Iran placed in the sights of neocons

koreaherald: The quickening drumbeat of Washington forecasts of attack upon Iran increasingly leads one to think this is not simply neoconservative and Israeli pressure upon the Bush administration to act. It may be evidence that such an attack now is being developed and is a serious possibility.

The negative consequences of such an attack, Iran's possible military and economic ripostes, the devastating potentialities of a new war for Bush administration policy itself, for American relations with the Islamic world, and for the future of the United States, have by now been fully and even angrily described by critical analysts and ex-governmental figures both conservative and liberal.

The measures of retaliation available to the Iranian government, and the ineluctable international backlash - above all if nuclear weapons should be used - must certainly have been set before everyone in a senior foreign policy position in Washington.

Yet there is a strong streak of belief in this government that the United States is invulnerable and omnipotent.

This was demonstrated by the Iraq invasion itself, undertaken not only behind a screen of public deception but - much more significant - with an administration rationale and expectations riddled with self-deception. It is again evident in the continuing determination today to turn Iraq into an American strategic outpost, whatever the Iraqis think or do.

This is not an American government that seeks full intelligence, practices what bankers and lawyers call due diligence, or acts with prudent concern for consequences, even the foreseeable ones, not to speak of unforeseen possibilities. It believes power eventually prevails. Read more