The White House hawks in Dick Cheney's office and elsewhere who want to stage an attack on Iran are clearly winning the internal power stuggle. And an often overlooked sub-plot on the long road toward war with Tehran is this: How could Bush stage an attack on Iran without the authorization of a skeptical, Democratic Congress?
Today, the White House has solved that pesky problem in one fell swoop. By explicitly linking the Iranian elite guard into the post 9/11 "global war on terror" in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush's lawyers would certainly now argue that any military strike on Iran is now covered by the October 2002 authorization to use military force in Iraq, as part of their overly sweeping response to the 2001 attacks.
This has clearly been the thinking for some time, particularly with talk -- unfulfilled, of course -- by some Democrats on Capitol Hill of either revoking the 2002 authorization or placing explicit curbs on attacking Iran.
...
This is about one thing, and one thing only:
A prelude to a new war.
There's certainly been overt hostility (to put it mildly) towards Iran, with Cheney calling for strikes, McCain's failed attempt at a joke, and everyone jumping to say they're prepared to attack. Further the administration's habit of constantly blaming Iran for the insurgency in Iraq (claiming, as in that post, that they're providing them with weapons) along with their hubbub over Iran's nuclear program does contribute towards the trend of their building a case for invasion. I mean, look at this:
LOU DOBBS: Let’s begin with the issue of — the administration has stated categorically, you know, our generals have stated categorically that as many of the third of the deaths last month, for example, were caused by Iranian support of the insurgency and the provision of those shaped charges killing so many of our troops.
Why is there no reaction by this government and this military?
JAMES WOOLSEY: I don't know. The Persians invented chess and the Iranians are doing a pretty good job of moving their pieces — Muqtada al-Sadr and those explosive devices, and Hamas and Hezbollah around to protect their queen, which is their most lethal piece — their nuclear weapons program.
Still, I'm a little skeptical. It's not that I think invading a third country while we still haven't secured the first two is beyond Bush; heck, we invaded Iraq despite not having finished up with Afghanistan. And I don't really think they care that our military is already stretched pretty much to the breaking point.
It's just that there's been talk of Bush trying to set up an Iran invasion for over two years now, and still nothing. It's not like they needed to wait to gain approval--if they are planning on doing it, what are they waiting for?
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