Why Are Nukes OK For The United States/Israel But Not Iran?

[Itsthetruth]

CounterPunch
Weekend Edition
May 28 / 30, 2005

Forcing Iran into a Nuclear Corner
Why Are Nukes OK for You, But Not for Us?
By BRIAN CLOUGHLEY

.... when Bush was asked in January if he would attack Iran he replied "I will never take any option off the table." That immature semi-threat convinced the Iranians that at some time he will try to do so. Iranians are a proud people, which is a concept that Bush Washington simply cannot grasp. There are two types of nations in the Bush zealots' eyes : those that fall in with everything they are told to do by Washington, and the Rest. They cannot, will not, understand that countries having differing points of view to that of the Bush cabal might have good reasons for holding such ideas, and that their national pride should be neither ignored nor eradicated. According to them, these nations "don't get it", and must suffer accordingly. This is why the US is now deeply hated by countless millions round the world and is the despair of those who would in normal (non-Bush) circumstances be its natural and most supportive allies.

The Bush alternative to the US attacking Iran is to let Israel do it for him, as Cheney suggested on MSNBC by saying " . . . the Israelis might well decide to act first and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards." That was blatant encouragement of Israel to strike Iran, but note the words "the diplomatic mess". That is all that matters to such devious scum as Cheney. The innumerable deaths of innocent people resulting from a bombing blitz by his Israeli friends are of no concern to him. All he thinks about is the "rest of the world" -- not Bush Washington -- "cleaning up the diplomatic mess". When other countries do not slavishly follow Washington's line and are too weak to be able to retaliate (like Iraq), the first solution that draft-dodging, lily-livered, gutless, bullying little cowards like Bush and Cheney think about is bombing the hell out of them.

The Tehran government feels its country is threatened by the imperial might of the United States of America, and fears that the vast US arsenal will be used to destroy it as a nation. Understandably, if simplistically, it actually pays attention to what Bush says and does about his foreign policy. It realizes that Iraq did not have nuclear weapons and posed no threat whatever to the United States, and was invaded and occupied, thus reducing it to a state of anarchic bloody shambles. On the other hand, North Korea does have a nuclear weapon, probably two or three, and poses a serious threat to US interests, and Bush is terrified of invading it. That proves, think the beards in Tehran, that if we don't get a bomb, fast, then the maniacal Bush and his fundo generals will flatten our cities, invade us, and behave like barbarians thereafter by bashing down doors at midnight, terrifying our women, blaring insults at our people from loudspeakers, shooting civilians, torturing innocent captives for fun, and literally getting away with murder.

Iranian leaders imagine that a US occupation would reduce their country to the squalor and terror of Iraq. ("Before the US-led invasion Baghdad residents enjoyed about 20 hours of electricity a day. Today they get about 10, usually broken into two-hour chunks. There are also frequent fuel and drinking water shortages. And only 37 percent of the population has a working sewage system." - Associated Press, May 26. And : "Mosul, Iraq, May 26 (Reuters) - US forces shot dead a child during an exchange of gunfire near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday, the US military said.") Iran would be another Bush colony with puppet politicians who take their orders from Rice and Rumsfeld while suffering brutal occupation by soldiers who are not answerable to any elected representative of the country they grind under their jackboots. Anything, they think, would be better than that.


http://www.counterpunch.org/cloughley05282005.html

[leveymg]

1. Might makes right. We got'em, used 'em. They don't, won't, and can't

even if it's the last thing we ever do.

Maybe, maybe not.:bounce: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :grr: :bounce:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Bush probably has no clue

that modern day Iran is the home of ancient civilizations, the most memorable being Persia. Zoroastrianism, from whom the Hebrews got the concept of the Devil, began in present day Iran. Sufi mystical poets, like Hafiz, were from what is now known as Iran. The country has a long and rich cultural history. One should take this into consideration when one tries to see things from the Iranian standpoint.

[jobycom]

6. Just as unaware that Iraq was the cradle of civilization, the place

that gave us writing, the first written law code--before the ten commandments--and in all likelihood is the land of the early Bible, and of Eden, and where Abraham came from, and thus may be the cradle of Judeo/Christian/Islamic religion. Not to mention the center of civilization, religion and government for the Abassid Caliphate, which kept learning and knowledge alive and thriving while Europe was an illiterate backwater stuck in a subsistance economy.

[Poiuyt]

3. Because the US or Israel would never invade another country

Oh, wait. Never mind.

[Cleita]

4. I asked the same question of my father back during the cold war, when

only us and Soviet Russia had them. My father's answer was that no one would "use" them responsibly like we do. The Russians weren't to be trusted with them, let along anyone else so that's why our government had such a huge military and why anything to do with the bomb was shrouded in top secrecy.

It was also commonly believed back then that any future wars would be nuclear ones, not ones fought on the ground. I think "Dr. Strangelove or HISWALTLTB" delineates the thinking of the time.

Frankly, I think this whole adminstration's approach to the ME is dripping in racism. The only reason Israel passes is because the Israelis are westernized.

[jobycom]

5. Because we are a peaceful, sane nation that ELECTS good leaders

Oh, wait, wrong millenium.