Because Dick Cheney and friends cried wolf over Iraq, we now face real danger from Tehran, says richard ehrman
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Iran is said to be still at least three years away from producing a nuclear warhead. In Washington and London, however, the blame game is already well under way.
Among British neo-con commentators and policy wonks - the Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld right-wing fan club centred on the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail - anger over the West's vacillation in the face of Iranian intransigence is running especially high.
The prospect of the mullahs acquiring nukes is certainly deeply alarming. In Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (right), the new Iranian president, Islam may well have found its Hitler. His anti-Semitism, aggressive disdain for his neighbours and disregard for his own peoples' peace and prosperity are all horribly reminiscent of Europe in the 1930s.
But before they blame everybody else for
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| In Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the new Iranian president, Islam may well have found its Hitler |
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letting him get away with it, the armchair warriors of the right should ask themselves why he seems able to defy the world with such apparent impunity. The invasion of Iraq, the neo-cons' favourite cause, is one obvious answer. With the US bogged down in Iraq, Tehran can be sure that the American public is in no mood for another Middle Eastern adventure.
Should that show signs of changing, Tehran can up the pressure on the coalition whenever it wants. Ironically, the Iraqi government, installed by the Americans, is dominated by pro-Iranian Shias. So are many of the militias that run large parts of the country.
So pervasive is Iranian influence in Iraq post-Saddam that, when the US and its allies eventually withdraw, Iran is likely to turn 
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