Wednesday, August 01, 2012

When pigs fly...


If you'd asked me just yesterday if it was even remotely possible for me to find a subject I could agree with Pat Buchanan about, I'd have replied, "When pigs fly!"


Damn, those genetic engineers are good!  Look for flying pigs going by any day now!


In an article in the web site Humanevents.com, Buchanan noted:
Has Mitt Romney given Israel a blank check for war? 
So it seemed from the declaration in Jerusalem by his adviser Dan Senor, who all but flashed Israel a green light for war, signaling the Israelis that, if you go, Mitt’s got your back: 
“If Israel has to take action on its own in order to stop Iran from developing that capability, the governor would respect that decision.” 
“No option would be excluded. Gov. Romney recognizes Israel’s right to defend itself and that it is right for America to stand with it. 
What does “stand with” Israel, if she launches a surprise attack on Iran, mean?  Does it mean the United States will guide Israeli planes to their targets and provide bases on their return? Does it mean U.S. air cover while Israeli planes strike Iran?   
This would make America complicit in a pre-emptive strike and a co-belligerent in the war to follow.  What Senor said comes close to being a U.S. war guarantee for Israel, while leaving the decision as to when the war begins to them.
This country has never done that before.
Well, blow me down and [blank] my [blank]!  Is there some measure of hope?  Can there be a glimmer of sensibility to the right wing?  Read on:
Unlike its neighbors Israel and Pakistan, Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has no nuclear weapons. The ayatollah has said they are immoral and Iran will not acquire them. 
But under the NPT, Iran claims the right to enrich uranium and seek the benefits of nuclear technology. And in that decision, the people of Iran stand behind their government. 
Is denying Iran the right to enrich uranium a reason for America to plunge into its fifth war in that region in a generation?
I'm speechless.
That appears where we are headed.   Reportedly, Obama’s national security adviser recently briefed Bibi Netanyahu on the specifics of U.S. contingency plans to attack Iran.Has Congress been briefed? Have the American people been consulted? Or are we simply irrelevant? 
A decade ago, this country sent an army up to Baghdad to overthrow Saddam and strip Iraq of a vast arsenal of chemical and biological weapons we were told it had and was preparing to use. 
We were misled; we were deceived; we were lied to.
Who the hell are you, and what have you done with Pat Buchanan?
Before we outsource to Bibi and Ehud Barak the decision to take us to war with a country three times the size of Iraq, we need to know: 
Was the U.S. intelligence community wrong in 2007 and 2011? Is Iran hell-bent on building nuclear weapons? If so, where are they constructing and testing these weapons?Finally, if Iran is willing to permit intrusive inspections of its actual and suspected nuclear sites, but insists on its right to enrich uranium, should we go to war to deny them that right? 
But if we are going to go to war again, this time with Iran, the decision should be made in America, according to our Constitution, not by any other country. 
For once, a wingnut religious fanatic has written something which I can honestly say I agree with.  Every word, even the subtle dig at Obama in the middle somewhere.  It is a reasonable article, asking sensible questions, and even carries with it a bare hint of disapproval of the slim possibility of Israeli actions that might require American support.


Is this really a Republican talking?  Are we sure this isn't some radical Democrat hacking into that site and putting reasonable words into the man's mouth?


Look for the dogs of war to come barking at Pat's door any day now, we just can't have such reasonableness anywhere near a real Republican this close to the election!


Either that, or Humanevents.com is an Onion lookalike!


I think I've got to go lay down now.

3 comments:

Explicit Atheist said...

The proposal, which I think has been on the table for years now, reportedly includes capping Iran’s uranium enrichment at the 5-percent level; shipping to a third-party country Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to higher levels; and scrapping its deeply buried uranium-enrichment facility. So when Pat asks hypothetically "if Iran is willing to permit intrusive inspections of its actual and suspected nuclear sites, but insists on its right to enrich uranium, should we go to war to deny them that right?", either he is not familiar with the topic he is discussing or he isn't being entirely honest. My guess is that it is the latter, he is a propagandist more than an honest analyst.

Hos said...

Pat "WWII was Churchill's fault and both Jews and Christians died in the holocaust" Buchanan is a known antisemite. He does have a point about avoiding another war but he seems to have conveniently forgotten that the regime of Iran has threatened Israel with destruction many times over. Could this have anything to do with his antisemitism?

Unknown said...

Hos, you're probably closer to the truth.