This comes by way of Steve Clemons’ “Washington Note” blog, which is well-written and well-connected. Though in this case, we’ll hope maybe its connections are wrong.
Because Clemons yesterday reported something many have long suspected: That it is vice president Dick Cheney who is the administration’s leading advocate of war with Iran, in this case to the extent that he has beem meeting with national security think tanks and consultants down in D.C. to “help establish the policy and political pathway to bombing Iran,” and is prepared to do an “end run” around Our Leader and others, like Condoleeza Rice, who think diplomacy is the way to go:
The thinking on Cheney’s team is to collude with Israel, nudging Israel at some key moment in the ongoing standoff between Iran’s nuclear activities and international frustration over this to mount a small-scale conventional strike against Natanz using cruise missiles (i.e., not ballistic missiles).
This strategy would sidestep controversies over bomber aircraft and overflight rights over other Middle East nations and could be expected to trigger a sufficient Iranian counter-strike against US forces in the Gulf — which just became significantly larger — as to compel Bush to forgo the diplomatic track that the administration realists are advocating and engage in another war.
Got that? Cheney wants to provoke Iran to attack us - and Iran has pledged that it will treat an attack by Israel as an attack by the United States - so we can then “retaliate” and have the war he’s always wanted.
According to this official, Cheney believes that Bush can not be counted on to make the “right decision” when it comes to dealing with Iran and thus Cheney believes that he must tie the President’s hands.
Who knew we’d like to see the day when Our Leader was the sane one?
