The Road to Iran is Through Iraq
Dale Netherton
April 12, 2006
Now that Iran has a uranium enrichment program and is boasting of its ability to thumb its nose to the world represented by the U.N., the specter of U.S. military strikes looms larger. The problem is, we are bogged down in our campaign to crush the terrorist sponsoring nations by an inept endgame in Iraq. The argumentation for a preemptive attack on Iran is neutered by the spectacle of an ineffective presence in Iraq waiting for some “leader” to get control of the insurgents. Guess what ? Whoever gets into power in Iraq will have insurgents from opposition parties. And unless they duplicate the methods of Saddam, they will appear weak. This is the result of our policy of limited conquest and letting the Iraqi citizens vote when they had no understanding ( or even a willingness to understand) that their country without a respect for individual rights and a negation of religious intolerance would not develop into a free country. If freedom was not what we had to offer, our purpose was badly skewed.
Looking at what is happening in Iraq from a projected Iranian viewpoint: Why would an attack by the United States be of much concern? In the first place we are not even talking about it enough to indicate it is something we are seriously considering. Secondly, if we did attack Iran, would we use the same strategy of replacing the present ruler with another choice of the Iranian populace? Why would that concern Iran when it is the perpetrator and supporter of insurgent terrorist action in most of the Middle East? Trying to get the Iranians to elect a leader that would support a constitution based on the same premises used in Iraq would produce another land of insurgents to plant car bombs, roadside bombs, suicide bombings , etc. This example of our inability to turn the country of Iraq around will not serve us well to invade Iran.
A shift in policy in Iraq will change this whole scenario. All that is necessary is to recognize that the war in Iraq will go on and on until we take charge of the situation and make our vision happen. First of course we have to define our vision better than we have. If we want a reflection of our values in a country then we need to set up the government to demonstrate this. How can we expect Iraqis to project a vision they have never seen in their country? Yes there will be resistance. There is resistance now. But now we are holding our position in hopes that there will be a revelation by some Iraqi supported by a majority of all sectarian groups to reject religious intolerance and respect individual rights. This should be our expectation, not our hope. And the only way to get an expectation realized is to install that expectation for all to see. This would require taking over the country and installing the type of government that would create security and stability. This nonsense of fighting a war just to replace a regime where there are thousands of similar regimes waiting to take over is futile.
When Iran sees that what they will end up with is not the current chaos of Iraq, but a smoothly functioning society based on the rule of law and the respect and enforcement of the doctrine of individual rights , it will give them pause to consider their threats and ambitions. It will show them they do not have a wasteland of scattered insurgents to pick at our flanks but an ally that will support our efforts to turn their country away from the suicide path it is pursuing. A victory and the establishment of a stable government installed by Americans in Iraq is the worst thing that could happen to the Iranian regime. It would inspire the dissidents in Iran to realize whose side would be the winning side and the value of Western values. It would also demonstrate to those who want to saber rattle in our hemisphere that if we can do this in the Middle East we can surely deal with “chiggers’ in Venezuela or Cuba.
If we had fought the Second World War with the notion we only wanted a regime change in Germany what would we be doing today? From winning a war, we went to a policy of limited victory which is no victory at all. Long drawn out occupations of never changing societies has only sacrificed our soldiers and our dollars to a cause without an end in sight. And for what? So the rest of the ignorant world could cast their unjustified shame on us? So the misguided intellectuals of America could talk of the hate we have generated in the rest of the world as millions flock to our shores to join us?
We are creating enemies not by who we are ,but what we are not asserting. Every American knows deep in his soul there is no better country in the world to live and be proud of. But there are those who are not concerned with the world and they envision something that doesn’t and can never exist. These worshipers of fantasy are willing to destroy that which is ,for that which exists only in their deluded consciousness. The nation of Iran epitomizes this delusion. Iran must be defeated if the real world is to be a place where humans can enjoy life. And to be defeated, they must know that we know how to institute a government that respects and protects this enjoyment of life for its citizens. This means we must demonstrate that we know not only how to fight but what to do after the enemy is crushed. This is serious business and it is no time to flirt with disaster because we might offend some lessor vision that ignores the danger of the enemy and expresses a hope for peace on convincing the irrational. Iran is the seat of terrorism in the world and we are in a war on terrorism. This means we have but one choice and that is to win wherever the war is being fought. Today its Iraq, tomorrow Iran.
