Cheney Winning the Inside Battles Again, by Steve Clemons
Last September, I wrote a Salon.com article explaining the many reasons why despite neoconservative obsession with bombing Iran, President Bush would not do so. He had tacked a different direction.
Part of my case, though not all of it, rested on the fact that one of Vice President Cheney's staff members had allegedly told a private group in Washington that the VP himself was frustrated with the President's tilt towards Condi Rice, Bob Gates and others who emphasized a mix of diplomatic options over hard power gestures.
More recently, however, in the last six to eight weeks, many of my sources in the State Department, the White House, and the intelligence community tell me that the losers last summer and fall are winning again.
[snip]
I'm not saying that war or conflict with Iran is imminent. In fact, I don't think America, even under Bush, will strike Iran first -- but I do think that there is an increasing chance of a trigger event driving a fast escalation of higher and higher consequence military options. This trigger could be a mistaken signal, a ship collision, an event engineered by the Israelis, or by the IRGC Al Quds force, or by some other splinter terrorist operation wanting to exploit regional tensions and the current fragility of affairs.
We need to talk more about this.
in conclusion:
[snip]
This really could be cooking -- and I think it's important for White House watchers to realize that the folks we thought had knocked back the neocons are themselves losing leverage again.
Obama and his team need to speak to this, to demystify it, and to make sure that America does not find itself tripping into an accidental war that really was no accident.
just wanted to spread the news. ~m
I am sort of (barely) inured to my own "outrage fatigue" as goes this "aggressive war" ("the supreme international crime"), aka, the oil grab in Iraq; the torture horror show scripted, authorized, and unleashed by the White House; massive warrantless surveillance; "regulatory capture;" election theft and the "judicial coup d' etat;" yada, yada, yada.
But THIS???!!! More than bodies and buildings will explode. Millions, perhaps billions of hearts and minds will explode, as well -- mine among them.
UPDATE: from the comments, nod to tikkun
This note was further down in the comment section.
Anyone been down to Norfolk lately? There are virtually no ships there. A lot is deployed and there seems to be a creeping escalation in place now. We have to focus some attention on what is unfolding.
-- steve clemons