Gates: It’s All About Iran

Daily Kos Staff

Monday January 15, 2007 · 7:47 AM PST

2007/01/15 · 07:47

Forget all that speechifying by the president five days ago about securing Baghdad and helping the "young democracy" of Iraq. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told NATO this morning what the surge is really all about: saving face with Iran.

From The Guardian:

Iran target of US Gulf military moves, Gates says

Increased US military activity in the Gulf is aimed at Iran's "very negative" behaviour, the Bush administration said today.

The defence secretary, Robert Gates, told reporters that the decision to deploy a Patriot missile battalion and a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf in conjunction with a "surge" of troops in Iraq was designed to show Iran that the US was not "overcommitted" in Iraq.

... Such remarks, following the prospect of "hot pursuit" raids into Iran as raised by George Bush in his televised address last week, have fuelled speculation that the US is softening up the American public for possible action against Tehran.

It’s all a game of chicken with Iran, you see, to show the U.S. is not overcommitted, that we’re still the baddest ass superpower on the block. There’s no talk in the story of anything resembling military strategy; it’s the traditional show of force to get the bad guy to back off (with the emphasis on "show") -- and to "soften up" the American public for war with Iran.

Let’s get this straight: President Bush lied just five days ago when he told the American public the troop escalation was devised to help secure a chaotic country and protect its civilians. Of course, many observers suspected as much. And military families will have the comfort of knowing their loved ones in service are in the line of fire, not for an achievable strategic goal but for show – or to provoke a military confrontation over a problem that the Iraq Study Group and most sane Middle East watchers advised should be solved diplomatically.

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