[NYTr] Is There a Method to Bush's Middle East Madness?

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Counterpunch - Oct 22, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.org/amiri10222007.html

The Politics of "Appeevement"

Is There a Method to Bush's Middle East Madness?

By RANNIE AMIRI

Over the past several weeks, the United States has gone out of its way
to offend, irk and otherwise provoke a select group of leaders and
nations. Through a series of deliberate and calculated actions intended
to purposefully estrange those most likely to succeed at diplomacy with
Iran, its failure has been ordained and the stage for military action
set. For those who think the upcoming war will be another Bush-Cheney
folly (as they believe Iraq to be), the collusion of the Democrats in
the process again belies that assumption.

The groundwork was laid in September, when the Senate overwhelmingly
approved a resolution urging the State Department to designate Iran's
Revolutionary Guard a "foreign terrorist organization"--the
prerequisite term needed to justify the use of force and the first ever
such characterization of a governmental entity.

The Iranian parliament responded similarly, labeling the CIA and US
Army in kind for everything from use of atomic weapons in WWII to the
killing of civilians in Iraq [Surprisingly omitted was mention of the
CIA's role in orchestrating the 1953 coup of the democratically elected
Iranian president, Mohammad Mosaddeq. This led to the installation of
the Shah, whose rule was ruthlessly enforced by the Israeli-trained
mercenaries of SAVAK, until the Iranian Revolution of 1979].

Defying all rational thought, Bush then had the audacity to certify the
opposite of Saudi Arabia last week; calling it an "anti-terrorism
allycooperating with efforts to combat international terrorism" it
allows the United States to allocate additional monies to the Kingdom.

Although purported Iranian support for Shia militant groups in Iraq may
be nominally true, there can be no doubt of their desire to see a
stable government run by fellow Shia Muslims succeed. Saudi Arabia, on
the other hand, has done its utmost to see it fail. The early stages of
the post-Iraq conflict witnessed the influx of thousands of militants
bent on exporting the radical Sunni version of Islam, inspired and
funded by Saudi Arabia, into the country. Suicide bombings, mass
marketplace carnage and destruction of religious shrines have been
hallmarks of these religious extremists and Sunni Iraqi nationalist
groups which Saudi Arabia likewise supports. As if to officially
sanction such violence, Saudi clerics even issued a fatwa calling for
the demolition of all the Shia holy shrines in Baghdad, Najaf and
Karbala. This makes the above Senate resolution and presidential
"certification" all the more extraordinary.

Quite artfully, the United States has also made sure a peaceful and
reasoned solution to the Iranian nuclear question never takes place,
primarily by alienating both Russia and China. For should they become
so disillusioned with the United States that they veto further punitive
measures leveled against Iran at the UN, they will have conveniently
left Bush and the Democrats "no other alternative but..." the use of
force.

And indeed this has been the case. Russian President Vladimir Putin,
recently completing a trip to Iran as part of the Caspian Sea Summit,
is still seething at United States plans to install a missile defense
system in Russia's backyard through placement of interceptor missiles
in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic. This comes atop another
American initiative to build an oil and gas pipeline through Caspian
Sea countries yet bypass Russia.

To raise China's ire, Bush decided to hold a public meeting with the
Dalai Lama--the first ever by a sitting US president--and award him the
Congressional Gold Medal. This prompted the enraged Chinese to summon
the US ambassador in Beijing for an explanation, further escalating
tensions. But was this a genuine show support for the Dalai Lama or
just a good opportunity to poke a finger in China's eye?

In the midst of worsening Russian and Sino-American relations, Congress
decided to get into the act and rile the Turks by proposing a
resolution calling the killing of 1.5 million Armenians during WWI
under the Ottoman Empire an act of genocide. At the hint of it being
brought up for a vote, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Washington and
passed a parliamentary resolution the same day authorizing the
incursion of Turkish forces into Iraq to combat the PKK. If it was
possible to inflame the sensitivities of yet another country which
might provide needed diplomatic leverage with Iran, the United States
did well to take advantage of it.

So there you have it. The friend of a friend has been declared the
enemy and the enemy of a friend a great ally. In a matter of weeks, the
United States quite intentionally miffed the Russians, Chinese and
Turks under the guise of defending Europe, upholding human rights and
suddenly decrying an historical tragedy. This assures their cooperation
on Iran will be made all the more difficult and gives the United States
the pretext it needs to act unilaterally and likely, militarily. An
ingenious, yet diabolical, plan.

[Rannie Amiri is an independent commentator on the Arab and Islamic
worlds. He may be reached at: rbamiri at yahoo.com.]