Excellent article summarizing the danger the Iraq adventure has placed us in.
It is beginning to appear that the Iraq invasion will go down in history as a parallel to Stalin's invasion of Finland. When Hitler observed the apparent weakness of the previously unassailable Soviet military, he was emboldened to attempt Operation Barbarossa. Like Hitler, the Iranian leadership is now emboldened by what they have observed. Wars are started due to hubris, not doubt.
And all this is due to the complete incompetence of the GOP in their pursuit of this war. If they had decided Iraq must be taken, why did they not use adequate troop levels or follow the advise of State Department experts? Why did they rush to set up a wild west of crony capitalism, thus alienating most of the population?
Incompetence rising to the level of treason. Yes, treason, freepers. Not the Ann Coulter 'cause we don't like what they say' treason. I am talking the 'place the entire nation in danger' treason.
The Iranian Nightmare
Aug 11, 2005
By Michael Schwartz
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GH11Ak01.html. . .
At first, events looked to be moving in quite a different direction. Lost in the obscure pages of the early coverage of the Iraq war was a moment when, it seemed, the clerical regime in Iran flinched. Soon after Saddam fled and Baghdad became an American town, Iran suddenly entered into negotiations with Great Britain, France and Germany on ending its nuclear program, the most public point of friction with the US. After all, it was Saddam's supposed nuclear program that had been the casus belli for the American invasion, and Bush administration neo-conservatives had been hammering away at the Iranian program in a similar fashion.
. . .
The increasingly destructive, devolving American occupation in Iraq also deflected the anger of an Iranian population that had been growing restless under the harsh clerical hand of Iran's political leaders. At the time of the invasion, opinion surveys in Iran indicated both "widespread discontent within the Islamic republic" and a generally positive attitude toward the United States. ("The average Iranian does not bear ill will against America.")
. . .
In other words, instead of deterring or ending the Iranian nuclear effort, the US invasion and botched occupation encouraged and accelerated it, lending it national prestige and rallying Iranian public opinion to the cause. The long-term oil relationship between China and Iran, sparked in part by the American occupation of neighboring Iraq, would soon be complemented by a host of other economic ties, including an $836-million contract for China to build the first stage of the Tehran subway system, an expanding Chinese auto manufacturing presence in Iran and negotiations around a host of other transportation and energy projects. In 2004, China sought to deepen political ties between the two countries by linking Iran to the Shanghai Cooperative Organization (SCO), a political alliance composed of China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. China and Russia soon began shipping Iran advanced missile systems, a decision that generated angry protests from the Bush administration.
. . .
In light of all these developments, Juan Cole commented: "In a historic irony, Iran's most dangerous enemy of all, the United States, invaded Iran's neighbor with an eye to eventually toppling the Tehran regime - but succeeded only in defeating itself." 
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