Bush, Neocons Throwing Logic Out of Window – Iranian Paper

Text of report in English by Iranian newspaper Tehran Times on 13 January

Tehran, 12 January: The White Houses threatening language toward Iran and the attack on Iran’s consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil come as U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are desperately scrambling to save face in Iraq.

Considering it humiliating to admit failure at the hands of foreign terrorists — and Bush and Rice refuse to identify their countries of origin — the Saddam loyalists and Bush and his friends are trying to make Iran the phantom enemy.

When a selfish person cannot do his job properly or makes a mistake, he usually looks for a scapegoat to hide his humiliation or vent his anger.

Bush and the neocons are throwing logic out the window as U.S. troops are becoming more bogged down in the Iraq quagmire, U.S. citizens are becoming weary of the war, and Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq has come under severe criticism in Congress. This is the only explanation for such a provocative attack on a consulate, which flouts international law, and for the unfounded accusations against Iran.

In his speech Wednesday night announcing the deployment of more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq, Bush specifically blamed Iran and Syria for stoking the violence in Iraq, claiming, “We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We’ll interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.”

Bush also announced the deployment of an additional aircraft carrier group to the Persian Gulf and his administrations plan to supply Patriot anti-missile systems to nearby allies, with Rice claiming the move is necessary to assure U.S. allies they “have the defence capacity that they need against a growing Iranian military build up.”

Some Arab officials, who created a commotion over the execution of the ruthless dictator Saddam Hussein and are openly trying to portray him as a martyr or Arab hero, are echoing the words of U.S. officials. For example, in an interview published Thursday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said, “Iran is trying to gain support in Iraq and in the region”

It is true that Iran was opposed to the invasion of Iraq, as were most other countries, but Iran was also the first regional state to recognize the Iraqi Governing Council and said the world is a better place without Saddam Hussein.

It is ridiculous to accuse Iran of stoking the violence since an unstable Iraq is detrimental to Iran’s interests.

In practice, Iran has proven its spiritual and material support for the Iraqi government and Iraqi officials appreciate the assistance.

All analysts agree that a stable Iraq would benefit its neighbours, so why should Iran not be happy that a democratic government is taking shape in Iraq which will not threaten its neighbours?

The threats and false accusations against Iran only show that Bush and company are clutching at straws.

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