We were on the verge of invading Iraq. We were told from every angle that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that we had to destroy them. There was a constant drum being played by the media and government officials. Anyone stating the opposite or asking questions was dubbed unpatriotic and sympathetic to terrorists. Yet, there were no weapons of mass destruction. They never existed. (This is of course in spite of the fact that half of Americans still believe there were)
It's nine years later. The weapons of mass destruction have been turned into a nuclear program in Iran and the drums are once again being played. This time in Israel.
While it is now Israel and not the US pushing for a preemptive strike, the whole thing involves us. There are at this moment a whole bunch of our boats sitting in the gulf. This is to protect the Strait of Hormuz which everyone believes will be blocked if Israel attacks. The funny thing about that is that over a third of the world's oil has to be transported through that strait. Meaning that gas prices are probably about to go through the roof.
The article makes a good point and uses some fairly unknown facts about the Iraqi war to justify using non-violent methods to control Iran's nuclear program.
Recent analysis shows that a previous Israeli strike – in 1981, on Iraq’s civilian Osirak nuclear reactor complex – led Saddam Hussein to demand a nuclear deterrent and was actually the trigger for Iraq launching a full-scale effort to weaponize. A decade later, by the time of the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq was on the verge of a nuclear weapons capability.
As researcher Malfrid Braut-Hegghammer explains in a recent International Security article, such ostensibly “preventive attacks can increase the long-term proliferation risk posed by the targeted state.”
The full article is here.
With lots of additional info here.
"The long memory is the most revolutionary idea in America." - U. Utah Phillips
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