This week George Bush said the idea of an attack on Iran was “ridiculous” but his sentence was “having said that, all options are on the table.”
A war on Iran would indeed be ridiculous. There are compelling reasons why such a course of action would also be foolhardy and counterproductive in addition to hugely unlikely. The “all options” caveat refers to action short of war, if it isn’t in fact merely bluster, which I think more likely.
Unless you’re a Socialist Worker petition drafter of course. Here’s the full text (scroll down to the first entry under Other Resources) of their latest effort, which will no doubt be thrust in your face next time you head off down the High Street for a bit of Saturday morning shopping. Note the leap of logic that follows the first sentence of it quoted above. Note also, the evidence adduced:
This week George Bush said the idea of an attack on Iran was “ridiculous” but his sentence was “having said that, all options are on the table.” It is clear that Bush is gearing up to start another war. Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector who exposed the lies about WMD’s in Iraq, says that Bush has “signed off” plans to bomb Iran and already named a day to attack in June. Bush also has Syria in his sights. We’ve seen the bloodbath caused by Bush’s illegal war in Iraq and we don’t want thousands more deaths. We call on the British government to oppose any military action against Iran and Syria and demand the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.
Do the drones in woolly hats who have to collect signatures outside Netto really believe this kind of stuff ? Perhaps they do.
I know a way of testing the strength of political predictions. It’s called putting your money where your mouth is. Any SWP member or other Stopper who really believes the predictions their political committee comes out with – that there will be a war against Iran in June, should say so in the comments box. I’ll personally undertake to pay them £100 each just as soon as the tanks get the offices of the Assembly of Experts in their sites.
Update: For this offer to have effect SWP/STWC members have to provide something called consideration which acts as a legally binding counterpromise to seal the bargain.
In this case the consideration is their having to raise their hands and bring up the fact that the SWP leadership were gulled by “faulty intelligence” at every subsequent meeting they attend for six months when the words “any other business” are uttered.
