Somehow the Bush Administration leaves us with a rather depressing choice, outright incompetence or loony tunes. Now they're giving us the added spectacle of those two in a fray. Yes, it's Cheney vs. Rice and the ring is Iran. Cheney likes bombs and Rice is thrashing around. At the moment Rice seems to be on top. However since the Rice move to join with the EU, Russia, and China to pressure Iran to stop enriching uranium they've added around 1,000 centrifuges and the IAEA predicts if Iran can get past its technical problems they may reach 8,000.
This stirs the pot. George II has already stated that he will not tolerate a nuclear Iran, what precisely that means is open to debate. While he talks tough about Iran they are busy roiling the waters in the Middle East.
The NYT reports JD Crouch, recently departed deputy national security advisor, held a meeting with White House officials to inform them that Bush wanted an appraisal. The chief Iran strategist, Undersecretary of State R Nicholas Burns told them the negotiations with Iran could still be going on after the end of the Bush Presidency. While this makes no one particularly happy, the hawks figure this means Bush has no line in the sand Iran cannot cross.
Josh Bolton says force or regime change are the only options and David Wurmser told policy groups that Cheney thinks Rice is failing and that by spring 08 George will have to decide about military action. (Cheney won't talk about it and says he's fully on board with Bush) To understand what you're dealing with, Norman Podhoretz in Commentary magazine wrote 'The Case for Bombing Iran'
“In short, the plain and brutal truth is that if Iran is to be prevented from developing a nuclear arsenal, there is no alternative to the actual use of military force — any more than there was an alternative to force if Hitler was to be stopped in 1938.” Aw Jeeze
State and Treasury are pushing for stronger UN sanctions such as travel bans and banking restrictions. Iraq is, of course, making life difficult for the Administration and military options bleak. IAEA head Mohammed AlBaradei recently said military action would be "an act of madness."
So we have Secretary of State Rice with a track record of failures on one side and Cheney with a track record of loonyness on the other and Iran with a track record of trouble making in the middle of it - sounds promising to me.
1 comment:
I don't pretend to predict the future, with that said, I would not be surprised to see Israel do the dirty work and big brother USA being the back up. This way Bush is off the hook and the next leader is up to his/her knees in battle. Russia isn't strong enough to wager a battle, but China will sell armaments to the Arabs and even nuclear weapons, why not? China needs oil and this will solidify the deal. We won't go after China because we might lose. This is a deadly game Bush/Cheney have us in.
Loonies and bullying, what a combination...and than there is South America.
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