Washington, DC-Following 9/11, President Bush declared, during the 2002 State of the Union address, that Iran is a member of the “Axis of Evil”. Since that time, a case for war has been prepared.

On January 11, 2006, the Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte announced the creation of the “Iran Mission Manager” and subsequent appointment Ms. S. Leslie Ireland to this new position.

Information is continually fed through media outlets concerning Iran’s nuclear production, their role in the Israeli-Lebanese conflict, their backing of sectarian violence in Iraq and their support of terrorist organizations. The question remains as to whether this media blitz has been effective in garnering popular support for military action in Iran.

Over the past year, many former US officials have leaked information regarding the Pentagon’s preparation for a massive preemptive unilateral aerial assault on Iran, their nuclear production facilities and weapons of mass destruction also known as WMD. This latter term, with its negative connotation, omitted due to poor sales technique.

20,000 new US troops heading to the region gives reason to pause. With a massive US military presence in both Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran sits dead center of military strategists’ gun sight.

As the 110th Congress debate non-binding resolutions concerning a troop surge in Iraq, Peter DeFazio, Democrat Representative from Oregon, has introduced Resolution 33 entitled, “Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should not initiate military action against Iran without first obtaining authorization from Congress”.

In this Resolution, DeFazio pits Article I, section 8 of the US Constitution as it pertains to congressional authority to declare war as opposed to Article II, section 2 (also known as the Commander in Chief clause) which has been the basis for this Administration to act without congressional assent.

In short, President Bush and his Administration may declare war preemptively and unilaterally without popular, congressional or international backing. As the American people sit back and watch Congress hammer out non-binding Resolutions that are tantamount to a vote of no confidence and go unheeded by a second term president, we are being duped, by a magician’s trick or slight of hand, into believing US involvement in the Middle East is heading toward an end. In truth, it has only just begun.

Tennessee Williams, in the Glass Menagerie, said it best, “…I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.”

Image: Wikipedia

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