Posted on 10/01/2007 1:54:48 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
The White House today is dismissing the report of a seasoned journalist that the Bush administration, intent on attacking Iran, has shifted its target from a developing nuclear program in Iran to the supply lines of Iranians reinforcing insurgent fighters inside Iraq.
Writer Seymour Hersh says so in The New Yorker, citing a number of confidential sources.
"Every two months or so, Sy Hersh writes an article in the New Yorker magazine and CNN gives him a forum to talk about his article and all the anonymous sources on it,'' Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, said today, insisting that President Bush still maintains that diplomacy is "the best solution'' for settling differences with Iran.
She declined to address, however, the basic contention that U.S. miltiary planners and intelligence gathers have turned their focus to a "shifting target'' in Iran.
(Excerpt) Read more at weblogs.baltimoresun.com ...
I think that we’ll do an air attack, probably in concert with Israel, within six months. But, even if that isn’t the plan, I know that we have contingency plans to do just that and to suggest otherwise is pure BS.
First :
Ahmadinejad's overlooked message
**********************EXCERPT*********************
Ahmadinejad made absolutely clear that his vision of Islamic domination cannot coexist in any manner with Western civilization. Consequently, Ahmadinejad's statements were not negotiating stances. They were the direct consequence of the world view he propounds. As such, they are non-negotiable.
**********************AND today in IRAQ********************
Captured Iranian agent identified, 15 Special Groups operatives captured in Iraq
*****************************EXCERPT Item of Interest********************
Fox also stated Iran has supplied the Special Groups with Misagh-1 man-portable surface-to-air missiles.
See links at #3......
it's already been done... 
Diplomatic doublespeak: it will happen./Just Asking - seoul62.........
I would fire the White House if they did NOT have plans for attacking Iran....or Saudi...or Yemen...or Brazil....or Mexico...or....any country on the face of the earth.
That’s their job. Some plans, of course, should be at the top of the stack.
Media and Persia ping.
Exactly....and see post # 5!
It’s not time yet, unless Iran starts it.
Since it isn’t time yet, public efforts include:
1. Negotiate, in good faith, and hope Iran has a miraculous infusion of common sense,
and
2. Make the public case for war.
Making the case for war, historically, read OEF and OIF, basically involves repeating threats of war so often that the average listener gets accustomed, even bored, with the idea of it.
Every time Hersh, Soros, and the rest of them open their mouths, they help speed the process.
Like having 7 bazillion dollars on a Pacific Isle is exile... sigh.
Big player in this is the Swiss and their ME accounts. They've prayed neutrality since 1908 or so, can they be turned now?
Nah, being bought off by The Great Satan is antithetical to Islam. So let's go with #2: that public case was made in 1979. I believe Americans know Iran is the end game, and the sooner they're brought down, the quicker the WOT is won.
Agreed, except for the words “endgame”, and “won”.
In fighting a war on terror, I’d go after WMD first. Then I’d deal with State Sponsors, and state sponsored safe havens, terror friendly districts, for example.
After those two categories of targets were dealt with, then lesser players, where only a portion of the government was implicated in terrorist plots, those governments would be put to a hard choice.
If they choose wrong, then the string, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, gets longer.
If not, we work together to drain the swamps, either/or.
Iran will probably be the last State Sponsor, i.e., the last major battle, but this round of war may not be decisive, just a delay to their nuke program. We may have to deal finally with Iran again at some later point, just like Osirak, ODS, and eventually OIF.
Once Iran is no longer a State Sponsor, there are still all the little fish, and eventually the individual terrorists to deal with.
The DOS has a plan !! Orange Juice Diplomacy !!
I think if the mullahcracy can be brought down without a shot fired, the dominos fall much faster than if we go protracted in that battle.
We have to know what it takes to make the mullahs split the scene: money or valor? We can easily buy them off as well as kill them off; what's the best way to force exile on them? Should we give them the choice, run rich or die en place?
Well, there you are! :)
Thanks Ernest.
Hey,,,POS SuddenLink server went down...
Syria has no chance without Iran behind her.
One man gives the orders in Iran.
Khameinei is on orders from God to establish Shia Islam as the ultimate authority across the middle East, maybe even the globe. I’m not sure buying him off is an option.
He might settle for less, but I don’t find an intersection set between what he’d settle for and what we’d settle for. That doesn’t rule out compromise mathematically, but it’s beyond me to see it.
I don’t believe Iran will be taken from Khameinei without military force. It’s a long shot to say he’ll fall under even massive airstrikes. There’s no Northern Allience in Iran. Not yet, anyway.
I think Syria will go through a...re-education period after the first Iranian subsidy payments begin to fall off. A wholly new and improved attitude may require a series of...demonstrations, ala 9/6, but eventually, they are isolated and too small to stand alone, especially if far mightier Iran has already fallen.
At this point, all the States surrounding Saudi Arabia are hostile to terrorism. This will incrementally nudge the balance beam between modern and Wahabbist Saudi opinion. I do not see any scenarios in Saudi Arabia where large scale or long term military operations are necessary. I’m sure we already are and will continue to cross train with Saudi anti-terrorist forces.
The balance of power in Saudi Arabia already belongs to Abdullah, and did so even before King Fahd died. On the “board of directors”, the good guys have a 55-60% advantage in votes. That makes our objective to help them proceed down the path they already are on, but quickier, easier, and cheaper.
“Hell, I’d piss on a sparkplug if I thought it’d do any good...” : )
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