Iraq, Iran, Iraq-Iraq-Iraq –updated below–
If this
Sunday item is news, I\’m a blonde.
The Times \”reports\”
that Israel is thinking of hitting Iran\’s nuclear facilities with tactical nukes. Excuse me, but
people, please pay attention. This has been in the wind for a very long time.
Now the Times of London puts it as \”Revealed\” in the headline
and everyone is reading it as news. \”Stunning
scoop\”? Crisis?
As if using tactical nukes against Ahmadinejad is suddenly an original idea
for the neocons in the Israeli government.
Israel has identified three prime targets south of Tehran which are believed
to be involved in Iran’s nuclear programme:Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges are being installed for uranium enrichment
A uranium conversion facility near Isfahan where, according to a statement
by an Iranian vice-president last week, 250 tons of gas for the enrichment
process have been stored in tunnelsA heavy water reactor at Arak, which may in future produce enough plutonium
for a bomb …
Anything to divert attention away from what\’s happening in Iraq, not to mention what
needs to be done. That would be redeploy our troops and let the Iraqis have at it, because they\’re going to regardless of what we do, because we screwed up any chance of helping them a long time ago.
Frankly, I\’m still fixated on the Admiral coming in. Because I sure as hell
knew Admiral Fallon wasn\’t being tapped to take General Abizaid\’s place because
he knew the Middle East. Ralph Peters weighs in.
Why put a swabbie in charge of grunt operations?
There\’s a one-word answer: Iran.
EYEING
IRAN
WHY W\’S TAPPING ADMIRAL TO HEAD CENTRAL COMMAND
Read the whole article.
The new Secretary of Defense, Gates, won\’t find any of this Iran talk appealing,
but like everyone else in the military under Mr. Bush, he\’s just another chess man.
But even discussing using tactical nukes against anyone in the current climate
is not only a bad idea it\’s American suicide.
Everything still turns on Iraq. Even if there was a miracle in the Palestinian – Israeli conflict, we\’d still have the mess in Iraq. Get it?
The man in the spotlight now is Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, because you simply cannot divert attention from Iraq by playing Army
and Marines or even Navy and Air Force in the Iranian\’s neighborhood. The Administration thinking they can is not only swerving into criminally negligent national security policy territory,
but certifiably insane wacksmanship.
Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, who is President Bush\’s choice to become the
top U.S. military commander in Iraq, posed a riddle during the initial march
to Baghdad four years ago that now becomes his own conundrum to solve: \”Tell
me how this ends.\”(snip)
Skepticism is rife, inside and outside the Army. \”Petraeus is being
given a losing hand. I say that reluctantly. The war is unmistakably going
in the wrong direction,\” retired Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey said in
an interview yesterday. \”The only good news in all this is that Petraeus
is so incredibly intelligent and creative. . . . I\’m sure he\’ll say to himself,
\’I\’m not going to be the last soldier off the roof of the embassy in the Green
Zone.\’\”Iraq
Will Be Petraeus\’s Knot to Untie
General Known to See Peace as Still Possible
In an interesting side note, Bill Frist, before he was in the Senate, saved
Patraeus\’s life when he was shot with an M-16 rifle when \”a soldier tripped
during a training exercise.\” It\’s a good thing that Frist now can do what
he\’s best at and I\’m serious. He was never suited for the Senate.
Patraeus is known as arrogant and, you\’re going to love this one, \”excessively
ambitious.\” Well hell, kids, I say throw him out! Let\’s put someone in
charge of the quagmire Bush has made out of Iraq who\’s unsure of himself. Once he gets his fourth star, Patraeus\’s \”most
competitive man on the planet\” standing will likely be put on steroids and
he\’ll need \’em. Because the Democrats aren\’t in the mood to okay a 20,000 soldier
\”surge,\” though I still doubt they have the spine to stop the commander
in chief who intends to fund any action he wants or the man Mr. Bush (h/t) wants to hand Iraq to after he\’s gone: John McCain.
Do you think Senate Democrats will cut off funding for Iraq?
So, amidst all this Iran talk, Iraq remains the real issue.
Patraeus is being given the mission that could make him out to be the hero of this
story, but only if he can create the scene for a major miracle: the Iraqis deciding they want to get along. It started with him saying \”Tell me how this ends.\” He now believes he has the power to write the script.
There\’s just one itsy, bitsy problem. The Iraqis will decide if there\’s
peace and so far they\’ve shown no sign they they want any part of that plan. Besides, democracy wasn\’t their idea, even if what we handed to them was chaos, bedlam and anarchy instead.
UPDATE (12:28 p.m.): Laura Rozen agrees, saying \”Twice a day, the clock strikes 11, right?\” Exactly.
Comments are closed.