Friday, August 10, 2007

Tantrum Time

Our shrub is likely to throw a major tantrum today. His dogs should hide if he sees this picture:

Yep, Nouri al-Maliki and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are holding hands, and talking about working together. Via http://www.juancole.com/
First, he faced the difficulty that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki affirmed that Iran is playing a helpful role in Iraq. This statement came on the heels of a similar assertion by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, which Bush contradicted. So he contradicted al-Maliki, as well. Somehow, unlike Fox Cable News, US allies in the Middle East don't seem to be able just to parrot White House talking points. But Bush in correcting al-Maliki got off on a flight of rhetoric and seemed to be addressing him personally with a threat. Later on he had to clarify that the threat was directed against Iran, not al-Maliki. Al-Maliki is a longtime activist of the [Shi`ite] Islamic Call Party (Da`wa), which sought refuge in Iran during the 1980s and 1990s from Saddam Hussein's persecution. Da`wa has every reason to be deeply indebted to Iran and can't be expected to badmouth the ayatollahs. Bush seems to be continually surprised to find that he has put Iran's allies in power in Kabul and Baghdad. Attempting to explain why al-Maliki was so warmly greeting the Iranian officials he was meeting Bush said, '"You don't want the picture to be kind of, you know, duking it out," Bush said, holding up his fists like a boxer as he called Iran "a very troubling nation" that must be isolated.' Iran's press stressed that Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei pledged full Iranian support for the elected government of Iraq, urged unity among all Iraq's religious and sectarian groups, and said that peace would only return when US troops departed the country.


Of course, The Cheney has other ideas:

Behind the scenes, however, the president's top aides have been engaged in an intensive internal debate over how to respond to Iran's support for Shiite Muslim groups in Iraq and its nuclear program. Vice President Dick Cheney several weeks ago proposed launching airstrikes at suspected training camps in Iran run by the Quds force, a special unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to two U.S. officials who are involved in Iran policy.

The debate has been accompanied by a growing drumbeat of allegations about Iranian meddling in Iraq from U.S. military officers, administration officials and administration allies outside government and in the news media. It isn't clear whether the media campaign is intended to build support for limited military action against Iran, to pressure the Iranians to curb their support for Shiite groups in Iraq or both.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/18834.html


Regional co-operation just might help stabilize Iraq. The reality is that Iran has a huge stake in a stable Iraq. If we attack Iran we will be doomed to a regional war that we simply cannot win.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

These damn fools got us involved in a Region that they simply do not understand.

Bush expects blind loyalty from everyone because he was "Appointed by God." He forgets they have a different "God."

Such a dumbshit.

Anonymous said...

That is not true, Fairlane. They do not have a different God.

pygalgia said...

Ah, a good start of a theological debate. Is the god of Abraham the same god for Jews, Christians, and Muslims? Theologians say yes, but fanatics say no. Please discuss.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who says no believes in more than one God, apparently.

Anonymous said...

Bush is a fanatic. Bush believes God supports pre-emptive war, tax cuts for millionaires, American hegemony, etc etc.

He also believes everyone is or should be on his side.

Remember, Bush said God "chose" him to be President.

Maliki and Ahmadinejad have a different agenda, and I imagine their "God" is telling them something else.

God is, after all, a completely subjective concept when it comes to the "Religious." People make "God" whatever they want him/her/it to be.

trog69 said...

Whig, Ahmadinejad probably understands that Bush and He pray to the same God, but ol' Dubya couldn't possibly wrap his pin-head around something that blasphemous; not without a couple of "bunker-busters" sparking the ol' synapses.