RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPiTER

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

A government consultant with close ties to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon said that Bush was “absolutely convinced that Iran is going to get the bomb” if it is not stopped. He said that the President believes that he must do “what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do,” and “that saving Iran is going to be his legacy.”

- Syemour Hersh for the New Yorker, April 2006

There was a glaring subtext to last night’s speech and to the last 4 years of Bush foreign policy that too few people are acknowledging or talking about. In George W. Bush’s mind right now, the entire war in Iraq, troop increases, decreases, debate, whatever, all of it is a red herring. This president wants a confrontation with Iran. As committed as this president once was to invading Iraq, he is now moving with the same determination towards an attack on Iran.

You can read about this conviction in Seymour Hersh’s articles in the New Yorker. You can hear it from the man himself with his announcement of a naval buildup in the Persian Gulf, or his refusal to bring Iran anywhere close to the dialogue concerning Iraq. You can read about last weekend’s leaked military reports out of Israel detailing planned “tactical nuclear” airstrikes on Iranian nuclear research facilities. After last night’s speech, Keith Olbermann pressed the escalation issue to little avail, repeatedly bringing up the point that Bush is trying with all his remaining power to expand this war to include Syria and Iran.

How to do it ?

The president’s power has become limited. Direct provocation or the fabrication of an event is key to the “success” of this expansion. This isn’t a conspiracy theory. Spain never blew up the Maine and the Gulf of Tonkin incident never actually happened. The first event ignited a war against Spain, while the second non-event opened the door for the massive escalation of the Vietnam War.

Digging deeper through American history, the Mexican American War began when the United States up and claimed a sliver of land near the Rio Grande previously under the control and occupation of Mexico. The army then walked onto that land and was attacked. Headlines read, “Mexican Army kills Americans on American soil.”

Foreknowledge or not, even Pearl Harbor was prodded and instigated.

The president’s push for a war with Iran is following this same, well tested path. Over the next year, the United States of America will work very hard to provoke or even invent an incident that justifies an escalation of the war onto Iranian soil. This escalation may be limited to airstrikes, or it may include another full invasion and regime change. This is obviously completely, outrageously and incomprehensibly insane.