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Rogue Nation
by Charley Reese
by Charley Reese
One gets the
impression that there are some people in Washington who believe that
Israel or the U.S. can bomb Iran's nuclear reactors, fly home, and it
will be mission complete.
It makes you
wonder if perhaps there is a virus going around that is gradually
making people stupid. If we or Israel attack Iran, we will have a new
war on our hands. The Iranians are not going to shrug off an attack and
say, "You naughty boys, you."
Consider how
much trouble Iraq has given us. Some 4,000 dead and 29,000 wounded, a
half a trillion dollars in cost and still climbing, and five years
later, we cannot say that the country is pacified.
Iraq is a
small country compared with Iran. Iran has about 70 million people. Its
western mountains border the Persian Gulf. In other words, its missiles
and guns look down on the U.S. ships below it. And it has lots of
missiles, from short-range to intermediate-range (around 2,200 kilometers).
More to the
point, it has been equipped by Russia with the fastest anti-ship
missile on the planet. The SS-N-22 Sunburn can travel at Mach 3 at high
altitude and at Mach 2.2 at low altitude. That is faster than anything
in our arsenal.
Iran's
conventional forces include an army of 540,000 men and 300,000
reserves, including 120,000 Iranian Guards especially trained in
unconventional warfare. It has more than 1,600 main battle tanks and
21,000 other armored combat vehicles. It has 3,200 artillery pieces,
three submarines, 59 surface warships and 10 amphibious ships.
It's been
receiving help in arming itself from China, North Korea and Russia.
Unlike Iraq, Iran's forces have not been worn down with bombing, wars
and sanctions. It also has a new anti-aircraft defense system from
Russia that I've heard is pretty snazzy.
So, if you
think we or Israel can attack Iran and not expect retaliation, I'd have
to say with regret that you are a moron. If you think we could easily
handle Iran in an all-out war, I'd have to promote you to idiot.
Attacking
Iran would be folly, but we seem to be living in the Age of Folly.
Morons and idiots took us into an unjustified war against Iraq before
we had finished the job in Afghanistan. Now we have troops tied down in
both countries.
China has a
tremendous investment and interest in Iran and would likely see an
attack as a threat to its national interests. China could strike a
large blow against the U.S. just by dumping the financial paper we have
foolishly allowed the Chinese to pile up, thanks to the trade deficit.
For some
years now, I've worried that we seem to be more and more like Colonial
England – arrogant, racist, overestimating our own capacity and
underestimating that of our enemies. As the fate of the British Empire
demonstrates, that is a fatal flaw.
The British
never dreamed that the "little yellow people" could come ashore by land
and take Singapore from the rear or that they would sink the pride of
the British fleet, but they did both.
Isuppose no one in Washington can imagine the Iranians sinking one of
our carriers in the Persian Gulf. How'd you like to be the president
who has to tell the American people that we've lost a carrier for the
first time since World War II?
Exactly how
the Iranians will respond to an attack, I don't know, but they will
respond. In keeping with our present policy, our attack on Iran would
be illegal, since under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has
the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.
Who would have thought that we would become the rogue nation committing acts of aggression around the globe?
June 30, 2008
Charley Reese [send him mail] has been a journalist for 49 years.
© 2008 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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