There are signs that some kind of major U.S.-Israeli military offensive could be in the offing in the near future. Among them:
• The Friends Committee on National Legislation, the National Iranian American Council, and Time columnist Joe Klein have issued warnings.
• A bizarre July 31 piece in the Washington Post by Ray Tayeyh and Steven Simon arguing that the U.S. should only attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and then “signal” the Iranians that the bombing would stop and that the goal was not to overthrow the regime.
• Admiral Mike Mullen’s Aug. 2 admission that the U.S. “has plans” to attack Iran to prevent that country from producing nuclear weapons.
• An Aug. 4 open letter from former intelligence officers to President Obama warning that Israel could be planning to attack Iran and draw the U.S. into the conflict.
• The introduction of HR 1553, which provides explicit support for military strikes against Iran, stating that Congress supports Israel’s use of “all means necessary” against Iran, “including the use of force.”
These have opened the gate to push the U.S. into military action. It has long been the goal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to draw the United States into direct, full-scale war with Iran.
Although on paper, Israelis and their lobbyists base their argument for war on a fanciful scenario of Iran doling out nuclear weapons to Islamic extremists all over the Middle East, their more likely objective is to destroy Iran’s Islamic regime in a paroxysm of U.S. military violence. David Wurmser, formerly a close adviser to Netanyahu and Dick Cheney’s main adviser on the Middle East, revealed that he had advocated a U.S. war on Iran, not to set back the nuclear program but to achieve regime change.
The idea of waging a U.S. war of destruction against Iran is obvious lunacy, which is why military leaders have strongly resisted it in both Bush and Obama administrations.
Even though Israel, not Iran, has increasingly been regarded around the world as a rogue state after the Gaza incursion and the commando killings of unarmed civilians on board the Mavi Marmara, its grip on the U.S. Congress appears as strong as ever.
AIPAC has once again flexed its muscle, making it clear, with the introduction of this resolution, that it can push Congress to bend Obama into submission. It appears that Democrats in Congress are willing to go along.
Ibrahim Kazerooni of Denver is an imam for Colorado’s Muslim community. Rob Prince is a full-time lecturer at the University of Denver’s Korbel School for International Studies.
