Is It Jaw-Jaw or War-War?

> By Patrick J. Buchanan
> Tuesday, May 6, 2008

>
> Is war with Iran inevitable, even imminent? Or is peace at
> hand?
>
> From the public diplomacy of the administration, either
> conclusion
> may be reached. Consider.
>
> "West Offers Iran 'Refreshed' Deal," ran
> the headline in the May 3
> Washington Times. The story described an offer to Iran,
> agreed to
> by all five members of the Security Council -- the United
> States,
> Britain, France, Russia and China -- of a sweetened grand
> bargain,
> if Tehran will suspend its enrichment of uranium.
>
> Blessing the offering in London was Condi Rice.
>
> Details will not be made public, but the offer is said to
> include
> Western aid to Iran for a civilian nuclear program, a light
> water
> reactor and a five-year stock of enriched uranium held for
> Iran by
> the International Atomic Energy Agency.
>
> America's contribution would be support for Iran's
> admission to the
> World Trade Organization, a conference to discuss regional
> security
> in the Gulf, a U.S. offer to sell Iran spare parts for its
> U.S.-built civilian aircraft and a beginning of the lifting
> of
> three decades of U.S. sanctions.
>
> News of this offer, plus the relaxed mood in Washington,
> which is
> utterly unlike the tense atmosphere prior to March 2003,
> suggests
> that war with Iran is far from the mind of this city.
>
> But to take the warnings and threats of the civilian and
> military
> leaders of this administration at face value would lead one
> to
> conclude the opposite -- that war with Iran is indeed
> inevitable,
> and probably soon. Consider.
>
> Last month, Gen. David Petraeus was asked by Joe Lieberman,
> "Is it
> fair to say that the Iranian-backed special groups in Iraq
> are
> responsible for the murder of hundreds of American soldiers
> and
> thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians?"
>
> "It certainly is. ... That is correct," answered
> the general.
>
> The next day, Petraeus testified, "Unchecked, the
> 'special groups'
> pose the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a
> democratic
> Iraq."
>
> Petraeus has since been promoted to command of all U.S.
> forces in
> the region.
>
> Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, known as an opponent of
> war on
> Iran, followed Petraeus, accusing Tehran of being
> "hell-bent on
> acquiring nuclear weapons." Last week, Gates was out
> front again.
> "What the Iranians are doing is killing American
> servicemen and
> -women inside Iraq."
>
> Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is now
> also
> pounding the war drum. Iran's "irresponsible
> influence," its
> support of terror and its pursuit of atomic weapons, he
> said last
> week, is creating a "perfect nightmare" for the
> region. The
> Pentagon, said the chairman, is planning for
> "potential military
> ... action" because of Iran's "increasingly
> lethal and malign
> influence."
>
> "It would be a mistake to think that we are out of
> combat
> capacity," Mullen declared. A second U.S. carrier just
> entered the
> Persian Gulf.
>
> CBS reports that a target list of U.S. military planners
> includes
> the headquarters of the Quds Force and plants where Iran
> produces
> enhanced IEDs and the rockets used against the Green Zone.
> The
> network also reports that the State Department has begun
> drafting
> an ultimatum.
>
> U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmal Khalilzad has
> chimed
> in: "Iran and Syria must stop the flow of weapons and
> foreign
> fighters into Iraq, and their malign interference in
> Iraq."
>
> Iraqi Maj. Gen. Qasim Atta says 700 rockets and mortars
> have been
> fired at Coalition forces and the Green Zone, and most of
> the
> "Katyusha and Grad rockets and smart roadside
> bombs" were
> Iranian-made. The U.S. military is preparing a dossier on
> Iran's
> role in the Iraq war.
>
> In the Landon Lecture at Kansas State, CIA Director Michael
> Hayden
> declared, "It ... is the policy of the Iranian
> government, approved
> to the highest level ... to facilitate the killing of
> Americans in
> Iraq." That day, State designated Iran the "most
> significant" and
> "most active" state sponsor of terror on earth.
>
> From the White House to State to the Pentagon to CIA, the
> Bush
> administration is now singing from the same song sheet:
> Iran's Quds
> Force, with the knowledge of President Ahmadinejad, is
> arming and
> directing "special groups" to kill U.S. soldiers
> and prevent a U.S.
> victory.
>
> Is the White House rattling sabers to prod Iran into talks?
>
> Perhaps. But the administration has also painted itself,
> and us,
> into a corner with the war talk. And there are only three
> ways out.
>
> The first is that Iran halts the attacks, ends its
> intervention and
> negotiates on the six-nation offer. The second is that Iran
> rejects
> the deal, refuses to stop the attacks and U.S. air strikes
> begin.
>
> The third is that Bush is bluffing and goes home railing
> against an
> axis-of-evil nation killing American soldiers, having done
> nothing.
>
> With Israel, the Israeli lobby, the neocons and Dick Cheney
> insisting on air strikes, and even Hillary Clinton talking
> about
> Iran being "obliterated," the last course would
> seem the least
> probable.
>
> We are likely headed either for negotiations with Iran or
> war,
> after Bush returns from the 60th anniversary celebration of
> Israel's birth.
>
> "To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war,"
> said Winston
> Churchill in 1954, whose career often contradicted his wise
> counsel.
>
> SOURCE:
> http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=BIz8Z&m=1czIEFsQv1xN9f&b=wy2FzvdkawFWRLvN3EbHpg
>
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