Letter on Coming US attack on Iran

This letter was sent to the Brandon Sun, Brandon Manitoba


The Coming Attack on Iran


For some time now there has been a concerted campaign by the US to create negative attitudes toward Iran in tandem with a number of moves that prepare for an attack against it.

Reports of Iran meddling in Iraq are constant. Although hard evidence is noticeably absent, numerous anonymous intelligence experts and US officials complain of Iranian networks operating in Iran and of providing sophisticated IED devices that the Iraqi insurgents are supposedly incapable of producing. The US has gone so far as to raid a prominent Shia politician’s compound and nab five Iranians. It went even further and raided an Iranian “consul” in Erbil. It also pursued an Iranian to the Erbil airport where the raiders were confronted by Kurdish guards. In spite of the fact that these raids violated the sovereignty of Iraq and offended the government, the US is continuing this aggressive policy against Iran even at the same time as the Iraqi government is trying to develop co-operative relationships with both Iran and Syria.

The US is also deploying more naval forces in the Gulf including nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. These forces are obviously directed against Iran. Furthermore, US planes have been flown to Turkey to take part in “exercises”. The surge as well can be seen as part of a build up of troops in Iraq to quell any surge in Shia attacks should the US bomb Iran.

The reasons for an attack on Iran are not completely clear but certainly prevention of Iran from development of a nuclear bomb is one factor. This aim is strongly supported by Israel itself already a nuclear power. A final aim may be for Bush to claim a victory in destroying Iran’s nuclear power as well as preventing Iran’s “meddling” in Iraq, and thus winning a key battle in the “war against terror”. The attack will also call attention away from the mess in Iraq. This policy assumes that Iran will not risk an all out response to any attack. At most the US expects only limited reactions that can easily be contained. As with policies in Iraq, the assumed results are unlikely to have much resemblance to the real results.