Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Foreign Policy & News Bomb Iran

Back in 2002, many people, including Nobel Prize winner Al Gore, argued from an economic angle the stupidity of attacking Iraq, but did that stop all those Republicans and a sizable minority of Democrats from authorizing the use of force?

There are other, more significant reasons why Mr. Cheney's hopes of attacking Iran have been dashed. Primary among them is the legitimate fear of reprisal against US troops in Iraq at the hands of Shi'ite Iraqis more loyal to their spiritual leaders than to their puppet government.

But let's not lose sight of the fact that sabre rattling is just as effective, or perhaps even more so, when the rattler has no real intention of attacking. Here I refer to the US only; Israel has shown repeatedly over the last two decades that it will launch a military attack whenever it pleases. The US will undoubtedly, if covertly, support any such attack, but not necessarily join in.

There is still the danger, the very real danger, that an Israeli attack would bring about shi'ite Iraqi reprisal against US troops. All the more reason for a precipitous US withdrawal from Iraq. We have no reason to assume that we can't trust the Iranians, but we know from experience that we can't trust the Israelis.