The Rhetoric Over Iran



So much of the chatter involving the aftermath of the Iranian elections is about political rhetoric and positioning than about how the United States can actually better the lives of the brave protesters and prevent the country's nuclearlization. Joe Lieberman, Lindsay Graham and John McCain -- or as we like to call them Joe, Lindsay and Creepy -- appear to be irresponsibly navigating the ship of state into the choppy waters along the Persian Gulf.

Even conservative Joe Scarborough wonders if these Senators know what they are doing. Senator McCain, particularly, may want to consult a professional about his unresolved "election issues," as he doesn't seem to fully accept the fact that the 2008 election ended with his being beaten like a red-headed stepchild (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment). Fareed Zakaria this week on GPS opened with a wise editorial saying, essentially, "Obama is right on iran."

In pressing President Obama from the discredited Wilsonian side of the foreign policy spectrum (Averted Gaze), they inadvertently feed Ahmadinejad's beast. There is nothing -- and we mean nothing -- that "President" Mahmood Ahmadinejad wants more than to paint President Barack Obama with the same red-white-and-blue colored Yankee brush as he did Bush. President Bush was a perfect distraction to mask Ahmadinejad's fudamental incompetence in governing Persia. President Obama is Ahmadinejad's nightmare. President Obama, unlike Bush, wants direct negotiations and has a far more sophisticated, multidimensional plan to deter the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Iran. Barack Obama has a longer attention span, and understands the Persian Game. He will not reciprocate, falling into Ahmadinejad's strategic provocations. So when McCain, Graham and Lieberman exert domestic pressure on the President, forcing Obama to ever-so-slightly to strengthen his rhetoric against Iran's ruling class, he provides exactly the distraction Ahmadinejad needs to once and for all snuff his own domestic chaos. From The CanadianPress:

" Iranian authorities have barred journalists for international news organizations from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay in their offices. This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media.

"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledged a 'crushing' response to continued American condemnation of Iran's crackdown on postelection protest, saying Saturday that President Barack Obama's criticism revealed his insincerity about improving relations.

"Ahmadinejad - with his internal opponents virtually silenced - all but dared Obama to keep calling for an end to repression of demonstrators who claim the hardline leader stole re-election through massive fraud.

"'You should know that if you continue the response of the Iranian nation will be strong,' Ahmadinejad said in a speech to members of Iran's judiciary, which is directly controlled by the ruling clerics. 'The response of the Iranian nation will be crushing. The response will cause remorse.'"

The thing is, President Obama has been hugely measured in his response to the situation in Tehran. So, for those keeping score: McCain, Lieberman and Graham, neocons on foreign policy -- are forcing -- ever-so-slightly -- the President to ratchet up his rhetoric regarding Iran. That rhetoric feeds Ahmadinejad's beast, thereby empowering his regime. Is that what Lieberman, Graham and McCain want? A stronger Iranian regime? An Iranian regime that fires a long-range missile at Tel Aviv?

Do these Senators just want a perfect excuse for regime change? Do they want to fucking widen the Second Persian Gulf War so as to fight two out of the three Axes of Evil simultaneously? Is this a completion of George Bush's "vision"? An Iranian attack on Israel -- as a cynical Ahmadinejadian distraction and a rallying cry for Iranian unity -- would be the perfect opportunity for neocons to get what they want: an attack on Natanz. Because if that is the case, there are many well-qualified psychiatrists that would probably give these Senators a solid group rate.