Dr. Steven Jonas

archived: 6 - 12 Mar, 2005 Back Next

“WE WON’T HAVE TO WORRY ANY MORE”

Junkie: Dr. Jonas’ column below is a TPJ first. TPJ is co-opting Dr. Jonas’ article intended for today to reprint two of Dr. Jonas’ previous articles by Dr. Jonas on Bush’s escalating confrontation with Iran over nuclear development. TPJ noted that Dr. Jonas, in the sum of both of the prior articles, posed a seemingly repugnant question; is the world safer with Iran holding the nuclear trigger opposed to the United States?

Even one of Dr. Jonas’ friends wrote him:

Steve: If you're really, truly more afraid of George Bush than of the theocrats in Teheran, I'm afraid we don't have anything to say to each other on this topic. If it's just rhetoric, I think it's ill-judged rhetoric.

Shortly after TPJ published the second of Dr. Jonas’ articles this news item appeared, but received only the most cursory coverage:

03/02/05 Washington, DC -- Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) has advocated for
attacking Syria with nuclear weapons. Rep. Johnson was quoted telling a
recent church gathering, "Syria is the problem. Syria is where those
weapons of mass destruction are, in my view. You know, I can fly an
F-15, put two nukes on 'em and I'll make one pass. We won't have to
worry about Syria anymore." -- Information Clearing House

Representative Johnson is one of Representative DeLay’s confederates from Texas. TPJ has been unable to find any rebuke of Rep. Johnson’s irresponsible and reckless threat by Bush or White House representatives.

TPJ readers should reread both of Dr. Jonas’ articles below in the context of Rep. Johnson’s public threat

_____________

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: February 24, 2005

GOING NUCLEAR IN IRAN

Our Editor/Publisher Michael Carmichael has just published the item next below on The Iran War, beginning:

Seymour Hersh and Scott Ritter have reported that the US planning for the Iran War is reaching a very advanced stage. George Bush has already approved a June launch, when the bombing will target strategic sites inside Iran.

And continuing: ". . . the Defense Department is now revising military plans for a maximum ground and air invasion of the oil-rich nation."

Right above the notice of Michael's item in my email inbox was the daily bulletin from the Washington Post, which contained this lead item:

Army Having Difficulty Meeting Recruiting Goals

The active-duty Army is in danger of failing to meet its recruiting goals, and is beginning to suffer from manpower strains like those that have dropped the National Guard and Reserves below full strength, according to Army figures and interviews with senior officers.

(By Ann Scott Tyson, The Washington Post)

The Georgite maxi-Imperialists must know this. The US will have no where near enough ground forces for any sort of ground invasion. It cannot hold its own against guerrillas in Iraq, much less the large, well organized and well-equipped Army it would be facing in Iran. It could very well face mass rebellion in the ranks of the Reserves and National Guard, and even the regular forces, including some high-ranking officers (many of whom opposed the Iraq invasion, at last at the panned level). Does this mean that they are planning to go nuclear?

Yes, folks. That's what I said. The end of civilization as we know it may be closer than most of us think.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: March 3, 2005

IRANIAN NUKES

Not a day seems to pass without the Iranians changing their position on nuclear weapons development. One day, they are accepting European proposals for an agreement to suspend it; the next day they seem to be repudiating any agreement.

I happen to think that the scariest nation having nuclear weaponry at present is the United States under the Georgites. It is well-known that leading members of and top advisors to the Georgite regime have for some time openly talked about invading Iran. The U.S. is the only country ever to have used nuclear weapons, and since the time of Eisenhower American administration, (only under successor Republican ones to my knowledge) has actually considered using them again in one situation or another. Currently, in the Iraq situation Georgite sympathizers talked about “nuking” Falujah and it is only recently that cost-cutting Republicans in the Congress have eliminated, for the time-being at least, the Georgite program to develop “bunker-buster” nuclear weapons, designed to get at underground facilities of various kinds.

If I were in the Iranian leadership, given these facts and given that close-by Israel, presently under the Partition-rejectionist/Palestinians-ejectionist Sharonists, is estimated to have about 400 nuclear weapons, I would want to have them too. Unless a deal is made, given that the Iranian nuclear industry is widely decentralized, only a complete takeover of the whole country by the US could prevent that from otherwise happening eventually. The trade that the Iranians may be on their way to making with the Europeans and the Russians may be indeed to not acquire them, in return for a solid guarantee of protection against the US. Perhaps this is what the on-again/off-again nature of the public Iranian position is all about, as the various forces maneuver behind closed doors to provide those guarantees to the Iranians. Stranger alliances have occurred in history.

A friend, a very sharp political analyst and a strong anti-Georgite on most issues, sent me the following comment:

I sent him the following response (and since, three days later, I have not had a reply from him, I guess he is sticking to his non-discuss position):

Hi. Yes, I am more afraid of George Bush and the theocrats/neocons who are running him than I am of the theocrats in Teheran (who are at least faced by a democratic opposition that has some real power). George Bush is rapidly turning our country into a fascist dictatorship, something the Iranians don't have the power to do. The negative impacts of that developing development not only for our country but for the human species as we know it are terrifying, in my view.

It is almost as if the Georgites are using as a script my book The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022, originally published in 1996. The political scenario of the book begins in 2000 with the election of a not-too-bright Republican totally beholden to the Christian Right. It continues with the victory in the 2004 election of something I called the 'Republican/Christian Alliance.' Sound familiar?

Further on the original subject, whether or not the Iranians acquire nuclear weapons, I am much more afraid that the Georgite theocratic/Armageddonists might use ours than that they would use theirs.

Junkie: The commentary above is taken from two pieces written by Dr. Jonas originally for Junkie Editor Michael Carmichael’s fabulous website, Planetary Movement. Both pieces can be found here: Dr. J.’s Short Shot No. 27: Iranian Nukes and Dr. J.’s Short Shot No. 31: Further on Iranian Nukes.

________________