[NYTr] Bush Indictment of Iran Tops Usual Rhetoric

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

IPS - Aug 29, 2007
http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=39061

Bush Indictment of Iran Tops Usual Rhetoric

by Trita Parsi

WASHINGTON, Aug 29 (IPS) - The George W. Bush administration has
seemingly taken advantage of the Congressional recess to escalate
tensions with Iran. Earlier in August, the State Department revealed
plans to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a
global terrorist organisation. On Tuesday, in a speech to U.S. war
veterans in Nevada, President Bush raised the temperature further by
declaring his intent to "confront Tehran's murderous activities" in
Iraq.

But what on the surface may appear as business as usual in the war of
words between Tehran and Washington may in reality repeat an earlier
pattern widely suspected to have been aimed at provoking war with Iran.

With Congress gearing up for a fight with the White House on the surge
policy in Iraq, President Bush has arguably many reasons to talk up
tensions with Iran. Focusing on Iran may help deflect attention away
from the surge strategy's failure to turn the tide in Iraq. It can also
help convince Congress that Iran is responsible for U.S. misfortunes in
Iraq and that cutting the funds for the war would embolden the clergy
in Tehran.

Iran's radical president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is certainly not making
the work of the administration more difficult. Shortly before Bush's
address to the Nevada war veterans, Ahmadinejad did his part in
ratcheting up tensions.

"Soon, we will see a huge power vacuum in the region," he predicted at
a press conference. "Of course, we are prepared to fill the gap, with
the help of neighbours and regional friends like Saudi Arabia, and with
the help of the Iraqi nation," he continued in a clear reference to the
United States's declining position in the Middle East and Iran's bid to
reclaim a regional leadership role.

Still, the nature and implications of the Bush administration's recent
moves do not have the characteristics of a customary rhetorical
deflection exercise. Accusing Iran of seeking to put an already
unstable Middle East under "the shadow of a nuclear holocaust" and
promising to confront Tehran -- whose actions "threaten the security of
nations everywhere" -- before it is too late echo statements made by
the Bush White House about Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein prior to the
invasion of Iraq.

In fact, Bush's speech to the veterans in Nevada has several
similarities to his address to the nation on Jan. 10. That was also
slated as a major speech on Iraq, though it spelled out little new
about Washington's strategy except to call for staying the course.
Instead, it revealed key elements of the U.S.'s new aggressive posture
on Iran.

For the first time, the president accused Iran of "providing material
support for attacks on American troops" while promising to "disrupt the
attacks on our forces" and "seek out and destroy the networks providing
advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."

Moments after the president's speech in January, U.S. Special Forces
stormed an Iranian consulate in Erbil in northern Iraq, arresting five
Iranians who Tehran said were diplomats. Washington described the
detained Iranians as agents and members of the IRGC. Later that day,
U.S. forces almost clashed with Kurdish peshmerga militia forces when
seeking to arrest more Iranians at Erbil's airport.

The U.S. move drew stark criticism from the Iraqi government. "What
happened... was very annoying because there has been an Iranian liaison
office there for years and it provides services to the citizens,"
Iraq's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoshiyar Zebari told Al-Arabiya
television.

Similarly, Bush's harsh words for Iran in Nevada were promptly followed
by a raid at the Sheraton Ishtar Hotel in Baghdad where eight Iranian
nationals were arrested. The group included two diplomats and six
members of a delegation from Iran's Electricity Ministry. A U.S.-funded
radio station reported that the Iranian delegation was in Baghdad to
negotiate contracts on electric power stations.

While the eight Iranians were later released -- unlike the five taken
in Erbil who still remain in U.S. custody -- actions of this kind
combined with the intensified war of words can, intentionally or by
accident, trigger a larger crisis. (A U.S. official later called the
Sheraton incident "regrettable" and denied that it was related to
President Bush's remarks in Nevada).

In January, the president's allegations against Iran were widely seen
as preparing the grounds for war. Key lawmakers in the newly elected
Democratic Congress moved swiftly to challenge the administration and
demand evidence for its claims.

At a hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee a day after the
president's Jan. 10 address, Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska drew
parallels with the Richard Nixon administration's attempt to deceive
the public regarding the U.S. government's efforts to expand the
Vietnam War into Cambodia.

"[O]ur government lied to the American people and said we didn't cross
the border going into Cambodia. In fact we did," he told Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice. "I think this speech given last night by this
president represents the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this
country since Vietnam, if it's carried out. I will resist it," Hagel
continued.

Other lawmakers publicly questioned the veracity of the president's
allegations regarding Iranian involvement in Iraq. All in all, the
pushback from Congress in January is believed to have played a key role
in preventing hawks in the administration from forcing the U.S. into a
military confrontation with Iran.

But with Congress preparing for a fight over Iraq -- not Iran -- and
with key lawmakers planning to pass legislation imposing harsh new
sanctions on Tehran, Congress' ability and willingness to
simultaneously contain deliberate or unintentional escalation with Iran
may be limited. If so, there may be little business as usual about
Washington and Tehran's intensified war of words.

[Dr. Trita Parsi is the author of "Treacherous Alliances -- The Secret
Dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States" (Yale University Press,
2007). He is also president of the National Iranian American Council
(http://www.niacouncil.org/).]

(END/2007)