On Dec 10, 2008, at 8:27 PM, Louis Proyect wrote:
Jim D. wrote:
But did he bomb Iran? no, he couldn't get a sufficient political
coalition behind that, even though
the pro-Likud (neo-con) folks were all in favor.
Actually, there was a shift in U.S. foreign policy that silenced the
old bomb Iran drumbeat. It was not just the surge and ethnic
cleansing and payoffs to Sunnis that quieted Iraq down. It was also
the retreat of the Sadrists. All of this was orchestrated by Iran in
exchange for some kind of tacit understanding that it was not going
to be attacked.
There is much more involved in the tacit understanding. Sadr was
muffled in exchange for US acceptance that Tehran's people--Dawa and
SCIRI--would get to run Iraq. The "Status of Forces Agreement" not
only guarantees Iran against attack--by making it subject to a
mid-2009 referendum, the Iraqi parliament has made all future US
presence in Iraq subject to an Iranian veto, to be exercised if need
be by a call for a no vote from Sistani. Obama has been left in a
very weak position in negotiations with Tehran. He must be praying for
the return of Khatemi, or at least of Rafsanjani.
Shane Mage
This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
kindling in measures and going out in measures."
Herakleitos of Ephesos
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