Three Choices

In this article Robert Parry gives three alternate courses the US could take. Two involve confrontations here at home that seem so unlikely as to be unfaceable—forcing Bush to resign, or having a Democratic congress impeach him—but Parry finds the third—capitulating with three more years of Bush rule—to be much more dangerous.

Ironically then, a U.S. attack on Iran to prevent its hypothetical development of nuclear weapons in a decade or so could lead to the rapid collapse of the Musharraf government and put Pakistan’s existing nuclear arsenal in the hands of radical Pakistani Muslims, with close ties to Osama bin-Laden’s al-Qaeda.

Bush’s air strikes against Iran also could lead to retaliation by Tehran against U.S. troops in neighboring Iraq. With close ties to Iraq’s new Shiite-dominated government, Iran could instigate bloody reprisals against American soldiers, including vulnerable U.S. trainers working inside the new Iraqi security forces.

Iran and angry Arab states could play the oil card, too, slashing American supplies or at least driving the prices up to levels that would endanger the U.S. economy. Already, some Arab oil ministries are quietly shifting some of their oil trading from dollars to euros, a transition that could further weaken the dollar and force a nasty restructuring of the American economy.

In short, the “safe” political option – to let Bush operate much as he has since Sept. 11, 2001 – has consequences that may be more dangerous than the other two more confrontational options.