Let's NOT Bomb Iran In 2007

Happy New Year and welcome to 2007.

The neocon narrative for war with Iran kicked up a notch over the Christmas period (more of that later, either today or tomorrow) and as we head into 2007 my guess is that the clamor for war will only get stronger.

Let's see if we can help stop that happening.

Here's a good first step - creating a leftwing and progressive narrative on Iran which shows that bombing a nation into oblivion isn't the only way. Eteraz has a great post:

At the current time the Right has enunciated two starkly problematic approaches to Iran. The first is the military option; something mimicking Iraq. The second is the even more idealist option in which "the Iranian people" are roused to replace their oligarchs, and in the process, magically become secular liberals (who would then somehow replace their nuclear ambitions with nuclear non-proliferation and give up their regional hegemonic dreams). Fact is, there is no reason to believe that a democratic Iran would have ambitions any lesser than an oligarchic Iran. Something more has to be done.

It is patently obvious that the first strategy is simply not viable -- insert here the multifarious logistical and military reasons for why the U.S. is not capable of any kind of sustained military campaign (a little something called Iraq and Afghanistan hinder that mission). The second option is problematic because there is no such thing as "the Iranian people." Large parts of Iranian opposition to the regime comes not from the secular elites (who for the most part are in Los Angeles and Stockholm), but from ultra-traditionalist Ayatollahs like Bourojourdi who happen to disagree with the regime on theological grounds (as they believe that the Iranian state was not meant to become co-extensive with the idea of the Mahdi). The Right never asks how it will transform a society of 60+ million into one secular liberal monolith; and upon realizing that it has no meaningful answer to this conundrum, it consents to a discourse that is largely rooted in the use of arms (which some think should be total and some say surgical). None of these solutions are viable and I believe the Left can do better.

And he has some suggestions on how the Left could create its own narrative. Great stuff and a "must read".