Editor’s Note: What’s the world coming to? Here we are, publishing Patrick Buchanan, the notorious paleoconservative and unapologetic onetime servitor of Nixon and Ronald Reagan, as if he were a champion of progressive politics, which he is, when it comes to opposing imperial adventures, and is consistent with his confused libertarian ideals. The “antiwar Buchanan” is something of a marker, reminding us of how degenerate official Washington has become, as unreconstructed reactionaries like Pat Buchanan can now stake political positions “to the left” of most Congressional, media, and White House establishmentarians, a cabal whose principal work consists in selling us wars and the legitimizing through laws and pseudo-debates the plundering of the majority of working Americans. Buchanan, who opposed virtually every civil rights law and court decision of the last 30 years, published FBI smears of Martin Luther King Jr. as his own editorials in the St. Louis Globe Democrat in the mid-1960s. “We were among Hoover’s conduits to the American people,” he boasted (Right from the Beginning, p. 283).In any case, beggars can’t be choosers, and if Buchanan—repulsive as he is—now decides to use his media access and prominence to denounce the warmongers, so be it. The war against Iran must be stopped. —P. Greanville
By Patrick J. Buchanan, April 02, 2010 [print_link]
Antiwar Forum {WE INCLUDE THE NATIVE COMMENT THREAD. WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU READ THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED THEREIN, AS THEY RICHLY COMPLEMENT THE THRUST OF THIS PIECE.}
“Diplomacy has failed,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told AIPAC, “Iran is on the verge of becoming nuclear and we cannot afford that.”
“We have to contemplate the final option,” said Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., “the use of force to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.”
War is a “terrible thing,” said Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., but “sometimes it is better to go to war than to allow the Holocaust to develop a second time.”
Graham then describes the war we Americans should fight:
“If military force is ever employed, it should be done in a decisive fashion. The Iran government’s ability to wage conventional war against its neighbors and our troops in the region should not exist. They should not have one plane that can fly or one ship that can float.”
Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute, Neocon Central, writes, “The only questions remaining, one Washington politico tells me, are who starts it, and how it ends.”
As to who starts it, we know the answer. Tehran has not started a war in memory and is not going to launch a suicide attack on a superpower with thousands of nuclear weapons. As with Iraq in 2003, the war will be launched by the United States against a nation that did not attack us — to strip it of weapons it does not have.
But to Graham’s point, if we are going to start this war, prudence dictates that we destroy Iran’s ability to fight back. At a minimum, we would have to use air strikes and cruise missiles to hit a range of targets.
First, Iran’s nuclear facilities such as the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, the U.S.-built reactor that makes medical isotopes, the power plant at Bushehr, the centrifuge facility near Qom and the heavy-water plant at Arak.
Our problem here is that the last three are not even operational and all are subject to U.N. inspections. There are Russians at Bushehr. And there is no evidence that diversion to a weapons program has taken place.
If Iran has secret plants working on nuclear weapons, why have we not been told where, and demanded that U.N. inspectors be let in? Why did 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, three years ago, tell us they did not exist and Iran gave up its drive for a nuclear weapon in 2003?
If Iran is on the “verge” of a bomb, as Schumer claims, the entire U.S. intelligence community should be decapitated for incompetence.
This week, in a hyped headline, “CIA: Iran capable of producing nukes,” theWashington Times said that a new CIA report claims, “Iran continues to develop a range of capabilities that could be applied to producing nuclear weapons, if a decision is made to do so.”
Excuse me, but this is mush. We could say the same of a dozen countries that use nuclear power and study nuclear technology.
But let us continue with Graham’s blitzkrieg war.
To prevent a counterattack, the United States would have to take out Iran’s 14 airfields and all its warplanes on the ground. We would also have to sink every warship and submarine in Iran’s navy and destroy some 200 missile, patrol, and speedboats operated by the Revolutionary Guard, else they would be dropping mines and mauling our warships.
Also, it would be crucial on day one to hit Iran’s launch sites and missile plants for, like Saddam in 1991, Iran would probably attack Israel, to make it an American and Israeli war on an Islamic republic.
Among other critical targets would be the Silkworm anti-ship missile sites on Iran’s coastline that would menace U.S. warships and oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Any Iranian attack on ships or seeding of mines would likely close the gulf and send world oil prices soaring.
Revolutionary Guard barracks, especially the Quds Force near Iraq, would have to be hit to slow troop movement to and across the border into Iraq to kill U.S. soldiers and civilians. The same might be necessary against Iranian troops near Afghanistan.
With Iran’s ally Hezbollah in south Beirut, all U.S. civilians should probably be pulled out of Lebanon before an attack lest they wind up dead or hostages. And how safe would Americans be in the Gulf region, especially Bahrain, home of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, a predominantly Shi’ite island?
And whose side would Shi’ite Iraq take?
Would we have to intern all Iranian nationals in the United States, as we did Germans and Italians in 1941? How many terror attacks on soft targets in the USA could we expect from Iranian and Hezbollah agents in reprisal for our killing thousands of civilians in hundreds of strikes on Iran?
