War Drums on Iran
An eerie sense of déjà vu has accompanied the latest moves by the Bush Administration and its military commanders to explain away the quagmire in Iraq by claiming that Iran is stirring things up. The leaks by anonymous "senior United States military" officials, the grainy photos of supposed serial numbers, the claims that "senior Iranian officials" authorized the smuggling into Iraq of armor-piercing roadside bombs that might have killed US troops--all recall former Secretary of State Colin Powell's truth-stretching presentation to the United Nations before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
What is surprising is not that Vice President Cheney and his neoconservative cronies want to expand a war that should never have been waged in the first place. (As Michael T. Klare reminds us on page 4, Iran, a charter member of the "axis of evil," has long been in this Administration's cross-hairs.) It is that they seem to be getting away with it.
Day after day, major media repeat pronouncements from the White House or unsourced leaks from the field with only the barest hint of skepticism. As one example, the New York Times's nearly 2,000-word lead story on February 10 on Iran's alleged support of Shiite militias contained the sole caveat that US officials "acknowledge that the picture is not entirely complete." Skepticism, when it is voiced, comes only later, after the headlines and television news stories have had their impact, and usually only because someone of national standing has spoken up. It is as if journalists had learned nothing over the past six years about the dangers of relying on official sources and of failing to question and challenge a spin-driven Administration.
Fortunately, some members of Congress are quicker studies. "I'm looking at this report with a degree of skepticism," said Democrat Chris Dodd, senior senator and presidential contender, of the Iran "evidence." "I don't doubt that Iran has been involved to some degree, and clearly that's a problem that needs to be addressed, but I'm getting uneasy that
trying to create a premise, set a premise, for some future broader military action in Iran." Progressives like Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee and conservatives like Republican Congressman Walter Jones are sponsoring resolutions that forbid the Administration from attacking Iran without clear authorization from Congress. "Our Constitution states that, while the Commander in Chief has the power to conduct wars, only Congress has the power to authorize war," says Jones. "It's time for Congress to meet its constitutional responsibility." ......(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070305/editors
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