Monday, February 05, 2007 - 12:21 am
...a solid link between Iraq and Iran.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran3feb03,0,2695314.story?c oll=la-home-headlines
quote:Earlier this week, U.S. officials acknowledged that they were uncertain about the strength of their evidence and were reluctant to issue potentially questionable data in the wake of the intelligence failures and erroneous assessments that preceded the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
On the plus side, public pressure and general awareness are both high enough to put a solid burden on the administration. IMHO, this can only be a good thing.
On the minus side, this does reinforce the idea that the administration was incompetent in making their case for Iraq. Of the two major ways this can go, I can't decide if stupidity or being less than honest is worse. --I would probably go with stupid, punt and hope for the best in '08!
We know Iraq was more or less decided prior to 9/11. (Facts fixed to fit the policy.) This does make stupid a lot harder to forgive. Had we not learned of that intent, stupid might just fly. It might still, who knows?
In any case, Iran is a much more serious target that will have consequenses beyond the ones we think are tough today.
No matter what you think of Iran, Iraq has shown us where we stand, and it's not pretty. This is where the pressure is coming from.
Set the justification for Iraq aside, and we see a big drain on our resources, and no solid gain to be had --other than a potential path into Iran.
And for me, this is not a positive, but it is for the Bush administration. I'm assuming they are gonna try to stretch the authorization granted by Congress for Iraq.
Now they've not actually met that burden either, but here we are in Iraq anyway. Since we seem to be largely unable to address that, extending it to Iran is on the table for sure.
All that is needed is that solid justification and the ends will then justify the means right? Just get into Iran and Iraq will be seen as that magic stepping stone. We may well find that to have been the plan all along!
Never mind WMD's, it's just a stepping stone to the real prize. You just watch. This is how it will go, if they can manage to convince the right people.
That, in turn, will eliminate the need for victory too. Iraq does not matter and Iran will be an engagement that will carry through the end of W's term. Nice for the GOP, really bad for us.
(And they are gonna need something!)
Speculate? Escalate? ?Pontificate!? Say, "It ain't great!" Need a new place to hate? Abbreviate, salivate, legislate, anything but play it straight! Why not just take a peek at the magic eight? Too little too late? Staying up late! Mediate? Want to state, you need a new mate and happen to have a friend called Nate, or maybe Tate? Failed state! Bush is gone in '08, but only if he fails to legislate a police state!
Monday, February 05, 2007 - 1:03 am
"stupid might just fly. It might still, who knows?"
At least one good thing will come out of the Bush presidency -- we're spending 350 Billion to find out.
There might be another good thing that'll happen in 2009 -- a consitutional amendment to protect americans from stupid decison making in the White House.
