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Saturday, April 12, 2008

Bomb Bomb Iran
Posted by Jill | 8:18 AM
Well, they ran Al Qaeda in Iraq up the flagpole for a long time, and nobody saluted. So now they've decided that Iran is the primary threat to Iraq:

Last week's violence in Basra and Baghdad has convinced the Bush administration that actions by Iran, and not al-Qaeda, are the primary threat inside Iraq, and has sparked a broad reassessment of policy in the region, according to senior U.S. officials.

Evidence of an increase in Iranian weapons, training and direction for the Shiite militias that battled U.S. and Iraqi security forces in those two cities has fixed new U.S. attention on what Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday called Tehran's "malign" influence, the officials said.

The intensified focus on Iran coincides with diminished emphasis on al-Qaeda in Iraq as the leading justification for an ongoing U.S. military presence in Iraq.

In congressional hearings this week, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said the U.S. military has driven al-Qaeda from Baghdad, Anbar province and central Iraq, and he depicted the group as now largely concentrated in a reduced territory around the northern city of Mosul.

During their Washington visit, Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker barely mentioned al-Qaeda in Iraq but spoke extensively of Iran.

With "al-Qaeda in retreat and disarray" in Iraq, said one official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record, "we see other obstacles that were under the waterline more clearly. . . . The Iranian-armed militias are now the biggest threat to internal order."

Partly in response to advice from Petraeus and Crocker, the administration has initiated an interagency assessment of what is known about Iranian activities and intentions, how to combat them and how to capitalize on them. The review stems from an internal conclusion, following last week's fighting, that the administration lacked a comprehensive understanding and a sophisticated approach.

President Bush reiterated yesterday that if Iran continues to help militias in Iraq, "then we'll deal with them," saying in an interview with ABC News that "we're learning more about their habits and learning more about their routes" for infiltrating or sending equipment.

But he also reaffirmed that he has no desire to go to war with Tehran. Saying that his job is to "solve these issues diplomatically," Bush suggested heightened interest in reaching a solution with other countries. "You can't solve these problems unilaterally. You're going to need a multilateral forum."


And I am Marie of Rumania. He also said he had no desire to go to war with Iraq, either.

You watch....the bombs will be falling by the November election, but not too far in advance. The destruction we rain upon another sovereign nation can't have enough time to turn into the kind of horrorshow that might prevent John McCain from being elected.

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5 Comments:
Blogger Mauigirl said...
Scary stuff. I wouldn't put it past them. Or, Bush & Cheney might refuse to step down at all, citing the fact we are in the midst of a new war!
4/12/08, 9:29 AM  
Blogger Kevin Hayden said...
I spent years worrying about that but now believe the generals would tell them they'd quit because the military's too thin.

Sabre-rattling, yes... there's still profiteering available for all the cronies. But without a drawdown in Iraq, Bush can't take on a country nearly 3 times larger.

He might be eyeing Monaco, though...
4/12/08, 10:48 AM  
Blogger Porlock Junior said...
But we have always been at war with Eastasia!
4/12/08, 12:48 PM  
Blogger Steve said...
Let's see if I got this right:

Iran is training the Shiite Mahdi army of Muqtada, while at the same time Big Al Maliki is "Tehran's man".
So, Iran is on both sides of the fighting at the same time? And, they are doing a better job at training the Sadr faction(s?) than the US is doing training Iraqi security force which didn't perform as expected?
And, wasn't that Petraeus' job before he was promoted to CIC of all Mesopotamia by Bush?
And, where does War Czar Lute,(great name for THAT job), fit into all of this?
And, GE posted lower profits this last quarter which means they'll have to recoup from the only sure thing they have these days; more lucrative war contracts.

Can hardly wait for the Operation Iranian Freedom DVD, with a special intro by Tom Brokaw. I hope they include a coupon for a free 4pac of incandescent light bulbs this time to help light my way. It's so dark right now.
4/12/08, 1:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Kevin,
You, I, and the other sane people of this world know that we can't take on another war. We also know that BushCo ain't sane!

This is supposed to be an AIR FARCE -- and probably naval aviation -- war. We're going to BOMB them back to the 12th century where they say they want to live. Don't need an ARMY -- or Marines -- for that! Over in 3 days!

Where have we heard that before....
And I don't believe any of the current crop of Generals and Bush apologists will resign... Why ruin an otherwise stellar career with principle?
4/13/08, 5:17 PM  
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