War in Iran Can be Extremely Dangerous for the West By Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S.

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Mr. Sarkozy, an extreme rightist who is the most pro American president France had in half a century is pro Israel, anti Muslim and anti third world. He has done tremendous damage to France and Europe by pitting them against the third world and the Muslims. Now he is trying to endanger the whole world by provoking Iran and risking a third world war that the West has very little chance to win.

It is quite clear that France does not fully understand the risks involved in Iran war talk. The world is very different now than in the 80’s when Israel was able to destroy the nuclear facilities in Iraq. The west is already having great problems in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tony Blair, the most Atlanticist British prime minister in recent history, was kicked out by his own party and President Busch is close to winning the title of the most unpopular and unsuccessful president America ever had. Both owe their fate to the Iraq and the Afghanistan war.

General Musharraf, the most important western ally against terrorism, has become weak to the point that he has become more of a liability than an asset for the west. Pakistan is heading towards a great turmoil. The Islamists seem poised to gain a strong foothold in Pakistan. This situation will tremendously increase the western difficulties in the region. Starting war in Iran can be very risky. The repercussions of starting such a war can be extremely dangerous. Iran has lined up more than a million volunteers for suicide attacks and can do tremendous damage to the American troops in Iraq and the NATO forces in Afghanistan. These troops are practically hostages held by Iran.

The public opinion in the Western countries is very much against the Iraq war. Just recently, there were 100,000 anti-war demonstrations in Washington DC as opposed to about 1,000 pro-war demonstrators. Starting a war in Iran will further alienate the people. Even if there may be less opposition in the beginning yet as the consequences of the war become clearer, the public will turn against the war in a very big way.

Russia has expressed a great concern over the threat of war in Iran. The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov expressed his concern after the talks with the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner. He said, “ Military action in Iran is a threat to a region where there are already grave problems in Iraq and Afghanistan.” We sincerely hope that France will listen to this warning from Russia and reject Sarkozy’s dangerous policies.