Department official who also worked for the National Security Council, Clarke wrote reports that the Bush administration is contemplating bombing nuclear sites in Iran raised concerns that "would simply begin a multi-move, escalatory process."
Iran's likely response would be to "use its terrorist network to strike American targets around the world, including inside the United States," Clarke and Simon warned.
Iran's Retaliatory Capability Is Vastly Superior To Al Qaeda's
I agree with Clark and Simon in this but wish to add that even a non-nuclear air strike against Iran sufficient to destroy it's civilian nuclear capability would result in so many civilian casualties that the expected retaliation will not be limited to Iran but is likely to include every anti-western force in the world.
"Iran has forces as its command far superior to anything Al Qaeda was ever able to field," they said, citing Iran's links with the militant group Hezbollah.
Iran could also make things much worse in Iraq, they wrote, adding "there is every reason to believe that Iran has such a retaliatory shock wave planned and ready."
President George W. Bush might then sanction more bombing, Clarke and Simon said, hoping Iranians would overthrow the Tehran government. But "more likely, the American war against Iran would guarantee the regime decades more of control."
Clark and Simon apparently do not mention the additional inevitable disruption of the world's oil markets, with consequences for all the economies of the world.
The authors concluded by warning that "the parallels to the run-up to the war with Iraq are all too striking: remember that in May 2002 President Bush declared that there was 'No war plan on my desk' despite having actually spent months working on detailed plans for the Iraq invasion."
Congress "must not permit the administration to launch another war whose outcome cannot be known, or worse, known all too well," they said.
We need to hear more voices of wisdom, restraint, and clarity from our Congressional leaders.
War is not the answer. We have not even begun serious pursuit of negotiated outcomes. Plus, the New York Times already informed us that Iran is at least 5-10 years away from developing nuclear weapons capability.