How deepsouthdoug's excellent diary on Vanity Fair's Craig Unger story only got 7 comments is beyond me.
In mcjoan's diary detailing more doctored intelligence, she observes:
Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Joe Biden, just to name a few Democratic leaders, have all vowed their refusal to grant the Bush administration authority to attack Iran.
These declarations are reassuring, but Congress needs to do more. The Democratic leadership needs not to focus on the administration attempting to get separate authority to attack Iran, but to investigate the administration's current efforts to bolster their claims about Iran's involvement in Iraq.
Needs to do more? I like and respect mcjoan but investigations aren't going to cut it. Fact is, as long as Bush is in the driver's seat there's SFA Dems can do to stop the attack, the clock is ticking and ONLY IMPEACHMENT can stop this war...
Forget peace, international coalitions, global warming and universal healthcare. If Dems don't start screaming now about the need to remove Cheney from power now, it's going to be too late. In December, a few of us pooh-poohed all the cheering and predicted an Iran attack in March. Looks like Craig Unger and a few other folks figure March is about when it happens, too.
Cheney doesn't give a rat's ass about the law, the will of the American voters or any force of nature beyond his own rapacious greed and belief that he and only he understands what's right for America.
Cheney and his sock-puppet are moving all the pieces into place for an attack on Iran. Dems will not have much time to act, surely no more than 30 days. Here's Craig Unger citing Pat Lang:
Another serious development is the growing role of the U.S. Strategic Command (StratCom), which oversees nuclear weapons, missile defense, and protection against weapons of mass destruction. Bush has directed StratCom to draw up plans for a massive strike against Iran, at a time when CentCom has had its hands full overseeing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Shifting to StratCom indicates that they are talking about a really punishing air-force and naval air attack [on Iran]," says Lang.
Nuclear weapons dropped on Iranian targets. Nuclear bunker-busters will be used to blast deep into the mountains of rock that house many of Iran's military centers. Will Cheney and Bush tell the truth about these attacks? Or will we learn months, years or decades later that the nuclear radiation at these sites is not the signature of some covert Iranian weapon, but from US nukes like this?
So, what can Dems do to stop the attack?
Nothing, according to Lang:
'Moreover, he continues, Bush can count on the military to carry out such a mission even without congressional authorization. "If they write a plan like that and the president issues an execute order, the forces will execute it. He's got the power to do that as commander-in-chief. We set that up during the Cold War. It may, after the fact, be considered illegal, or an impeachable offense, but if he orders them to do it, they will do it."'
They will do it.
Too bad there are so many targets near Iranian cities.
Tough on all those little kids in Tehran, huh?
Anna-Nicole Smith is going to get a whole lot more press dead than any Iranian children playing in schoolyards now.
After the bombs have dropped, Americans will "discover" that many Iranians had children. Talking heads will ask: "Do Muslims love their kids like we do? Or do they all want them to grow up to be suicide bombers?"
Do folks here understand that George Bush plans to run the American car straight into another wall?
Do folks understand voters elected Dems in November to protect Americans? To protect Americans and protect America. To end one war, not to start another. To make sure an unjustifiable war never takes place again?
We'll ignore, again, that most of the 9/11 hijackers were Sunni from George Bush's favorite ME country.
Do folks here undertand why so many of us are calling for some sort of radical non-confidence action?
Will the vaunted 67 votes materialize?
Let's say no.
Will the IMPEACHMENT debate provide every Dem with the opportunity to speak up on another invasion, some feel is guaranteed to turn the world against America once and for all? Yes!
Will the IMPEACHMENT debate FOCUS America's attention on the illegal war on Iran just about everyone seems to believe is unfolding before our eyes?
Will Americans forgive Dems for doing nothing again to stop the attack, when folks come forward with Tehran and America's reputation in ashes with the sorry-ass excuse?
"But, we didn't think we had the votes..."