Does Bush Want War with Iran? updated
Steve Clemons
has a provocative post today on the subject. Stories like the one below confirm
most people’s worst fears, that war with Iran is inevitable.
Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in
Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to
slow Iran’s nuclear weapons programme are doomed to fail.
But Clemons disagrees. From Steve’s post:
But both sides are advancing scenarios that are politically useful to them,
and both sides are wrong. Despite holding out a military option, ratcheting
up tensions with Iran about meddling in Iraq and Afghanistan, and deploying
carrier strike-force groups in the Persian Gulf, the president is not planning
to bomb Iran. But there are several not-unrelated scenarios under which it
might happen, if the neocon wing of the party, led by Vice President Cheney,
succeeds in reasserting itself, or if there is some kind of “accidental,”
perhaps contrived, confrontation.One of the reasons so many believe action is near is the well-known neoconservative
preference that it be so. … ..
One thing I believe has happened is that Cheney’s influence has waned over the last months. That’s where to keep your attention. Right now he’s out cheerleading
for Iraq, doing the selling job for the boss with their base. On Iraq Cheney
remains aligned with Bush. However, Iran is different, at least for the time
being, but that doesn’t mean Cheney’s influence can’t rise again.
As an aside, I know Steve, have heard him speak on more than one occasion.
The guy not only knows his stuff but his analyses are good and always worth
a listen.
What worries me is what Steve mentions at the end of his post, which I’ve covered
many times; every time a carrier group is moved in, around or out of the region.
Accidental wars have happened before. Everyone knows the man in the White House
is crazy macho enough to not have the discipline to resist any provocation at
all. So I’m with Clemons right up until I’m reminded of how low the Bush administration
can stoop to using non-existent threats to this nation as a cause for war. The
title of Steve’s post should have come with a “but”.
UPDATE II: Iran was denied the visit, which was confirmed today. Murdoch just can’t stop spinning Iran propaganda. It’s pathetic that his “reporters” don’t even check this stuff out.
UPDATE: New York Sun headline: U.S. May Escort Ahmadinejad to Ground Zero. GOP ’08ers are jumping over themselves to get their two cents in.
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