In 2002-2003, I was so naive that I thought that an unprovoked attack on Iraq would be wildly unpopular! Instead, bush's popularity rose 25 points and the flag-frenzied hysteria that accompanied our war of aggression proved to one and all that the world's leading democracy has a deep strain of fascist lunacy. Will it happen again? According to Scott Ritter, we will soon find out.
I just listened to a horrifying radio interview with Scott Ritter, the former chief UN weapons inspector who in 2002 staked his reputation on the assertion that Iraq had no WMD at all, contrary to what every establishment figure was saying at the time. If there were even a shred of respect for truth, Ritter would have been given the Medal of Freedom, rather than liars like Tenet and Bremer
Ritter said that Iran has no atomic bomb program because such a program requires a major industrial platform and would leave easily detectable clues that the IAEA would find and report. He said, nonetheless, that the chances of a US attack on Iran are about 100 percent because such is the wish and desire of Cheney and his neo-con cabal. (I don't completely believe Ritter on this one, I think that corporate, military, and allied opposition to such madness may carry the day).
My question is this: How would the American people react if Bush appears on our TV screen a few months from today saying that he had just ordered the bombing of Iran as a last resort to save America from Iranian nuclear annihilation? Would we buy it? Would his approval ratings rise or fall? Would there be serious civil disobedience? Would Congress support or oppose? Would we blame the skyrocketing gas prices on bush or the evildoers in Tehran?