Déjà Vu All Over Again

By Sumayyah Meehan, Muslim Media News Service (MMNS)

It seems like only yesterday that Bush and his cronies were waving a red flag about Saddam Hussein having stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and nuclear capabilities. Bush’s version of the facts dragged the U.S. Military into an unwarranted and unprovoked war that is still ongoing with heavy losses on both sides. Anybody who has not been living under a rock for the past 4 years knows categorically that Saddam did not possess such weapons and that the war was uncalled for and unjustified. Bush has a knack for turning fiction into facts and then selling it to the public just as stealthy as a used car salesman sells a ‘junker’ to an unwitting buyer.

Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, testified in 2004 at a Senate committee hearing that there was not shred of evidence Saddam had WMD or that he was trying to create a nuclear weapon. The facts were that over a dozen years of UN Sanctions had crippled Saddam’s regime and he was unable to create any of the weapons the U.S. accused him of possessing. Duelfer himself stated at the hearing that UN Sanctions and Weapons Inspectors in Iraq should have been given more time to get the facts needed before Iraq was invaded. So, why has the war dragged on for an additional 3 years since the declaration of zero WMD findings in Iraq? Only the Bush administration knows the answer to that question.

And now it is happening again. Accusations are being thrown without the facts to support the claims. But this time the charges are against Iran, which is a country that, unlike Iraq at the time of the 2003 U.S. Invasion, is capable of fighting back and fighting back hard. This past Monday the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that Iran is doing exactly what it says it is doing, creating nuclear power to develop a cheap source of energy for its’ country. The head of the IAEA, Mohammed ElBaradei, said on Monday that there is no evidence Iran is developing a nuclear bomb and that it would take the country years build a nuclear bomb even if they wanted to. Regardless, this week has seen heavy sanctions, backed up by the U.S., placed on Iran. And both the U.S. and France have thrown out the recent findings of the IAEA. Bush and his new buddy French President Nicolas Sarkozy are adament that Iran is developing a nuclear bomb and is doing everything in their power to convince the rest of the World.

But is the rest of the World really as stupid as Bush apparently thinks we are? He has already proven himself to be incapable as a President and has continuously shown himself to be unworthy of the World’s trust. He has forever altered the lives of U.S. soldiers who come home in either body bags or with numerous limbs missing. He has sanctioned the slaughter of Iraqis in the hundreds of thousands irrespective of whether they are men, women or children. The U.S. military policy in Iraq up to date has pretty much been to shoot first and ask questions later.

It just stuns and terrifies me that another unjustified attack might go through. And there is not much we can do about it except watch and pray that our families will be OK. Iran has promised to attack anyone who helps the U.S. in its’ bid to possibly bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran has also warned that it has the capability to fire 11,000 missiles at any of its’ neighbors in 1 minute if any strike takes place on its’ soil. Recent reports in the country have also eluded that suicide missions may also be used to bring down anyone attacking the country from the Persian Gulf.

What does this all mean? It could mean World War III in the Middle East, which is what I am beginning to think, is what Bush has wanted all along. He himself, in past speeches, has said that Americans need to launch a Crusade in the Middle East. Bluntly, that means he wants to clear out as many Muslims as he can during the rest of his tenure as U.S. President. He has already spilled Muslim blood in Iraq and Afghanistan. And now he has his eyes set on Iran, which could also help Bush to inadvertently have the ability to strike out at Syria, who is also a part of his ‘Axis of Evil’. Iran is being portrayed as an uncontrollable monster that does not have the good sense to use nuclear proliferation for good instead of evil by the Bush administration. However, yet again, the facts do not support his claim. How long will it take the World to stand up to the Bush Administration and demand a stop to the human atrocities that itself has concocted? If only we open our eyes we can see, clearly, who the real monster is.

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