Adriana Amat, VOA: Latin America is not really a priority for the United States, evidence of this includes the major foreign policy speech Bush Hill deliver in January will be about Iraq. What do you think of that?
Grant Smith, IRmep: I think we’ve got some clues from events occurring at the end of the year about where the Bush administration is headed. UN resolution 8928 from the Security Council may form part of a larger strategy to broaden the Iraq conflict to other parts of the region. The economic and other sanctions against Iran and inspections on the part of the IAEA in sixty days could be a tripwire component to do engage as the Baker Commission contemplated without seeing the real objective: expand confrontation in the region. Not through consulting Iran, but rather confronting Iran. Military observers have seen the dispatch of another aircraft carrier to the region to make its presence felt in the Persian (Arab) Gulf. It is perfectly plausible, to those of us who studied the pretexts and steps leading to the US invasion of Iraq that there will now be sanctions, UN declarations that Iran is in violation of 8928, giving the Bush administration even more justification to increase troops levels in Iraq for “force protection” and then completely change the dynamic with Syria and Iran in a way not foreseen by the Baker commission.
Adriana Amat, VOA: How important is it that the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq has now passed 3,000?
Grant Smith, IRmep: The crisis of losing 3,000 is relevant, and we must also compare it to the new Iraqi refugee crisis. In the turmoil of 1948 when Israel expulsed Palestinians from their homes and land, *only* 711,000 were directly affected (UN number). Right now there are almost 800,000 Iraqi refugees in Jordan, and another 800,000 in Syria. The US has caused the second “Nakba” in the region, the second “tragedy”. I like visions of peace, but the Bush administration is not in the region to create peace. The administration’s “great thinkers” such as Michael Ledeen call for regional chaos in order to completely restructure it.
Full VOA Discussion (Spanish Real Video 256kbps)
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