Before the War Party stampedes us into yet another war, the Senate should find out if Tehran is really on the “verge” of getting a bomb, and why deterrence, which never failed us, cannot succeed with Iran.
PATRICK J. BUCHANAN has been stirring up the political pot from the ultraright for decades. He’s a frequent media figure, with a permanent seat on The McLaughlin Group, among other venues. Buchanan is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of Churchill, Hitler, and “The Unnecessary War”: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World, “The Death of the West,”, “The Great Betrayal,” “A Republic, Not an Empire” and “Where the Right Went Wrong.”
COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM
A selection of Buchanan’s utterances and positions was compiled by media watch organization FAIR at http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2553
NATIVE COMMENT THREAD STARTS BELOW————–
Debbie(aussie)
It would most definitely become WWIII, wouldn’t it?
I wonder if we (AUS) are isolated enough politically as well as physically.
Armegeddon would be upon us, but not as the fundies would wish.
Chris
Hopefully, Iran will show proof soon that it has a nuclear deterrent and the US will be stopped dead in its tracks. Just look at how the US treats North Korea, and other countries that can hit back.
67p
So are you assuming that we would take out all of Iran’s SS-N-22 “sunburn” missiles? They can take out capital ships. The fifth fleet sits like ducks in the water, how long did it take to kill 20,000 in the wargames again?
How many American troops is the congress willing to sacrifice in retaliation if we or Israel attack Iran? 10,000? 20,000? millions over decades?
Duglarri
We can still hope that the US military would mutiny if ordered to attack Iran, knowing as they do that all the war games so far have shown the US losing a couple of carriers in the first few days, and losing the army in Iraq- and the war- in the longer term. After all, they aren’t stupid, are they? Are they?
jojo
911 attacks,the invassions of Iraq and Afghastan were all planned long time ago.Goal was alwways to attack Iran. America will not stop in attacking Iran– Even if America goes all broke for }sreal expansion and control of middle east oil
Ground_Control
We (some of us) know who the enemy is, and it isn’t Iran.
Nike
LMAO, does anybody doubt that the MAJORITY of the American people would screech in jubilation if the US attacked Iran next? Keep in mind that these are the same people who rewarded Bush with a second term in power – when Bush’s torture chambers and other war crimes were already widespread public knowledge. As Chris mentioned, a nuclear-armed Middle East would guarantee an end to US – and Israeli – military aggression in area. About time. God Bless America.
Mad Eddie
It would be funny if on the eve of the American attack, Iran was to detonate a test-nuke…… ha!
Blacque Jacques
The insanity of the warmongers is beyond reproach, does anyone think the Iranians want a war? No f**ken way. Israel is armed to the teeth with nukes…so is Pakistan and India and they aren’t far from that region also. You also risk a war with China and Russia this would certainly turn into WW3 in a matter of hours or days. What the hell is wrong with humanity I guess once the planet is a smoldering cinder then the evangelicals will have their rapture or whatever they call it. Seems more and more humans don’t deserve to have a planet to live on. If the insanity continues then that will be the case.
omop
If after all is done as Schumer and Graham suggest ( two chickenhawks/likudniks ) any future respected historians would have to conclude that the US of A eventually self destructed itself with the principal assitance of Israel and its Us supporters.
epppie
Even if Iran had a nuclear weapon, it would be no threat to anyone. The deterrent against Iran is absolute. Everyone knows this. So what we are watching is the playing out of a Nietzschean determination, on the part of the ‘Global Powers’, to crush a country for reasons that have nothing to do with the stated reasons; it will be yet another war based on lies, this time enthusiastically supported by the Dems and ‘liberals’ and even the Left. Even the ‘peace movement’, which continues to scream about Iraq and Afghanistan, has mostly CHOSEN to ignore (and thus implicitly approve) this war hysteria against Iran!!!
The complicity of the Left in this war against Iran is the most shocking political development I have seen in my life. A whole society is now united in war hysteria against a tiny country that is no threat whatsoever to us. Or really to anyone.
And now that Russia and China have given their assent to the war, it really is on. No one should fool themselves; both those countries know that assenting to sanctions is the same as assenting to war. Russia, in particular, has refused to provide Iran with DEFENSIVE weapons it is obligated to provide by contract, while watching joyfully as the US loads Israel up with OFFENSIVE weapons. Russia’s blazing hypocrisy is really quite amusing. Oh, do they ever continue to whine and complain about Nato, all-the-while helping Nato crush Iran!
China and Russia have sent a clear message to the world: don’t ally with us if you don’t want a knife in your back. And remember, all this is about exactly nothing – about a nuclear weapons program that Iran almost certainly doesn’t have, and that wouldn’t amount to squat if Iran DID have it. To get a picture of how monstrously insincere the whole thing is, consider that India – via the IAEA – has been one of the nations passing judgement on Iran’s alleged weapons program!!!! INDIA!!! One of the world’s foremost rogue nuke states!!!
peacenik12
The hypocrasy of it all is unbeleavable. These congressional whores are willing to sacrifice their own people and country for Israeli expansionism and world domination.
