Those who argue for war with Iran place great emphasis on its supposed role in Iraq. They say that Iran supports Iraqi insurgents and there is some evidence that Iran has provided support to some Shia insurgents. But Sunni insurgents who get their support from Saudi Arabia are responsible for far more American casualties than the Shia and no one is talking about war with Saudi Arabia. Even if all the charges are true, would we act any differently if we were in Iran's shoes? And does it make sense to go to war with a country over behaviour that is not significantly different from our own?
The Administration is trying to make a case that Iran is more dangerous and more provocative than the Sunni insurgents to American interests in Iraq, when--if you look at the actual casualty numbers--the punishment inflicted on America by the Sunnis is greater by an order of magnitude...
from The Redirection by Seymour Hersch
After 9/11 Iran was one of the most sympathetic nations to us, organizing candlelight vigils and such for the 9/11 victims. Since then, we have placed military units in two of Iran's neighbors: Afghanistan, understandably; and Iraq, incomprehensibly. We have made bellicose statements about Iran being part of some "Axis of Evil." Now we are even sending a small number of troops to Pakistan, another of Iran's neighbors. So is it any wonder they feel threatened? Come on, how would we feel about say, the Russians, if they were to launch military campaigns in Canada and Mexico, and start spouting such inflammatory rhetoric as "we will bury you." The very least we would do would be to support the resistance efforts by our neighbors to the Russian occupation, funneling arms and whatever aid we could. We don't want no foreign troops on our borders! That is the position Iran is in. We have armies on their Eastern border and their Western border. They have no armies on our borders. They have much more reason to feel threatened by us than we have to feel threatened by them.
In The Iranian Challenge Dr. Trita Parsi discusses seven misconceptions that are commonly held about the Iranians. I encourage everyone to read that article. Briefly those misconceptions and his responses are:
Iran is ripe for regime change. Not true.
Iran is irrational and cannot be deterred. Not true.
Iran is inherently anti-American. Not quite.
Enrichment equals a nuclear bomb. Not necessarily.
Iran seeks Israel's destruction. False.
The pressure on Iran is working. Questionable.
Stability in the Middle East can be achieved only through Iran's isolation. Quite the contrary.
Before supporting another unnecessary war, please take some time to find out what this one is really about.