I blame ourselves, the UK and US, for stoking the flames of millenarianism in Iran. First we invade Afghanistan, on Iran's eastern border, and then, without completing the Afghan mission, we invade Iraq, on Iran's western border. Chaos ensues on both fronts. Chaos is a precursor to the Twelfth Imam's return. According to ABC News:
The Mahdi's eventual return is an article of faith for Shiite Muslims that taps deeply into Persian consciousness and mystical tradition. Signs began to appear in Tehran three years ago, announcing that "He's Coming."
Three years ago, our forces were preparing to invade Iraq. In May that year, two days after George Bush announced "mission accomplished", Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected Tehran's mayor. Two years later, he's the underdog who wins the presidency. I ask myself - if we hadn't invaded Iraq in 2003, would Ahmadinejad, the simple, conservative, mystical candidate, have won the mayorality of Tehran and now the presidency of Iran ? I suspect not.
And if Tehran wanted to develop nuclear weapons, it wouldn't be surprising. Not only are British and American forces on its borders, Israel's nukes are pointing at it. The only political solution I see would be to build, by consensus, a WMD-free West Asia, comprising Turkey, the Middle East and Iran. The fly in the ointment is the British- and American-backed Zionist entity. But we enabled Israel to arm itself with nukes - if we have any influence left at all over the Israelis, they must be persuaded to allow their nuclear arsenal to be put on the negotiating table. Israel is not made safer if its nukes are provoking its enemies into building their own.
But the US, UK and NATO won't quickly withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq, and Israel is unlikely even to acknowledge the existence of its nuclear arsenal. It seems that events are heading ineluctably towards an apocalyptic conflagration in the Holy lands of Iraq and Palestine, with 'our side', the US, UK and Israel, co-conspirators. Did Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Blair factor-in the upsurge of Shiite apocalyptic fervour, and its effects upon Iran's nuclear ambitions, before deciding to invade Iraq? And, if not, why not?
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