by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH

Both U.S. President Bush and Iranian President Ahmadinejad are shooting off their respective mouths at each other and each other's nations. Major elements of their respective power elites are more and more nervous that such shooting off may lead to real shooting between the two countries, in the worst interests of both. There is common ground between the countries. First and foremost, a shooting war between them would bring immense harm to both. Further, it would have the potential for bringing even more immense harm to the world at large, especially should the U.S. use nuclear weapons, an idea that apparently has been bruited about, at least, it is rumored, about the office of the U.S. Vice President.

I have a suggestion for cooling off the situation: let the two presidents meet and jointly explore the lines of connection they have both told us they have to God. Surely in such a meeting of the minds, He or She should be able to help them sort things out, don’t you think?

Back in 2004, then Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas reported on a very interesting conversation he had with George Bush. Referring to the "War on Terrorism," Bush told Abbas that: "God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the U.S. elections will come and I will have to focus on them [1]." On October 19, 2006, President Ahmadinejad told us that: "I Have a Connection with God, Since God Said That the Infidels Will Have No Way to Harm the Believers (MEMRI, Special Dispatch - Iran, as reported by Iran News, 10-19-06)."

And so there we have it, a solution to the "Iran Crisis." Both national leaders talk with the one God. Hopefully, the one God they talk to is the same one. Hopefully He/She will now tell both of them: “Cool it, brothers. You have got to talk this thing out.” And then hopefully, since Bush will now know that he and Ahmadinejad both talk with God, following that meeting, Bush will say to Ahmadinejad, “You know, after our latest conversation with the almighty, I now know that we must talk first, bomb later, rather than the other way round. How about lunch?” Alternatively, after having heard of this scenario, their respective power elites will remove them from office or at least from power, and the world can then move on to finding a peaceful solution to the Middle East Crisis, including that in Israel/Palestine, a la, for example, the Report of the Iraq Study Group.

DR. J'S SHORT SHOT

Steven Jonas, MD, MPH is a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY) a weekly contributing author for The Political Junkies (www.thepoliticaljunkies.net [2]), and contributing editor for The Moving Planet Blog (http://www.planetarymovement.org/ [3]).

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