Did anyone else see the program last night on the History Channel, titled "Iran: The Next Iraq?" I highly recommend it. I think it is quite even-handed, and captures the strategic and emotional stakes very well. No one gets off without a slap. On the US side: The program clearly outlines the serial missteps we have made in order to secure for ourselves a reliable supply of oil from the Middle East. In particular, the support of the Shaw...and the support of Saddam against the revolutionary regime in Iran. The US leadership--Eisenhower through Bush--is accurately portrayed as a bunch of arrogant, incompetent chess players in the region, with no respect for, or appreciation of, the cultures and histories there. On the Iranian side: The emotional and cultural underpinnings of their passionate resistance to the imposition of a subservient stature in the world is explained as being driven, not only by a general irritation with US interference in the region, but more importantly by the vision of what was...2500 years ago, when Persia was the dominant culture in the world. My simple observation: Cultures, powers, and ideas will continue to rise and fall for the rest of time, most probably. I suppose it is a necessary part of evolution. But it is interesting to note (as evidenced by this program) that dominant world cultures do no collapse without aftershocks. Even dead empires fight to sustain their glory... though they are rarely (if ever) resurrected. It follows then that in 2000 years or so there will be a renegade band of Americans fighting the oppression of....the Martian "colonists"?? And trying to recapture, GLORY DAYS!!! (were they really so glorious?) saxon
Judging by the current rhetoric, I wouldn't be the least bit suprised to see the US attack Iran. I'm seeing very similar tones to those of news stories prior to the US invading Iraq.
Whoever cares the least wins... it's just business. If the bush admin has any brains at all they will keep messing around until the Isrealis have to do something.