Echoes of Iraq as Warmongers Push for Attack on Iran

by Zachary Roth, CommonDreams.org, Nov 9, 2010

Emboldened by President Obama’s political struggles, foreign-policy hard-liners are stepping up efforts to press the administration to take a tougher stance — and perhaps even launch an attack — on Iran.

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s close ally McCain (R-Ariz.) urged Obama to “do something dramatically different” on Iran, by publicly “advocating regime change.” (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Andrew Vaughan)

Some observers see parallels with the successful multiyear campaign for a U.S. invasion of Iraq. “The theoreticians who called for war in Iraq as a way to stop Saddam acquiring weapons of mass destruction are at it again, with the same playbook,” Joel Rubin of the liberal National Security Network told The Upshot.

Of course, advocates of an aggressive foreign policy have long talked up the notion of an attack on Iran as a means of preventing the Islamic republic from acquiring a nuclear weapon — remember Sen. John McCain’s “Bomb Iran” performance from the 2008 presidential campaign? But with a weakened president, the effort to promote a military strike is “definitely going into a higher gear” of late, Matthew Duss of the liberal Center for American Progress told The Upshot.

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