BUSH HAS MORE IN MIND THAN JUST TORTURE AND SHREDDING THE CONSTITUTION-- LIKE NUKING IRAN

Deep in your heart you think even Bush wouldn't dare attack Iran with nuclear weapons, right? Admit it. Paul Roberts, Chairman of the Institute for Political Economy and Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, former contributing editor for National Review, and former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Ronald Reagan-- think about c.v for a second-- seems quite certain that the Bush Regime has every intention of nuking Iran.

Wow, and I thought I was depressed about Sherrod Brown going over to the Dark Side yesterday! This is way worse. Roberts, a dyed-in-the-wool old line conservative loathes the neocon bumblers as much as we do. If you don't want to read his lengthy, well-thought out essay, let me give you the Cliff Notes version.

"The neoconservative Bush administration will attack Iran with tactical nuclear weapons, because it is the only way the neocons believe they can rescue their goal of U.S. (and Israeli) hegemony in the Middle East." Bush lost both the wars he started; the generals are screaming for more troops and there ain't done to send. Europe has told the despised Bush he's on his own. Remember that make-believe coalition-- "assembled with bribes, threats, and intimidation"-- of Fiji and Slovenia? Yeah, neither do they.

"Bush's defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel's defeat by Hezbollah in Lebanon have shown that the military firepower of the U.S. and Israeli armies, though effective against massed Arab armies, cannot defeat guerillas and insurgencies. The U.S. has battled in Iraq longer than it fought against Nazi Germany, and the situation in Iraq is out of control. The Taliban have regained half of Afghanistan. The king of Saudi Arabia has told Bush that the ground is shaking under his feet as unrest over the American/Israeli violence against Muslims builds to dangerous levels. Our Egyptian puppet sits atop 100 million Muslims who do not think that Egypt should be a lackey of U.S. hegemony. The king of Jordan understands that Israeli policy is to drive every Palestinian into Jordan."

Roberts thinks Bush doesn't have the brains to understand he fucked up and can only fathom escalation. "Neocons believe that a nuclear attack on Iran would have intimidating force throughout the Middle East and beyond." Neocons, who have been consistently wrong about everything are certain "Iran would not dare retaliate... against U.S. ships, U.S. troops in Iraq, or use their missiles against oil facilities in the Middle East." They want to show it is futile to resist the will of the Empire. According to Roberts, "Neocons say that even the most fanatical terrorists would realize the hopelessness of resisting U.S. hegemony. The vast multitude of Muslims would realize that they have no recourse but to accept their fate."

Roberts doesn't deal with the obvious, that little things about neocons always being wrong about everything and never ever ever being right. Instead, he points out that "revised U.S. war doctrine concludes that tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons cause relatively little 'collateral damage' or civilian deaths, while achieving a powerful intimidating effect on the enemy. The 'fear factor' disheartens the enemy and shortens the conflict." Sound familiar yet?


The likely results? end of the Nonproliferation Treaty, countries scurrying "pell-mell" in pursuit of nuclear weapons, possibly a Chinese/Russian alliance, U.S. being a complete pariah nation (instead of just Bush being a rogue, lame duck, pariah head of state). Roberts has a few things to say about the impotence of American opposition, the mania of the neocons and he ends interesting, for a lifelong establishment Republican:

"It is astounding that such dangerous fanatics have control of the U.S. government and have no organized opposition in American politics."