The Decision Has been Made On Iran
From the Guardian regarding US intentions toward Iran:
Vincent Cannistraro, a former CIA counter-terrorism chief who is now a security anaylist, said: “The decision to attack was made some time ago. It will be in two stages. If a smoking gun is found in terms of Iranian interference in Iraq, the US will retaliate on a tactical level, and they will strike against military targets. The second part of this is: Bush has made the decision to launch a strategic attack against Iranian nuclear facilities, although not before next year. He has been lining up some Sunni countries for tacit support for his actions.”
The president has obviously made a comittment to support Sunnis over Shias. This begs the question, why did we oust Saddam Hussein in the first place?
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“The president has obviously made a comittment to support Sunnis over Shias.”
Huh? Try to be serious.
The president is committed against Sunni extremists (al Qaeda) and Shia extremists (the ruling regime in Iran). Hussein was removed because he aided Sunni extremists and in particular because intelligence agencies of the US and its allies judged that he had spectacular ability to aid Sunni extremists.
Bush builds a coalition of Sunni nations to aid against Iran simply because 1) Most Islamic nations are Sunni-dominated and 2) In particular Arab nations in the neighborhood of Iran are Sunni-dominated.
That also happens to be the reason why George H. W. Bush did not oust Hussein at the tail end of the Gulf War. Our Arab support in the ME would not go along with it. If that had been a goal of the Gulf War at the outset then the Gulf War coalition would have largely evaporated (including key contributers Turkey and Saudi Arabia).
You might note Turkey’s reluctance to help with the more recent Iraq War and connect a few more dots.
The president is committed to Sunni moderates over Shia in-country. I understand why he feels he must do this.
You forget to add that another strong reason GHW Bush didn’t remove Saddam after the Gulf War was that he feared the civil disturbance that is now occurring.
Saddam was taken out by GW Bush so the US could establish a permanent presence in the Middle East, rid itself of a problematic leader, and loot Iraqi oil.