NPR : The Tavis Smiley Show for Tuesday, July 6, 2004
A commentator on the Tavis Smiley show today drew what I thought was an apt analogy between the Islamic extremists and Jihadists killing Americans and Iraqis in Iraq, and the white supremacist thugs of the early 20th century (the Klan and related sorts). He talked about todays practice of beheading as a tactic to initimidate and terrify for political purposes, and compared it to the practice of lynching black people in the early 1900s. Like the white supremacists of that time, Jihadists, largely ignorant, motivated by hatred and with a poverty of vision, use these tactics to terrify their target population (Americans, or other Iraqis) hoping to stop the march of history and progress towards a better society. But just like America in the 1900s, those tactics did not stop thousands of ordinary citizens from moving forward towards a more just society. I don't think its going to stop the Iraqis either.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Saturday, July 03, 2004
Iran satellite images raise nuclear questions
Iran satellite images raise nuclear questions
The game of nuclear hide and seek with Iran continues. As I noted in the previous post, a nuclear armed Iran cannot be permitted to arise. The Iranians have begun a game of diplomatic escalation with the U.S., which begun with the arrest of U.K. soilders. That opening salvo was answered nine days after the Iranian navy detained eight British sailors -- whom Tehran claimed had crossed into Iranian territory -- by British Defense
Minister Geoff Hoon. He bluntly accused the Iranians of lying, saying the Iranian navy
"forcibly escorted" the sailors into Iranian waters. The U.S. gave its answer with the the U.S. expulsion of two Iranian security guards attached to the U.N. Delegation for "activities inconsistent with their diplomatic status", diplo speak for spying.
Tehran is not happy with how events are unfolding in Iraq. The Shia allies of Iran, Ali al-Sistani and militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr have been cut out of the interim government. Nabbing the patrol boats was Iran's way of saying to the U.S. that they are still a player. Ejecting the security guards was the U.S. way of saying they got the message and their not impressed. London's statement also indicates they are not impressed, and in fact has a bit of "bring it on" tone to it.
The Iranians think this is manageable stuff and part of what they need to do to get to their real goal, a pro-Iranian Iraq and a border that will no longer be a route for potential invaders. They figure the nuclear card ( a program, not a weapon) will help them win concessions to get to this goal.
But here's the problem. 1. The administration can no longer rely on the intelligence agencies to truly know at what stage the Iranian nuclear program is and 2. the Bush administration is in no mood to jerk around with any government in the Islamic world. To Iran, this is a chess game. For the U.S., this is part of a war.
The game of nuclear hide and seek with Iran continues. As I noted in the previous post, a nuclear armed Iran cannot be permitted to arise. The Iranians have begun a game of diplomatic escalation with the U.S., which begun with the arrest of U.K. soilders. That opening salvo was answered nine days after the Iranian navy detained eight British sailors -- whom Tehran claimed had crossed into Iranian territory -- by British Defense
Minister Geoff Hoon. He bluntly accused the Iranians of lying, saying the Iranian navy
"forcibly escorted" the sailors into Iranian waters. The U.S. gave its answer with the the U.S. expulsion of two Iranian security guards attached to the U.N. Delegation for "activities inconsistent with their diplomatic status", diplo speak for spying.
Tehran is not happy with how events are unfolding in Iraq. The Shia allies of Iran, Ali al-Sistani and militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr have been cut out of the interim government. Nabbing the patrol boats was Iran's way of saying to the U.S. that they are still a player. Ejecting the security guards was the U.S. way of saying they got the message and their not impressed. London's statement also indicates they are not impressed, and in fact has a bit of "bring it on" tone to it.
The Iranians think this is manageable stuff and part of what they need to do to get to their real goal, a pro-Iranian Iraq and a border that will no longer be a route for potential invaders. They figure the nuclear card ( a program, not a weapon) will help them win concessions to get to this goal.
But here's the problem. 1. The administration can no longer rely on the intelligence agencies to truly know at what stage the Iranian nuclear program is and 2. the Bush administration is in no mood to jerk around with any government in the Islamic world. To Iran, this is a chess game. For the U.S., this is part of a war.
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