Bush finally does what Khomeini never could

The votes are in. The 14-year old prediction that a removal of Saddam Hussein from Iraq would result in a Shia takeover has been proven true. (Not that any informed person would have expected otherwise.) The democratically-elected Shia theocracy has been put in place.

I laugh because it’s so damn funny. America crapped its pants when the 1979 Shi’ite rebellion in Iran threw out the U.S.-puppet Shah for the fundamentalist Ayatollah Khomeini. The Ayatollah then said the revolution would sweep across the region, beginning with Iraq (which has a Shi’ite majority). America became afraid, but did not rush to Saddam’s side because of Saddam’s ties with the U.S.S.R.

In a “pre-emptive act of self-defense,” Saddam attacked Iran (using trumped up excuses as ostensible rationale) hoping to topple the young government. The U.S. wanted to, but could not, help Saddam--until the Soviet-Iraqi ties were broken (the Soviets were having their own trouble in Afghanistan at the time) by 1983. That’s when the photo of Saddam and Rumsfeld was taken. With U.S. and European help, which included chemical and biological weapons, Saddam fought Iran to a standstill which ended in 1987. Iran’s Shi’ite revolution was halted.

Fast forward 18 years and see that the neocon Republicans (Bush and company) have done for Iran what Iran could not do for itself. The Shi’ites control Iraq.

I don’t know if this was part of Iran’s long term plan--their strong ties to Bush’s #1 source of Iraq info, Ahmed Chalabi, makes me suspicious--but it worked out for them anyway. The party is spoiled only because Dubya may have his eyes on Iran next.

If Bush comes off looking like a stooge, it’s his own fault. He has given Osama bin Laden the holy war he desperately wanted (we’ll be fighting them for generations), and has given the Shi’ites control of Iraq like they wanted. What’s next? Maybe he should go ahead and give North Korea control of the whole peninsula.