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Politics : I Will Continue to Continue, to Pretend....

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To: Sully- who wrote (25347)	2/26/2007 6:28:23 AM
From: Sully-	of 35834

What's the Story? Power Line This story in the London Times is getting a lot of attention: << "US generals `will quit' if Bush orders Iran attack." >> As so often happens nowadays, the headline is bolder than the article: <<< Some of America's most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources. Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack. "There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran," a source with close ties to British intelligence said. "There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible." >>> So we have at least three layers of anonymity between us and the story's headline. Unknown American officers allegedly have told unknown counterparts in British military or intelligence circles that they will resign, and these unidentified persons allegedly passed the word to an anonymous "source with close ties to British intelligence." There is a word for this sort of fourth-hand information. It's called a "rumor." Apart from references to other news stories, the Times quotes just one person by name: Hillary Mann, who repeats her oft-stated fear that the Bush administration intends to provoke an armed confrontation with Iran. Mann and her husband are both career bureaucrats who quit their jobs in a huff because the administration wasn't following their preferred course of negotiating a "grand bargain between the United States and the Islamic Republic." You can read about their battle against the administration on the Democratic Party's web site. It's hard to know what to make of a news story that is based on such a combination of anonymous and biased sources, but it is certainly possible that one or more high-level military officers are prepared to resign and go on the lecture circuit should the U.S. launch a strike against Iran. Why not? For a Democrat in the armed forces, it would be a glorious, potentially lucrative way to wind up a career. That doesn't make it right, though. My own guess is that there is little or no chance of our launching any kind of military action against Iran during the next two years. But why tell the Iranians that? Dick Cheney has labored manfully to keep alive the idea that "all options are on the table" with respect to Iran. Consistent with that position, President Bush has sent aircraft carriers to the region. I've tried hard to think of a reason why it would be proper for an active duty officer to undercut U.S. foreign policy by leaking assurances to the Iranians that our uniformed services are so bitterly opposed to military action that any such action would be met with resignations. So far, though, I haven't been able to come up with one. This story is being discussed in the Forum here. plnewsforum.com powerlineblog.com timesonline.co.uk democrats.org

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