The Bush Administration and its television network are apparently using a decision by the German government not to participate in any further U.N. sanctions against Iran as a launching point in its propaganda war to soften up Americans for the bombings to come.
The announcement was made at a meeting in Berlin that brought German officials together with Iran desk officers from the five member states of the Security Council. It stunned the room, according to one of several Bush administration and foreign government sources who spoke to FOX News, and left most Bush administration principals concluding that sanctions are dead.
Note the clever "one of several" wording above, making it sound like several people testified that many were "stunned" by the move. In fact, I doubt it's really much of a revelation that the German economy could be hurt by further sanctions. It's fascinating to me that not one of the other news services appears to have anything at all on this story.
What this means is that that pesky Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has had his silly attempt to wage peace negated by the harsh realities already astutely foreseen by the rest of Team Bush:
Germany's withdrawal from the allied diplomatic offensive is the latest consensus across relevant U.S. agencies and offices, including the State Department, the National Security Council and the offices of the president and vice president. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, the most ardent proponent of a diplomatic resolution to the problem of Iran's nuclear ambitions, has had his chance on the Iranian account and come up empty.
So naturally, the only option we have left is to start a war with seventy one million people.
Political and military officers, as well as weapons of mass destruction specialists at the State Department, are now advising Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the diplomatic approach favored by Burns has failed and the administration must actively prepare for military intervention of some kind.
Though as we heard earlier today from the CfL Party's leading Senator, it's not just the Bush Administration who are hot for war:
Consequently, according to a well-placed Bush administration source, "everyone in town" is now participating in a broad discussion about the costs and benefits of military action against Iran, with the likely timeframe for any such course of action being over the next eight to 10 months, after the presidential primaries have probably been decided, but well before the November 2008 elections.
Naturally this will be during the time a Democratic woman will likely be facing one of those bloodthirsty male nutjobs on the far right for the presidency. Why not play a little "who's got the big war cojones"!
Now, it would be possible just to blockade Iran, but that would go way too much against our humanitarian grain:
The discussions are now focused on two basic options: less invasive scenarios under which the U.S. might blockade Iranian imports of gasoline or exports of oil, actions generally thought to exact too high a cost on the Iranian people but not enough on the regime in Tehran; and full-scale aerial bombardment.
And besides, bombs are much more exciting than blockades, no? Especially to the twelve-year-old in the White House:
The Bush administration "has just about had it with Iran," said one foreign diplomat.
But the bottom line, as you may have suspected, is that all this is really about the Dick's ego:
Vice President Cheney and his aides are said to be enjoying a bit of "schadenfreude" at the expense of Burns. A source described Cheney's office as effectively gloating to Burns and Rice, "We told you so. (The Iranians) are not containable diplomatically."
Please, Madame Speaker, WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO TO GET THESE PSYCHOPATHS OUT OF POWER?