I guess Lindsey Graham has been elected the new point man in the Senate to blame Obama if Iran ever gets nukes. No other reason I can think of exists for his latest saber rattling exercise in which he practically demands that Obama go to war against Iran:
“The last thing America wants is another military conflict, but the last thing the world needs is a nuclear-armed Iran… Containment is off the table.”
The South Carolina Republican saw the United States going to war with the Islamic republic “not to just neutralize their nuclear program, but to sink their navy, destroy their air force and deliver a decisive blow to the Revolutionary Guard, in other words neuter that regime.”
He spoke just days before expected nuclear talks will see US and Iranian officials sitting at the same table for discussions on Tehran’s nuclear drive. The two countries have lacked diplomatic ties since the Iran hostage crisis of 1979.
Is Iran suddenly closer to a nuke than the weeks before the election? Did the Republicans run on a platform of starting a third war in the Middle East? I don’t recall Republicans emphasizing the need to blast Iran to smithereens in their campaign ads this Fall. Do you? Yet suddenly out of nowwhere “containment is off the table.” What does that leave on the table Senator “I served as a JAG Lawyer during Gulf War I behind a desk in South Carolina” Graham? If containment and sanctions are off the table that leaves only complete capitulation by Iran’s leaders (highly unlikely, as in not going to happen) or war, with strikes either by Israel with US support, or by the US directly.
Well we all know that if the consequences of any war with Iran would devastate the world’s economy, cause gas proves to rise to heights not yet seen (can you say $200 a barrel) on speculation alone, and kill thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of innocent people, most of them Muslims. It would also reinforce the idea that the US is engaged in a religious war against Muslims, and threaten our national security and the security of our allies in Europe and the Middle East with terrorist strikes.
Graham knows this quite well. He knows we aren’t going to war over Iran’s potential for nukes, at least not unless Sarah Palin becomes President.
No, this is likely part of the GOP’s campaign to diminish further their base’s respect for President Obama and reinforce the meme that Obama is weak on national defense, that at heart he is a Muslim sympathizer, and, among the most extreme crazies on the right, that he is a secret Muslim hell bent on destroying America’s Christians and imposing Sharia law.
In short, it’s a not so subtle dog whistle Senator Graham is blowing as loudly as he can. Expect more dog whistle attacks by the GOP in the weeks and months to come.
Can I ask an uncool question? Are Democrats(and Liberals) ever going to try and discredit Republicans/Conservatives the same way they try to do to our leaders? Basically Graham is basically admitting that he has no respect for the office of the Presidency and no respect for Obama himself.
Quite frankly, Obama and the Democratic party have only themselves to blame. Because they accept the premise of imperial rule. That being that the US must be, not only the strongest country in the world, but stronger than each and every country in its own backyard. Stronger than Russia in the Baltic and Black seas, stronger than China in the straights of Taiwan, stronger than Brazil in South America, and stronger than Iran in the Persian Gulf. In addition, the US must do everything in its power to ensure continued Israeli Dominance in the greater Middle east.
But that’s not all! It must do all the above while simultaneously fighting two counterinsurgencies AND(!) expanding the Afghan war into Pakistan.
That is a recipe for national bankruptcy, and the Democrats are totally on board with it. That is not coincidental. The Democrats are funded largely by the same interests that fund Republicans. They have the same objectives.
Let us briefly review Obama’s policies over the past two years. Surge in Afghanistan? Check. Second Surge in Afghanistan? Check. Escalate drone strikes in Pakistan? Check. Add to that Iran. Policy differences with the previous administration? None at all, except in style (and even their not so much.) Iran still must halt all enrichment before the US even considers the slightest concession. Exactly like the Bush policy. Military option still “on the table?” Check.
Now I realize tea party fanatics seem to think Obama is totally different than Bush. Some Democrats seem to think that too. But, even casual observation shows otherwise. Detailed observation only confirms it. Its almost as if the Democratic and Republican parties are two masks hiding the same face. The monster within changes masks every so often so that the public doesn’t catch on.
Quite honestly, it seems to be working.
Apparently after having gotten their oil contracts in Iraq, oil companies and Halliburton are still hungrey. Haven’t they done enough to ruin diplomatic relations with Iran? After all, oil companies installed the Shah.
Is Graham speaking on behalf of Shah, Jr.?
Should ensure lots of extra funds for the military as everything else sees cuts.
At some point all the attacks on the Islamic world are going to cause a huge backlash in support for more radical action against the US, the west and its people’s which in spite of Al Qaeda’s and arguably Netanyahu’s best efforts havent been created in the Muslim world yet, which actually sghows great restraint by their people’s on a whole. Just imagine if a bunch of Muslim states had gotten toegther and invaded a coupel of Christian ones and bombed them back to the dark ages.
Oppressing people and particulalry people of one ethnic or religious group is a recipe for creating terrorism. Still maybe that is what the republicans want as they havent got reds under the bed any more.
Juan Cole has an excellent piece about the recent uptick in warmongering against Iran by US and Israeli politicians, plus a review of a speech recently given in Canada by Ehud Barak on Iran’s alleged nuclear ambitions, that is so self-contradictory it almost satirical. This is Israeli exceptionalism at its best.
Gates, the Adult in the Room, Rebuffs Israeli, Republican Warmongering on Iran
After Iraq, the Neocons, the Israel-first gang, never disappeared. And with the GOP win in the last election, they will be beating the war drums once again.
It is well-known in Washington that Lindsey Graham is gay. It’s just not ever discussed in the mainstream media. Shouldn’t there be a pushback suggesting that Graham being in the closet makes him blackmailable and easily-manipulated precisely because of his sexuality? That his positions on DADT and this latest Iranian eruption are being pushed by people who hold his sexuality over his head. It should be stated simply that no one should trust his positions or motives as long as he remains in the closet. If he lies about something so basic about himself how can he be trusted about anything else?
Then every time Graham appears on “Face The Nation” to parrot this or that position the American public will ask if he’s saying what he’s saying because someone’s blackmailing him.
Likewise, with Mitch McConnell.