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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran: Why the Delay? |
| 2006-11-02 |
| Has the president made a conscious decision to not act on Iran? If the president knows that Iran is waging war on us, he is obliged to respond; the only appropriate question is about the method, not the substance. If he does not know, then he should remove those officials who were obliged to tell him, and get some people who will tell the truth. They are not entitled to withhold information on the grounds that they don’t like the obvious policy implications. He must have that information, and he must be able to get more of it. The people in high positions of the intelligence community have demonstrably acted to limit his full knowledge of the war; the refusal to accept further information from proven sources of reliable information on Iran, all by itself, warrants a significant purge of Intelligence officials. As Bob Woodward suggests in State of Denial, there has been much more of that. It is more likely that the president knows we are at war with Iran, but has chosen — wrongly, in my opinion (but then I wasn’t elected either) — to delay our response. That could be due to any number of reasons, ranging from a belief that he had to give the Europeans every chance to force the Iranians to abandon their nuclear project, to purely domestic calculations that he lacks sufficient political capital to directly challenge the mullahs. But whatever his reasoning, it reinforces the original failure of strategic vision that has characterized the Iraqi and Afghan enterprises from the beginning. Once you see that Iraq and Afghanistan are battlefields in a larger war, you must figure out how to win that war, and not the one that was drawn up on the Power Points before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, based on the false assumption that we would fight a series of limited wars, one country at a time. |
| Posted by:DanNY |
| #6 I'm kind of done with the nation building "thing". I was having a discussion with my father the other night... and he was all for blood thirsty destruction in Syria and Iran - but not a damn cent for rebuilding or occupation in either country. If the axis of evil doesn't "get it" soon, they are going to be on the receiving end of a lot of ordinance with no loving occupation afterwords. They can sit in their rubble for all I care. |
| Posted by: Leigh 2006-11-02 23:56 |
| #5 That could be due to any number of reasons, ranging from a belief that he had to give the Europeans every chance to force the Iranians to abandon their nuclear project, to purely domestic calculations that he lacks sufficient political capital to directly challenge the mullahs. Or maybe he's doing it just to piss you off, Ledeen. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2006-11-02 22:12 |
| #4 Leeden has been saying faster, faster for some time but as far as I'm aware never really provided a roadmap of what such action would be like. Would the people of Iran overthrow their government with a bit of help? Or are we being sold that story to get us involved the way Chalabi told the CIA (or was it State) what they wanted to hear. I've seen riots in Iran that peter out. Perhaps if they really want the Mullahs out the people in Iran shouldn't wait for our blessing or help but should throw the bums out on their own. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-11-02 15:04 |
| #3 Iran will be left for the next administration. Consider it Bush way of saying to the next (and the next) prez, "May your life be interesting." |
| Posted by: ed 2006-11-02 08:38 |
| #2 Lawzy, lawzy, it's the same old story: Why isn't Bush as smart as me? Why, if I wuz King of the World, it'd be honey and sweetmeats for the Good People and everlasting hellfire for the Bad People. And I'd know 'em - on sight. And the wars would run on time. My time. When I wanted it. I would not fumble the peace, cuz, well, cuz I wouldn't. I'd do it better. Sometimes, like my Lefty Looney enemies, I wonder how that dumb cluck Bush manages to tie his own shoes. I can pose the burning questions - and answer them in 20 column inches. I sit here, safe and sound in my office, free to say anything I want, no recriminations. Oh, sure, maybe someone jibes me at lunch for last month's column where I got it all wrong, but it doesn't matter, I just write shit for a living. No harm, no foul. But honestly, no really, this time I'm right. I gaze upon my dominion out the window, and I just know I'm the most brilliant mother-loving sumbitch that ever drew breath. I've got the answers - and those stupid drones never call me. -30- |
| Posted by: .com 2006-11-02 03:13 |
| #1 Sorry, Ledeen, I don't buy the premise. Moab is coming to AhMad at a date and time of our choosing. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-11-02 00:40 |