Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon. –George W. Bush trying to defend his saber-rattling towards Iran.
Perhaps, Georgie, The President Who Cried Wolf, but I think the question here is, looking at your track record, why should we believe you this time?
I was in a bad mood today, but then I posted a bunch of Muppet videos and it got better. Then I read about the new report from American Intelligence agencies saying that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and is unsure if there is any headway towards restarting it.
Looks like someone is getting some decidedly un-nuclear coal for Christmas.
This makes me happy like only a big bowl of schadenfreude can.
To the common sense observer, this pretty much negates all of the war-building rhetoric the Bush Administration has been cramming down our national throats for the past year or so. It’s the standard administration lie: Iraq/Iran has WMDs, Iraq/Iran will use those WMDs against U.S. concerns or give them to terrorists, Iraq/Iran must immediately be bombed into the stone age to stop this. Both times the rhetoric has been shown to be lies. This time, however, it’s been shown to be a lie on a public, national scale.
I’m less confident than I was, though, that “common sense” has any part in the Washington equation anymore. While this new report basically nullifies any need to act immediately on Iran, I’m sure that, if pressed, the Brand New Democrats will fall all over themselves to roll-over on this issue and give Bush whatever support he needs to start dropping bombs and soldiers as soon as possible. I have no confidence in either party, anymore, when it comes to looking after our well being.
Still, the fact that the U.S. Intelligence agencies released this report at this time is interesting. A similar report in 2005 portrayed a harsher outlook. Could this mean that, with the departure of Grandmaster Karl Rove, Bush and Co are unable to keep such a stranglehold on exactly what comes out of Washington? Are other power-players no longer seeing Bushes pre-emptive strike doctrine as good business and are now moving to cut off his support?
Something tells me it’s going to be A Very Macbeth Christmas in Washington D.C. this year with lots of smoke and confusion; long knives at everyone’s backs and a lot of meditation on the corrupting influence of power.
