Bush Is Escalating His Iraq Occupation To Move "Forward" Against Iran

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By Ron Fullwood (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)

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"These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq," Bush claimed. "Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."

Once again, Iraq has been set up as a surrogate battlefield against yet another one of Bush's "enemies" as he unilaterally constructs an artificial wedge between the Maliki regime and its neighbor and ally, Iran. It's not at all cynical to wonder what Bush's strategy actually was in fostering the radicalization and strengthening of the present Iranian regime with the removal of Saddam - and after the sacrifice of over 3,000 American lives and countless innocent Iraqi lives to create an Iran-friendly Iraqi regime - only to turn around and try to militarily face down the very alliance he sponsored with his invasion and occupation.

It no wonder that there's still chaos and unrest in Iraq, because, Bush is clearly obsessed with stoking the violence for his ultimate intention to provoke Iran into a self-serving confrontation against our forces. Today, it was reported that U.S. forces attacked an Iranian consulate and arrested several members of the staff who the military claimed were "suspected of being closely tied to activities targeting Iraq and coalition forces." The raid on the consulate seemed suspiciously like a staged event meant to coincide with the line in his address about Iran aiding attacks on our soldiers in Iraq. It's just not a credible coincidence from this duplicitous administration.

It serves Bush in his attempt to shift blame for the violent resistance to his bloody Iraq occupation to some faceless Iranian influence. But, Iran is not occupying Iraq; Bush is. Iran has not armed and trained the very individuals who make up the bulk of the Shia death squads; Bush has. Iran is not threatening anyone outside of their own borders; it's Bush who, in fact, threatens Iran with our military forces amassed next door.

Bush is attempting to manufacture yet another distraction from his failure to capture the individuals in Afghanistan who he claimed were responsible for the 9-11 attacks. This time he's looking to distract attention, as well, from his failure to subdue the Iraqi population underneath his newly installed regime. Unfortunately, the citizens in the region caught in the way of Bush's imperialism will bear the ultimate consequences of his reckless meddling, despite his transparent excuse that he's 'liberating' someone or the other or 'protecting' us from some greater evil than his own vain aggression.

"In the long run," Bush told the world Wednesday night, "the most realistic way to protect the American people is to provide a hopeful alternative to the hateful ideology of the enemy - by advancing liberty across a troubled region," he said.

So far, however, Bush has only contributed various expressions of his original bludgeon of 'shock and awe' to the shell-shocked residents of Iraq caught in the way of his 'liberating' and 'protecting.' According to the Iraqi Health Ministry, 22,950 people were killed in Iraq in 2006. The United Nations says that over 28,000 civilians were killed in the first 10 months alone of 2006. The Lancet medical journal reported in October 2006, that over 600,000 people were killed in Iraq following Bush's 2003 invasion.

There's no evidence that our forces have 'protected' anyone in Iraq, much less, 'liberated' anyone from violence; or made lives more secure from violence there, or here at home where Bush's concern supposedly originates. Bush's latest attempt to tie our nation to another military assault on yet another sovereign nation, is evidence of his own bloodthirsty ambition - more than it represents any necessary defense of American interests, or anything else Bush might claim as he pushes forward. The nation and the world should not allow him to expand his Iraq failure into Iran. We should not allow him to continue.

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Ron Fullwood, is an activist from Columbia, Md. and the author of the book 'Power of Mischief' : Military Industry Executives are Making Bush Policy and the Country is Paying the Price

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