Looking at what is happening in Iraq from a projected Iranian viewpoint: Why would an attack by the United States be of much concern? In the first place we are not even talking about it enough to indicate it is something we are seriously considering. Secondly, if we did attack Iran, would we use the same strategy of replacing the present ruler with another choice of the Iranian populace? Why would that concern Iran when it is the perpetrator and supporter of insurgent terrorist action in most of the Middle East? Trying to get the Iranians to elect a leader that would support a constitution based on the same premises used in Iraq would produce another land of insurgents to plant car bombs, roadside bombs, suicide bombings , etc. This example of our inability to turn the country of Iraq around will not serve us well to invade Iran.
A shift in policy in Iraq will change this whole scenario. All that is necessary is to recognize that the war in Iraq will go on and on until we take charge of the situation and make our vision happen. First of course we have to define our vision better than we have. If we want a reflection of our values in a country then we need to set up the government to demonstrate this. How can we expect Iraqis to project a vision they have never seen in their country? Yes there will be resistance. There is resistance now. But now we are holding our position in hopes that there will be a revelation by some Iraqi supported by a majority of all sectarian groups to reject religious intolerance and respect individual rights. This should be our expectation, not our hope. And the only way to get an expectation realized is to install that expectation for all to see. This would require taking over the country and installing the type of government that would create security and stability. This nonsense of fighting a war just to replace a regime where there are thousands of similar regimes waiting to take over is futile.
When Iran sees that what they will end up with is not the current chaos of Iraq, but a smoothly functioning society based on the rule of law and the respect and enforcement of the doctrine of individual rights , it will give them pause to consider their threats and ambitions. It will show them they do not have a wasteland of scattered insurgents to pick at our flanks but an ally that will support our efforts to turn their country away from the suicide path it is pursuing. A victory and the establishment of a stable government installed by Americans in Iraq is the worst thing that could happen to the Iranian regime. It would inspire the dissidents in Iran to realize whose side would be the winning side and the value of Western values. It would also demonstrate to those who want to saber rattle in our hemisphere that if we can do this in the Middle East we can surely deal with “chiggers’ in Venezuela or Cuba.
If we had fought the Second World War with the notion we only wanted a regime change in Germany what would we be doing today? From winning a war, we went to a policy of limited victory which is no victory at all. Long drawn out occupations of never changing societies has only sacrificed our soldiers and our dollars to a cause without an end in sight. And for what? So the rest of the ignorant world could cast their unjustified shame on us? So the misguided intellectuals of America could talk of the hate we have generated in the rest of the world as millions flock to our shores to join us?
We are creating enemies not by who we are ,but what we are not asserting. Every American knows deep in his soul there is no better country in the world to live and be proud of. But there are those who are not concerned with the world and they envision something that doesn’t and can never exist. These worshipers of fantasy are willing to destroy that which is ,for that which exists only in their deluded consciousness. The nation of Iran epitomizes this delusion. Iran must be defeated if the real world is to be a place where humans can enjoy life. And to be defeated, they must know that we know how to institute a government that respects and protects this enjoyment of life for its citizens. This means we must demonstrate that we know not only how to fight but what to do after the enemy is crushed. This is serious business and it is no time to flirt with disaster because we might offend some lessor vision that ignores the danger of the enemy and expresses a hope for peace on convincing the irrational. Iran is the seat of terrorism in the world and we are in a war on terrorism. This means we have but one choice and that is to win wherever the war is being fought. Today its Iraq, tomorrow Iran.
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