Why Iran must remain a US enemy

[Jefferson23]

The most important factor in shaping US policy towards Iran is domestic politics - not Obama's own geopolitical vision.

04 May 2015

About the Author
Gareth Porter

Dr Gareth Porter is an investigative journalist and historian specialising in US national security policy.

Since the start of the US nuclear negotiations with Iran, both Israeli and Saudi officials have indulged in highly publicised handwringing over their belief that such a nuclear deal would represent a fundamental strategic shift in US policy towards the region at the expense of its traditional alliances with Israel and Saudi Arabia.

But the Obama administration is no more likely to lurch into a new relationship with Iran than were previous US administrations. The reason is very simple: The US national security state, which has the power to block any such initiative, has fundamental long-term interests in the continuation of the policy of treating Iran as an enemy.

Some in the Israeli camp have spun elaborate theories about how the Obama administration's negotiations with Iran represent a strategic vision of partnership with the Iranian regime.


Typical of the genre is former Bush administration official Michael Doran's speculation in February that US President Barack Obama based his policy of outreach to Tehran on the assumption that Tehran and Washington are "natural allies".

in full: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/04/iran-remain-enemy-150430051039753.html

[AuntPatsy]

1. Good article, a spider web comes to mind...

[Jefferson23]

2. It is so entrenched in our politics, indeed. n/t

[AuntPatsy]

3. Sadly that's undeniable....

[bemildred]

4. I think the National Security State has conflicts about Iran.

Back in the 80s it was all so clear. But now it is much more ambiguous.

[Jefferson23]

5. snip* To dismantle this so-called "double government"

a phrase coined by British journalist and businessman Walter Bagehot to describe the British government in the 1860s—will be a challenge, Glennon admits. After all, "There is very little profit to be had in learning about, and being active about, problems that you can’t affect, policies that you can’t change."

But he is not hopeless. "The ultimate problem is the pervasive political ignorance on the part of the American people. And indifference to the threat that is emerging from these concealed institutions. That is where the energy for reform has to come from: the American people," he said. "The people have to take the bull by the horns."

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/10/20/reality-national-security-state-trumps-delusions-us-democracy



For now, I am grateful we're not bombing them, for me that is shift enough, I imagine Iranians feel similarly.