In his recent State of the Union address, Mr. Bush denounced Iran for "funding and training militia groups in Iraq, supporting Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, and backing Hamas' efforts to undermine peace in the Holy Land." Then he warned, "Know this: America will confront those who threaten our troops."
Many Americans and people around the world will be shocked if President Bush orders an attack on Iran. He would be perfectly justified in telling them that their shock was hard to understand, since he had repeatedly made his intention clear.
It is not hard to imagine the reasoning that might lead White House officials to conclude the U.S. must attack Iran. "We had to deal with 9/11 because wimpy Bill Clinton didn't crush the threat before it materialized," they would tell themselves. "We can't leave this problem to the next president. Let's make the tough decision we know is right."
Thirty-five years ago, Americans faced a hostile nuclear power whose government the U.S. had long refused to recognize: China. President Richard M. Nixon was able to imagine a new relationship with China, one in which the two countries would compete or cooperate peacefully. President Bush has proved incapable of making a similar leap. He evidently cannot conceive of a world in which America and Iran are anything other than bitter enemies.
Why is the U.S., which maintains good relations with other odious regimes, unable to offer a hand of peace to Iran? The reasons are psychological as much as political. Powerful Americans have never forgiven Iran's mullahs for overthrowing the shah in 1979, taking U.S. diplomats hostage and opposing Western interests in the Middle East and beyond. They feel the mullahs must be given the punishment they have thus far escaped.
That punishment, in the form of bombs, could rain down on Iran at any moment. Believing it can't happen increases the possibility that it will.
Stephen Kinzer is author of "All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror." His e-mail is s-kinzer@northwestern.edu. This article originally appeared in the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald.
