Keep Your Eyes On Iran

I have not kept up--good article.


http://www.theleftcoaster.com/

> Sunday :: May 21, 2006
> Keep Your Eyes On Iran
> by Steve Soto
>
> I know that many of us are focused on a variety of stories at this time, ranging from the Ned Lamont story in Connecticut to the ongoing NSA/Michael Hayden storylines. All of these deserve attention. But a larger story is moving along towards a trigger point where this administration will fully become an outlaw regime: the possibility of an attack against Iran sometime before the midterm election.
>
> I have been conversing lately with retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner, whom I have been in contact with since his groundbreaking study on how the White House sold the Iraq war to the nation. You will recall that Gardiner moderated an Atlantic Monthly war game exercise targeting Iran for their December 2004 edition, so he knows what indicators to look for in gauging not if, but when the Bush Administration is ready to strike against Iran. In a previous piece, I passed along the four step sequence that Gardiner predicts will be followed in any Bush Administration attack against Iran.
>
> I followed up on that recent post with another email exchange with Gardiner to get his updated assessment of the likelihood of an attack, and when, as well as the Administration’s grasp, or lack of, the consequences of such an attack. I also exchanged emails with Professor Juan Cole to get a sense of what he thought the reaction would be inside Iraq to an attack by the United States against Iran.
>
> I started my discussion yesterday with Gardiner after reading a story in the Los Angeles Times which indicated that the administration (mentioning Robert Joseph of the "16 words" infamy) was taking steps to contain the Iranian nuclear program, including the offer of missile defense systems and umbrellas to Iran’s neighbors, and I surmised that this may indicate that despite the rhetoric, the Bush Administration may be trying to scare the Iranians back to the table and are setting in place a containment strategy. Gardiner disagreed.
>
> I don't give much weight to the argument that the US is trying to pressure the Iranians back to the table or even to stop enrichment. The evidence is overwhelming. The United States has picked regime change as policy. With that objective the Administration has no interested in having Iran comply with the UN or IAEA pressures.
>
............

it is hard to keep up with the nightmare.

I think the people driving the program have written off Bush as a political player. They now want to get the war with Iran started, because it will be impossible for whoever comes next to "surrender."

We must stop this before it starts or we will be in a land war in Asia for at least a decade.

Iran... says diplamacy is the preferred rounte.....but......