JWachman, Period 3 With all the hype that has been surrounding Iraq in the last decade it is easy to get confused about where Iran comes in and what the issues are surrounding it. The deal is that Iran has harbored fugitive Al Qaeda members, charged US officials, and is attempting to extend its influence across its border into western Afghanistan. Iran’s leaders are working quickly on an effort to develop a nuclear weapon; and, unlike Iraq, Iran's program has never been disrupted by UN-sanctioned weapons inspectors. In the face of its long, harsh war with Iraq in the 1980’s, Iran has criticized US efforts to overthrow Saddam, probably because some in Tehran fear they might be next on America’s list. With this background information it is much easier to comprehend the views that the 2008 Presidential nominees take concerning Iran.
Hillary Clinton, a democratic frontrunner in for the 2008 election, has taken a side and clearly stated that she believes that Iran is a threat to the U.S. "U.S. policy must be clear and unequivocal: We cannot, we should not, we must not permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons," Clinton told a crowd of Israel supporters. "In dealing with this threat ... no option can be taken off the table." Clinton has also expressed that because Iran uses its influence and its revenues in the region to support terrorist elements, America needs to tap into all of its recourses, including diplomatic and economic, as well as the threat and use of military force to ensure our country’s safety.
As the election nears and people are becoming more curious about what the deal is with Iran, more and more people are writing criticisms on the views. Back in October of 2007 seventy five senators, including Hillary Clinton, voted on a measure which asked the Bush administration to declare Iran’s 125,000-member Revolutionary Guard Corps a foreign terrorist organization. According to a statement put out by Clinton following her vote in favor of the measure she explained that, “in order to apply greater diplomatic pressure on Iran,” this measure needed to be supported. While Senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd voted against the measure, as well as Barrack Obama and John Edwards admitting that they would have voted against the measure, the New York Times felt that Hillary’s move was, “more hawkish than even most of the Bush administration has been willing to venture so far.” Many foreign policy experts say that Hillary’s favored aggression towards Iran would greatly intensify America’s confrontation with them. The New York Times writer Helene Cooper suggested that Hillary’s move was an election strategy. “Part of the reason for Mrs. Clinton’s vote... is that she has already shifted from primary mode, when she needs to guard against critics from the left, to general election mode, when she must guard against critics from the right. That means she is trying to shore up her national security credentials versus Republican candidates, and is trying to reassure voters that she would be a tough-minded commander in chief.” Supporting the measure was compared to being the same as if Iran declared that the United States military is a terrorist organization because it carries out President Bush’s orders.
As the war in Iraq materializes into what General William E. Odom calls, “the greatest strategic disaster in United States history,” and the cost in lives and money continues to rise, we are already being set up for the second act of war in the middle east in what Antiwar.com says is the Democrats taking up where the Republicans could be leaving off. Justin Raimondo wrote on how because the Bush administration has done little to confront Tehran Hillary Clinton has been prompted, “to take on the Bushies for supposedly ignoring the alleged threat from Iran.” Raimondo brings up how, “This administration's increasingly hysterical statements on the alleged ‘crisis,’ supposedly sparked by Iran's resumption of its nuclear energy program,” aren’t in line with intelligence because Iran is at least 10 years away from actually producing a usable nuclear weapon. The entire article from Antiwar.com focuses on accusing Clinton of Being a “War Goddess” because of her wishes to set up permanent bases in Iraq to more easily be able to threaten war in Iran. Raimondo ends by stating his fear that, “despite her Amazonian aggressiveness when it comes to foreign policy, these supposedly ‘antiwar’ Democrats will find her Xena-like persona irresistible.”
In a future news article written by Timothy Ash of Guardian Unlimited entitled The tragedy that followed Hillary Clinton's bombing of Iran in 2009, massive suicide bombings and simultaneous attacks that took place in response to President Hillary Clinton’s orders to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities in March 2009 are discussed. May 7, 2009 was said to be a day to go down in history following, “massive suicide bombings in Tel Aviv, London and New York, as well as simultaneous attacks on the remaining western troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Total casualties were estimated at around 10,000 dead and many more wounded. The attacks, which included the explosion of a so-called dirty bomb in London, were orchestrated by a Tehran-based organization for ‘martyrdom-seeking operations’” (Ash). After the initial seemingly successful bombings of 37 sites in which Iran was said to be on the verge of making a nuclear weapon using its own version of P-2 centrifuges a terrible rift in U.S. alliances and a drastic rise in oil prices followed. According to comments by readers following this article the scenario is both logical and possible.
Bibliography
Ash, Timothy. "The tragedy that followed Hillary Clinton's bombing of Iran in 2009." Guardian Unlimited 20 April 2006 4 February 2008 .
The Associated Press, "Hillary Clinton calls Iran a threat to U.S., Israel." International Herald Tribune 1 February 2007 4 February 2008 .
Clinton, Hillary. "IRAN: No Military Action On Iran Without Congressional Authority." 14 February 2007.
Cooper, Helene. "Clinton’s Iran Vote: The Fallout ." The New York Times 14 October 2007 4 February 2008 .
Raimondo, Justin. "Hillary Clinton, War Goddess ." Antiwar.com 23 January 2006 4 February 2008 .
