The Drum Beat
So maybe they're thinking that, if we attack Iran in August, while everyone is at the beach and elsewhere on vacation (including Congress), no one will notice? I'm beginning to sweat -- and it's not just from the heat of the dog days of August.
Will Bunch of Attytood put the pieces together, in A prelude to war: What's really behind Bush's Iran move. He discusses the designation by the White House of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a global terrorist group, noting:
Here's what it means on the surface, that U.S. -- which increasingly blames Iran for terrorist meddling in Iraq and Afghanistan -- can try to go after those who do business with the Iranian military unit. Still, it's clearly not a normal move -- the first time that a government military has received this terrorist designation -- something that's usually reserved for non-state actors like al-Qaeda. And so no one seems sure what this morning what the concrete impact of this unexpected move will be.
Nowhere yet have I seen what it seems clear Bush's Iran move is really all about.
The White House hawks in Dick Cheney's office and elsewhere who want to stage an attack on Iran are clearly winning the internal power stuggle. And an often overlooked sub-plot on the long road toward war with Tehran is this: How could Bush stage an attack on Iran without the authorization of a skeptical, Democratic Congress?
Today, the White House has solved that pesky problem in one fell swoop. By explicitly linking the Iranian elite guard into the post 9/11 "global war on terror" in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush's lawyers would certainly now argue that any military strike on Iran is now covered by the October 2002 authorization to use military force in Iraq, as part of their overly sweeping response to the 2001 attacks.
* * * *
This is about one thing, and one thing only:
A prelude to a new war.
See also, Taylor Marsh, Bush, Dick and Bibi.
As much as my rational self keeps saying that such a move would be insane, I then remind myself who's in charge. It's getting to be a deja vu of the prelude to Iraq. I guess they figure, at this point, what have they got to lose? This has been in the planning for some time. In February, I wrote about Seymour Hersh's warnings about the Administration's plan to expand the war into Iran, see The Sequel.
Noting that even conservatives are worried about plans to attack Iran, Shaun Mullen of Kiko's House expresses his concern about the Administration's intentions in Iran: The Gordian Knot Tightens, inquiring:
The notion that there could be anything resembling a popular uprising in the U.S. these days is silly. But what would happen if the Bush administration takes us into a war against Iran?
They given this some thought as well. The Bush Boys have planned for everything. As I noted in The Signs Are Ominous, they've put in place measures such as the new Executive Order which allows the government to seize the assets of anyone who interferes with its Iraq policies and the recent re-writing of the Insurrection Act, which makes it easier for a president to override local control of law enforcement and declare martial law. Likewise, as former Reagan official, Paul Roberts, said:
'There's no belief in the people or anything like that. They have agendas. The people are in the way. The Constitution is in the way. ... Americans need to comprehend and look at how ruthless Cheney is. ... A person like that would do anything.'
I know one thing. I can say what won't happen. There won't be any demonstrations.
(Cartoon: Tom Toles, NYTimes)
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