Proxy war could soon turn to direct conflict, analysts warn

[spindrifter]

Julian Borger and Ian Black
Saturday September 15, 2007
The Guardian

The growing US focus on confronting Iran in a proxy war inside Iraq risks triggering a direct conflict in the next few months, regional analysts are warning.

US-Iranian tensions have mounted significantly in the past few days, with heightened rhetoric on both sides and the US decision to establish a military base in Iraq less than five miles from the Iranian border to block the smuggling of Iranian arms to Shia militias.

<snip>

US officers have alleged that an advanced Iranian-made missile had been fired at an American base from a Shia area, which if confirmed would be a significant escalation in the "proxy war" referred to this week by General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq.

<snip>

"Washington is seriously reviewing plans to bomb not just nuclear sites, but oil sites, military sites and even leadership targets. The talk is of multiple targets," said Mr Cronin. "In Washington there is very serious discussion that this is a window that has to be looked at seriously because there is only six months to 'do something about Iran' before it will be looked at as a purely political issue."

<more>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2169798,00.html

[calimary]

1. "...before it will be looked at as a purely political issue."

Indeed.

EVERYTHING is political with these people. :eyes:

Kick!

[peacebird]

2. it's already a "purely political issue".....

[Donna Zen]

3. The Next War

Wes Clark has written a piece for the Washington Post about this looming blunder of Biblical proportions:

As Iran seems to draw closer to acquiring nuclear weapons, almost every U.S. leader -- and would-be president -- has said that it simply won't be permitted to reach that goal.

Think another war can't happen? Think again. Unchastened by the Iraq fiasco, hawks in Vice President Cheney's office have been pushing the use of force. It isn't hard to foresee the range of military options that policymakers face.

The link in my sig line leads to a variety of tools set up by Clark and VoteVets, and aimed at stopping a war with Iran.

As Clark writes:

But the big lesson is simply this: War is the last, last, last resort. It always brings tragedy and rarely brings glory. Take it from a general who won: The best war is the one that doesn't have to be fought, and the best military is the one capable and versatile enough to deter the next war in the first place.

At least there someone out there fighting the good fight...Stopping a war with Iran.