The irony, of course, is that neither Iraq under Saddam nor Iran now truly has or had the capacity to inflict anything approaching true damage on the US other than that we have inflicted on ourselves ....

Well, they could withhold oil (or jack the price). But then again, we're over even more of a barrel (so to speak) with China....

Sad to say, we put ourselves in that position WRT both of these countries. But not to worry, we have Dubya's tax breaks for the rich, so there's something to cheer about....

Cheers,

Putin and his new puppet seem very interested in going back to a cold war status, a bipolar world, one where the USA is the enemy. I think that's the one to be most wary of. Next is China. And then North Korea, Iran and Syria. But let's not overstate (nor understate) the threat of Iran and instead focus on those who have the power to completely destroy us and with whom relations have been deteriorating quickly (thanks to that so-called Russia expert, Secretary Rice.)

You forgot Canada, we have the second largest proven oil reserves in the world.

Putin does not want another cold war. He cannot afford it, even the revived Russian military cannot pose a threat to America. Their nuclear deterrent no longer exists, Putin is lucky if he can field one boomer at any given time. China is laughable from the Pentagon perspective, the have 18 liquid fueled ICBM's with a single warhead. They take two hours to fuel. Their SLBM threat is limited to two subs, one of which has never left harbour and the other rarely sails anymore.

America now has nuclear primacy, i.e. first strike capability on Russia and the Chinese. This changes everything. The calculation the junta in Washington and Tel Aviv is making over their Iran Project, is that putin come to shove, the Sovs, sorry, the Russians, will back down -- or face nuclear annihilation. The same is true for China of course.

But you are right Freedy, about one thing, the strategic thinkers in the junta know that the real enemy is not the muslim nor the 'terrorist'; the real enemy is China. The Kennanites know that China will soon dominate the world economically. China, not America will have the money to pay for all the oil that is for sale, in all the world. America at that point will become a footnote in history. They will cease to exist as the much crowed about "lone super power" and become the British circa 1946.

This is unacceptable, not just to the bushies, the necons, likudniks, zionists, et al, it is unacceptable to America as whole. America must have the oil, it must control the oil to control China, it is the only answer. Total domination of the Middle East is the goal, and solves all of the juntas problems in one fell stroke. Or so they think.

There are those in upper reaches of the power in America who are working toward this, and Friedman is their good good friend. They want to roll the dice and roll it big, double or nothing. Iran is just the first domino. There are no enemies, it's just business. It's survival.

Friedman is a shill, and a war monger.

By Douglas Herman

The war began as planned. The Israeli pilots took off well before dawn and streaked across Lebanon and northern Iraq, high above Kirkuk. Flying US-made F-15 and F-16s, the Israelis separated over the mountains of western Iran, the pilots gesturing a last minute show of confidence in their mission, maintaining radio silence.

Just before the sun rose over Tehran, moments before the Muslim call to prayer, the missiles struck their targets. While US Air Force AWACS planes circled overhead--listening, watching, recording--heavy US bombers followed minutes later. Bunker-busters and mini-nukes fell on dozens of targets while Iranian anti-aircraft missiles sped skyward.

The ironically named Bushehr nuclear power plant crumbled to dust. Russian technicians and foreign nationals scurried for safety. Most did not make it.

Targets in Saghand and Yazd, all of them carefully chosen many months before by Pentagon planners, were destroyed. The uranium enrichment facility in Natanz; a heavy water plant and radioisotope facility in Arak; the Ardekan Nuclear Fuel Unit; the Uranium Conversion Facility and Nuclear Technology Center in Isfahan; were struck simultaneously by USAF and Israeli bomber groups.

The Tehran Nuclear Research Center, the Tehran Molybdenum, Iodine and Xenon Radioisotope Production Facility, the Tehran Jabr Ibn Hayan Multipurpose Laboratories, the Kalaye Electric Company in the Tehran suburbs were destroyed.

Iranian fighter jets rose in scattered groups. At least those Iranian fighter planes that had not been destroyed on the ground by swift and systematic air strikes from US and Israeli missiles. A few Iranian fighters even launched missiles, downing the occasional attacker, but American top guns quickly prevailed in the ensuing dogfights.

The Iranian air force, like the Iranian navy, never really knew what hit them. Like the slumbering US sailors at Pearl Harbor, the pre-dawn, pre-emptive attack wiped out fully half the Iranian defense forces in a matter of hours.

By mid-morning, the second and third wave of US/Israeli raiders screamed over the secondary targets. The only problem now, the surprising effectiveness of the Iranian missile defenses. The element of surprise lost, US and Israeli warplanes began to fall from the skies in considerable numbers to anti-aircraft fire.

At 7:35 AM, Tehran time, the first Iranian anti-ship missile destroyed a Panamanian oil tanker, departing from Kuwait and bound for Houston. Launched from an Iranian fighter plane, the Exocet split the ship in half and set the ship ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz. A second and third tanker followed, black smoke billowing from the broken ships before they blew up and sank. By 8:15 AM, all ship traffic on the Persian Gulf had ceased.

section removed for brevity - the rest can be read here: http://tinyurl.com/5ynod6

....At sunset, the call to prayer--in Tehran, Baghdad, Islamabad, Ankara, Jerusalem, Jakarta, Riyadh--sounded uncannily like the buzzing of enraged bees.