Can't say that nobody saw this coming. Pretty much since day 1 the Bush junta has been gunning for Iran since they set their aim at Iraq. Taking Iraq undoubtedly gives the US a good strategic point for attacking Iran. Again, no surprise there.

So what is the hold up?

With the major cluster-fuck in Iraq and Afghanistan, convincing Americans that Iran is "worth taking" would be a major challenge. Hence, the need for a pretext.

They first tried with the "Nuclear threat" rhetoric. How Iran is actively pursuing nuclear weapons. This seemed to arouse some concern in the public, yet not enough to shift public opinion on invasion of Iran. Enter, stage right: Mad-ruler, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. With a few soundbites from his speeches, and probably taken out of context (I can't say, since I've never been shown the entire speech), words to the effect of wiping Israel off of a map, we have an entire nation perking their ears.

I mean look at the narrow view-finder Americans are shown the world. The equation becomes very simple:



However, the public seems to have become a bit wiser since the Iraq fiasco. I think after seeing how their government lied to their faces, not to mention to the world, about the supposed Iraq and Al-Qaeda connection and the supposed WMDs hidden in Iraq, they are more wary and hesitant to simply put their trust in hands of the current administration.

Plan N(ext) for Bush junta: Given ambitions of President Ahmadinejad for Nuclear power and his rhetoric, all that is left now is a display of will and ability to act. Best way to do this is start a long and bloody war going with Israel and -- have you guessed it yet? -- Hezbollah!

Hezbollah has its roots in Iran. They have a strong presence in Southern Lebanon. They are more than a fighting force. More than an army. They in fact are responsible for the social structure of Lebanese in S. Lebanon, where the Lebanese government has abandoned its citizens. So Hezbollah has been there providing the people with security, social programs, schools for children and medical assistance, among other things.

Historically, there have been many cases where Israeli soldiers within (read: occupying) Lebanese land are taken hostage and later exchanged for Israeli-held hostages. Israel has thousands of people (women included) held prisoner, including officially elected politicians! This should not be news to anyone. If it is news to you, then your exposure to world affairs is very limited.

To make a case for Iran, this time around, Israel was encouraged to attack Hezbollah forces instead of doing what they have done for the past 15 years or more: negotiate for prisoner exchange.

The goal, for US, was to draw a link between Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon and Iran (and even maybe Syria). The US corporate media would spin this aggression by Israel in favor of the West, as status quo, and demonize Hezbollah. With massive Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, US was hoping that Iran, possibly with the help of Syria, would join the fight. Something of a self-fulfilling prophesy: Iran said it wants Israel gone, Hezbollah attacks Israel (spin), Hezbollah is a creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Case for Iran proven.

Fortunately, things didn't go as planned. Israel's onslaught on defenceless civilians of Lebanon, with many hundreds and thousands women and children murdered, didn't draw much sympathy for Israel. Not to mention the nice whooping Israelis received during this exchange. Never in history has any nation, or defence force, done what was done to Israeli. Imagine, a world-superpower smacked around by a defence force of a few thousand, with only a handful of dated rockets, against the most sophisticated weapons the US could afford Israel.