Irangate 2008:  New Straws in the Wind?

by Dr. Robert D. Crane  

  The ripple effect of the Caucasus Confrontation may be developing into waves with real momentum as a result of a reported alliance of Russia with Iran, followed by an apparently immediate Israeli response.  Russia has declared that it will accelerate its assistance for Iran’s peaceful production of nuclear power.  The response to this seems now to have started in what may be a strategy to rachet up the war fever behind an Israeli or even an American attack on Iran.

  The Israeli Haaretz asserted on September 1st, 2008, that Obama/Biden have sold out by refusing to bomb Iran.  Biden’s statements came before Georgia attacked Ossetia reportedly with the help of Israeli advisers and weapons.  Now that Russia has responded to America’s arming and rearming of Georgia by declaring an alliance with Iran, the argument will be that Biden will sacrifice Israel for Russia.  Instead of being merely a self-declared Zionist, Biden will be a self-declared traitor.  Since Russia may now become part of a de facto axis of evil, without necessarily any official declaration of such, the combination of Obama/Biden would be worse than Carter, who at least had “a deranged notion of justice as a foundation” for selling out to Iran.

  A fatwa by all the top ayatollahs in Iran a couple of years ago declared that it is a crime for any country even to possess nuclear weapons because they are useless unless used and their use would amount to mass murder.  The Israelis, of course, do not believe a word of this.  The Israelis themselves have always made it clear that they would use their nucs perhaps even for preemptive war. 

  The direct connection with Georgia is the report that the Americans have refused to let Israel refuel over Iraq for an attack on Iran, which is why the Israelis are said to have had everything ready to attack Iran from Georgia.  This would have made it easy for President Bush to disclaim even any knowledge of such plans.

  If Obama says that he trusts the Iranians to use nuclear power only for electricity, or even, as Biden is reported to have said, that there is nothing America can do about it, this could tilt the election for McCain, who could prove he is serious as an American patriot by emphasizing that he was one of the first to call for an attack on Iran without wasting time in useless diplomacy. 

  Israel then would become a key campaign issue, with each party attempting to be more pro-American than the other in order to win the election.  The trump card in a run-up to another “Iran-gate” would be held by President Bush who can actually prove his loyalty and thereby help McCain and his ultra-patriotic vice-presidential partner, Sarah Palin, win a landslide victory in November.