Shifting Targets The Administration’s plan for Iran.

Source: The New Yorker

This summer, the White House, pushed by the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney, requested that the Joint Chiefs of Staff redraw long-standing plans for a possible attack on Iran, according to former officials and government consultants. The focus of the plans had been a broad bombing attack, with targets including Iran’s known and suspected nuclear facilities and other military and infrastructure sites. Now the emphasis is on “surgical” strikes on Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran and elsewhere, which, the Administration claims, have been the source of attacks on Americans in Iraq. What had been presented primarily as a counter-proliferation mission has been reconceived as counterterrorism.
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At a White House meeting with Cheney this summer, according to a former senior intelligence official, it was agreed that, if limited strikes on Iran were carried out, the Administration could fend off criticism by arguing that they were a defensive action to save soldiers in Iraq. If Democrats objected, the Administration could say, “Bill Clinton did the same thing; he conducted limited strikes in Afghanistan, the Sudan, and in Baghdad to protect American lives.” The former intelligence official added, “There is a desperate effort by Cheney et al. to bring military action to Iran as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the politicians are saying, ‘You can’t do it, because every Republican is going to be defeated, and we’re only one fact from going over the cliff in Iraq.’ But Cheney doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the Republican worries, and neither does the President.”
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Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/08/071008fa_fact_hersh

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...and we are all running around adither ticked because our Democrats won't even put the brakes on Iraq. As the one source said in the article Cheney don't give a rats ass what we, the Democrats, or even the Republicans think...full speed ahead for the Cheney Oil Crusades!


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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1946957

The DEMS took power in Congress because of opposition to the war.

Bait and Switch #1: Bush announces the Surge. Suddenly, the debate is about the surge, not the war.

Months pass and the debate returns to the war. The strategy worked with perfection.

Bait and Switch #2: Make everyone focus on Iran. Even journalists are working full-time on this ruse.

And, DU is falling for it head over heels. It will take many months to undo this one too!

The October attack is unlikely to come about. Attacking in November would be monumentally stupid. Christmas would be just plain cruel. Next window: January 2008, play mind games during primary season....