Saturday, April 29, 2006
Here we go again
As President Reagan once said: "here we go again..."
Our President is getting ready to invade another Middle Eastern country. But don't worry - he'll talk about diplomatic solutions for a while. And his Press Secretary will probably get advice from Madison Avenue on the best time to break the news to us.
A front page story in the Post this morning describes an International Atomic Energy Agency report confirming "that Iran is accelerating its uranium enrichment efforts and hiding crucial information about its nuclear program." The article goes on to describe our President's reaction:
For a minute, I stopped myself - maybe it's just knee-jerk cynicism, I thought. But such optimistic glimmers faded quickly as I reminded myself of the depths of this man's insanity, this man who sees his mission to save the world from evil.
And sure enough, as Seymour Hersh painstakingly details in this month's issue of New Yorker magazine, Bush and his merry band of zealots are at it again. Saying one thing ("...diplomatic solution") and doing quite another:
Exactly.
So what are we going to do about it?
Related Reading:
New Yorker: The Iran Plan
Seymour Hersh article referenced above, published 4/8/06.
Washington Post: U.N. Body Set to Act on Iraq
Article referenced above, published 4/29/06, written by Molly Moore and Dafna Linzer.
Foreign Affairs: Intelligence, Policy and the War in Iraq
A summary of this 3/06 report: "During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, writes the intelligence community's former senior analyst for the Middle East, the Bush administration disregarded the community's expertise, politicized the intelligence process, and selected unrepresentative raw intelligence to make its public case."
Frontline: Truth, War and Consequences
This 10/03 report, which you can watch on the site, "traces the roots of the Iraqi war back to the days immediately following September 11, when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered the creation of a special intelligence operation to quietly begin looking for evidence that would justify the war."
Our President is getting ready to invade another Middle Eastern country. But don't worry - he'll talk about diplomatic solutions for a while. And his Press Secretary will probably get advice from Madison Avenue on the best time to break the news to us.
A front page story in the Post this morning describes an International Atomic Energy Agency report confirming "that Iran is accelerating its uranium enrichment efforts and hiding crucial information about its nuclear program." The article goes on to describe our President's reaction:
President Bush said after the report's release that "the world is united and concerned" about Iran's "desire to have not only a nuclear weapon but the capacity to make a nuclear weapon or the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon." He said he hoped for a diplomatic solution.Ha! "Bullshit," I thought to myself when I read this. "Bullshit" that our President would hope for a diplomatic solution. "Bullshit" that he didn't have his zealous, hawky pals deeply immersed in military planning - just as we now know they were planning military action in Iraq without evidence of any imminent threat.
For a minute, I stopped myself - maybe it's just knee-jerk cynicism, I thought. But such optimistic glimmers faded quickly as I reminded myself of the depths of this man's insanity, this man who sees his mission to save the world from evil.
And sure enough, as Seymour Hersh painstakingly details in this month's issue of New Yorker magazine, Bush and his merry band of zealots are at it again. Saying one thing ("...diplomatic solution") and doing quite another:
The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack....Later in the article, a member of the House Appropriations Committee is quoted as saying about the President, “The most worrisome thing is that this guy has a messianic vision.”
...One former defense official, who still deals with sensitive issues for the Bush Administration, told me that the military planning was premised on a belief that “a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government.” He added, “I was shocked when I heard it, and asked myself, ‘What are they smoking?’ ”
Exactly.
So what are we going to do about it?
Related Reading:
New Yorker: The Iran Plan
Seymour Hersh article referenced above, published 4/8/06.
Washington Post: U.N. Body Set to Act on Iraq
Article referenced above, published 4/29/06, written by Molly Moore and Dafna Linzer.
Foreign Affairs: Intelligence, Policy and the War in Iraq
A summary of this 3/06 report: "During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, writes the intelligence community's former senior analyst for the Middle East, the Bush administration disregarded the community's expertise, politicized the intelligence process, and selected unrepresentative raw intelligence to make its public case."
Frontline: Truth, War and Consequences
This 10/03 report, which you can watch on the site, "traces the roots of the Iraqi war back to the days immediately following September 11, when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered the creation of a special intelligence operation to quietly begin looking for evidence that would justify the war."
