Listen carefully and it sounds like the Bush administrations' drums of war are beating again. One of the latest targets of "concern" for the United States is Iran, one of the original members of "the axis of evil." Maybe in the midst of being disregarded by the Turks and being dumbfounded by President Musharraf's disregard of the warning not to suspend elections, the Constitution, and imprison and beat his opposition, Iran's controversial President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might just be the one to bear the brunt of Bush's anger.

The U.S. Military in March of 2005 changed its doctrine on when to use a nuclear strike to include preemptive efforts against non-nuclear states. The political machine that lead us charging to take out Saddam has been aggressively persuading the world that Iran is a country that is headed for nuclear weapons development, is sponsoring terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, and is guilty of supplying arms to Shia militia fighting the U.S. lead military efforts in Iraq. The worlds' energy future is at stake and nearly 40% of the daily oil consumption passes right through the Strait of Hormuz. It is no surprise to many Americans to hear that Bush may want to attack Iran on the same grounds he attacked Iraq.

We used to be their primary partner in development. Until 1979 thousands of U.S. based contractors lived and worked in Iran helping to develop an infrastructure. Now Ahmadinejad, a small, soft spoken, always grinning, 140 pound President of a powerful nation is in the sites of the Bush administration. Most of the recent National Intelligence Estimates (NIE's) indicate that the Iranians fear a nuclear attack from the U.S. These are similar to the NIE's on Iraq that only 6 Senators read before authorizing Bush to take action if diplomacy failed. Hillary Clinton claims to have been advised on the NIE's for Iraq, but admitted at least once that she never actually read the NIE herself before voting to authorize Bush to invade Iraq. The latest U.S. government attempt to deal with Iran in a tough and forceful manner has generated the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment that declares the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. President Bush tried to make it an executive order to declare the guard as terrorists. Hillary Clinton voted for the amendment. Obama, Biden, and Dodd cast no votes as they were on the campaign trail. The Republican candidates like McCain, Guiliani, and Romney have made it clear that they will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and that there is urgency and a need for action.

We put the Shah in power after Mohammed Mossadeq was elected in 1952 during a democratic election. He consolidated power and decided to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The British had established the oil company and after monopolizing the profits, the Iranian Parliament nationalized its holding of the oil company. The U.S. and British now admit to Operation Ajax. It was a covert CIA backed operation to restore the Shah to power after the oil holdings were nationalized. They organized protests and created dissent and eventually the Shah returned from exile to create a total dictatorship. He dismantled the Constitution and imprisoned all of his opposition. Sounds just like Pakistan. The hardline Islamic conservatives did not like the Westernization of Iran and revolted in 1979.

Does anybody remember that we put Saddam in power back in 1963 and he may have been on the CIA payroll as early as 1959? We provided training, arms, intelligence and even the precursors for chemical and biological weapons to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. We provided Saddam with the same chemical weapons he used to kill the 180,000 Kurds during the 1980's and at his trial the charges were dismissed because of Western complicity.

The history between the U.S. and Iran has been troubled since the 1979 Iranian revolution. The embassy in Tehran was overtaken on November 4^th, 1979 by Muslim student followers of the Imam's Line with the support of Ayatollah Khomeini. 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days. The United States responded by freezing around $12 billion in Iranian assets and launching sanctions. In 1983 Hezbollah militants carried out the United States Embassy bombings in Tehran which killed 17 and the Beirut Marine Barracks bombing which killed 241 U.S. servicemen. The Khobar Towers bombing involved 19 U.S. military deaths at a building in Saudi Arabia and has been linked to Hezbollah.

Everyone remembers good ole Ollie North and the Iran-Contra scandal where Reagan and his cronies basically got caught selling arms to a sworn enemy of the U.S. to generate funds to channel to Nicaragua to fight the Sandinistas.

Then the USS Vincennes shot down flight 655 in 1988 over the Strait of Hormuz. 290 civilians were killed and the U.S. paid $61.8 million in compensation and never officially apologized.

In 1985 a total embargo was put in place by President Clinton. The Congress passed the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act in 1996. The Act was renewed for five more years in 2001. The act was renamed the Iran Sanctions Act in 2006 and was extended until 2011.

Since George Bush has been in office, the U.S. has rejected Iranian efforts like the one in 2003 before the U.S. invaded Iraq. Iran offered to help stabilize Iraq after the invasion and offered up a "grand bargain," whereby it would have resolved all outstanding issues including Iran's alleged role in terrorism and their nuclear program. Since Bush had included Iran in his axis of evil speech the U.S. took a harder approach that ultimately ruined any chances of reconciliation. Iran is reported to have offered to disarm Hezbollah and turn it into a political organization. Both governments have their demands that appear to remain obstacles to any long term resolution.

Iran wants the US to acknowledge the legitimacy of the 1979 revolution. They have lots of complaints and demands against us. For example, they would like the sanctions removed, release of frozen assets in the U.S., and even the removal of the U.S. Navy from the Persian Gulf. Some of the less known complaints include US companies aid in chemical weapons facility development in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. They also believe we are responsible for sponsoring anti-Iranian terrorist groups.

Recent reports have suggested that the United States has trained, armed, and funded anti-Iranian groups. Scott Ritter, former UN weapons of mass destruction inspector, stated that a CIA backed bombing by a U.S. Department of State labeled terrorist organization People's Mujahedin of Iran or MKO had taken place in Iran. Dennis Kucinich wrote a letter to Bush about the party for a free life in Kurdistan (PEJAK) being trained by U.S. forces to carry out attacks on Iranian forces.

In May of 2007, Iran made a gesture of resolution towards the U.S. but the drums of war continue to beat loudly. Recent polls indicate that the majority of people would prefer that we exhaust all diplomatic solutions before any action. When asked if we should use military force if diplomatic efforts failed, more than 55% responded that we should not take military action to wipe out their nuclear program. Many folks are concerned that we would be rushing to war too quickly. Many of those same folks also worry that we may not do enough to prevent Iran from developing or acquiring a nuclear weapon. The end results are very mixed. We oppose military action while maintaining a belief that their nuclear program is for military purposes.

The Middle East will continue to be the center of attention as long as the world's dependence on oil and petroleum continues to increase. We care about the stability of the region because our economic future is at stake. The value of the dollar is tied to the trading of oil. It will be interesting to see how the Presidential candidates change from issues about Iraq to issues about Iran. There is no doubt that whoever takes over the role of President of the United States of America will have many difficult foreign policy decisions and issues to deal with.

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