MB Civic

By Robert Kuttner | September 23, 2006 | The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/09/23/bushs_options_on_iran/

Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect, is one my personal favorites among the political analysts, a writer who maintains strict neutrality and a clear vision of how the world works. Here he argues that a military action directed against Iran’s nuclear assets would lead, quite literally, to World War III (as Michael has been saying for decades). In particular:

“…the immediate consequences would likely be a devastating attack on Israel, and the further destabilizing of Iraq (remember Iraq?) where Shi’ite militias would go into full-scale warfare against US troops in support of Shi’ite Iran…global consequences would be far more severe oil disruption, outraged world opinion, and the risk of a wider regional ground war requiring either many more US ground troops or humiliation.”

He compares this diplomatic situation BRILLIANTLY to Kissinger’s decision to court Red China, and he reasons that if we could turn that powerful nation into a trade partner and ally despite all the disagreements and tensions that existed then, a diplomatic solution to the Iranian Nukes problem is definitely doable, and all diplomatic options must be exercised, because a war would be literally cataclysmic and unwinnable. Harrowing, excellent stuff…BS