Senators Chuck Schumer, Evan Bayh and Lindsay Graham are certifiable nut jobs. Why anyone would want to vote for these despicable, self-serving, warmongering lunatics is totally beyond me.
They are:
Sick in head and sick in heart,
Sick in whole and every part,
And yet sicker are they still,
For not knowing that they are ill.
John
Brilliant piece by Buchanan, as usual.
john
39p
Watching all this go on here and abroad, I feel like Winston Smith in Orwell’s 1984. The NYC subway photo on Antiwar.com’ s front page yesterday and war after war abroad. Someone explain to me how he might have been wrong because it sure looks like he got it right, it just took a little longer than he thought.
Rob
Our leaders as usual assume that war between Iran and the US will be a conventional contest. Guerrillas own warfare and for the last 75 years or so guerrilla have almost always defeated their nation state foes. The US military cannot fight it’s way out of a guerrilla paper bag and has not won a guerrilla war in 108 years (the Philippine Insurrection of 1902).
greg
“Before the War Party stampedes us into yet another war, the Senate should find out if Tehran is really on the “verge” of getting a bomb….”
The Senate? HAHAHA.
You mean the shills who work for Israel and the banks and the corporations? Not a chance. They already know Iran is no threat to the US, they know they don’t have the bomb, They know this is all bull***t. It doesn’t matter. The agenda is fight for Israel’s lust for empire that will destroy us in the end. The lot of them should undergo psychiatric exams then be put on trial for treason.
Schmuck
No surprise hearing this coming from the bigoted Pat Buchanan. Iran has several proxies fighting the US in Iraq and Afghanistan and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria–but who cares since they’re killing Americans and Israelis.
This is the same rhetoric of Chamberlain regarding Hitler. You cannot appease a madman, and Mahmoud is a madman.
charley caruso
As usual Buchanan’s columns are brilliant. Then why is he such a dope on television?
Someone else writing the columns? Not unheard of in the sleazy world of urinalism.
And PS:
Why intern any Iranians? Let’s just intern AIPAC
Andy
The only “crime” Iran is “guilty” of is it won’t accept Israeli and American hegemony.
tom
iran should try and buy a nuclear weapon from north korea,for its own protection against the zionist entity or us attack.
Pat under-estimates that, “Among other critical targets would be the Silkworm anti-ship missile sites on Iran’s coastline that would menace U.S. warships and oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
Screw the Silkworms. Pat. This early 1950′s designed SUB-SONIC dog termed the SS-N-2 is many decades out of date and hasn’t been used with even limited effect since the 1967 war by Eygpt.
The ‘game changer’ that the Iranians would use to crippling effect is the Sunburn, Mach 3, SS-N-22 that was designed and still IS a US carrier killer — which can carry HE or mini-nuke warhead.
An expert oil / military analyst just said late im March 2010, “The danger of a war or an escalation of the simmering belligerence into sticks-and-stones (outside of the danger for people who might get caught in the crossfire), is that from about 2001 Iran has been stocking up with Russian-made 3M-82 Moskit anti-ship cruise missiles (NATO designation: SS-N-22 Sunburn), a weapon for which the US Navy currently has no defense (and nor do oil tankers).”
Pat, such a crazed scheme, by the global corporate/financial/militarist EMPIRE that controls ‘our’ country, to attack Iran would definately not be any “cake walk”, but rather an exploding shit pie for American citizens and the whole world.
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
60p
I’ve given up hope of avoiding a catastrophe.
Although millions of people are waking up, unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans frankly seem to: love war, have a completely fraudulent view of History, lack basic critical thinking skills and moral reasoning ability, are very tolerant of corruption in government, see Israel as an indispensible ally, and worship “the Troops” as “heroes”, no matter what.
Thus while the awakened few among us recoil in horror at the criminal insanity of our rulers as exemplified in the likes of Graham and Schumer, the overwhelming masses of ignorant, arrogant, apathetic, intellectually lazy, morally incompetent fools clearly have the government that they need, want and deserve.
Let’s face it, the majority are demanding self-destruction, and their democratically elected representatives seem determined to make it happen.
Dan
Unlike the cases with Iraq and Afghanistan (and even, apparently, Pakistan and Yemen), an attack on Iran will spark eventual RUSSIAN and CHINESE MILITARY INVOLVEMENT!
Believe it! Moscow didn’t clean Georgia’s clock two years ago, or send her warships to the Meditarrean before that even, just to play around. Coupled with its repeated warnings against an Iran attack, Mother Russia has been sending signals loud and clear!
China retains *tens of billions* of dollars of investment in Iran, and vice versa. Technical, tactical assistance from Beijing and Moscow would result, at the least, if not military back-up, especially as the war spreads to Central Asia.
Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Pakistan, North Korea and others wouldn’t sit on their hands, either.
No, this would be the Mother of All F#&k-Ups on the part of the West….
