But it's totally not what you might think (actually, I have the best boss in the world, hands down). See, she spent the last few days camping in Maine, and when she came back today she talked about listening to New Hampshire Public Radio on most of the car ride up before losing reception and switching over to AM talk radio, which is about all you can get in rural Maine.
She said NHPR had an interview with Seymour Hersch, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who's been writing lately about Bush's quiet-but-very-real preparations for attacking Iran. He talked about feeling that six months ago he never would have dreamed that we'd be where we are now, that preparations would have proceeded this far, that we'd be so ready. He never would have thought it would be so likely. But it is, he says, and there's going to continue to be a gradual, pseudo-reluctant buildup to it so that when it happens it seems like we had to do it. We'll start hearing that Israel is threatened, that they need to strike against Iran before they get attacked, but that they can't do it successfully without our support [because we have such a track record of success in these things, riiiiiight...]. Terri Gross was, apparently, in disbelief.
And then my boss switched over to AM talk radio and immediately heard the ABC news break reporting that - GUESS WHAT! - Israel needs to attack Iran, but they may not be successful without U.S. support! If we don't join them, Israeli and U.S. targets could be threatened!
[Insert vaguely threatening, slowly crescendo-ing music here.]
In a recent interview on Democracy Now, Hersch said: "I mean, this has been an issue for this president for three years. As you know, I've been writing in the New Yorker, you know, constantly about this stuff. And it doesn't go away. After three years, our submarines are there, they have the targets, our cruise missiles, our destroyers are there. The cruise missiles are loaded on 'em and all targeted. Our Air Force, the Navy in particular is going to have a big role -- not so much Navy, but Marines. Air Force and Navy, they have their target selection, they've gone through the practice. We have ground troops. One of the problems with hitting Iran, if you hit 'em big, is a lot of their anti-aircraft and anti-missile batteries are dug in underground so Marines or other units have to go in and basically blast them out. Before you bomb Iran, you have to take out their radar and their defensive systems. So you can't do it in any other way than a big package unless you want a lot of your planes shot down. And so, this has all been practice, it's been exercise. They've done it, they're ready to go. I can tell you that, no matter what Gates thinks, and no matter what Mullen thinks, if the president says "go" on January the 13th, 2009, a week before the inauguration, they will go. Because that's just the way the system is."
Here's his New Yorker article on the subject.
This isn't a joke. Apparently it doesn't matter how many of the military's top guys say we shouldn't do this. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense are both publicly saying it's a bad idea. Yet the Democrat-controlled Congress is letting it happen. Who approved that $400 million? Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Way to lead the "opposition." Idiots.
We can't sit back and think we wouldn't be this stupid. WE ARE THIS STUPID. And I'm terrified. So I'm talking about it. Please talk about it. This is not just me being a tree-hugging liberal. We all know at least a little bit about the awful shape our military is in as a result of the war in Iraq. How in the world could we fight Iran - a country with far more organized and loyal armed forces than Iraq had - at the same time? More than half of our national budget is already going to "defense" spending. We're already in a recession that few people are really acknowledging. How could attacking Iran be anything but disastrous for the U.S.? And see, it seems like most people agree. Yet, we're sliding right toward it.
I'd like to say we can stop this, but the amazing thing is that this administration has really effectively obtained the power to do a whole lot of things in secret and pretty much do whatever it wants without oversight. As Hersch says, they've basically managed a total corruption of the democracy in which we like to think we live. So, um, I'm not actually sure we can stop it. But if we don't try, then we might as well stand on the street corner with "Bomb Iran" signs.
And gosh darn it, I was in such a good mood when I came into the office this morning.
2 comments:
We and what army?
That's the thing - Bush and Cheney appear not to notice or care that we totally can't handle it. We totally can't handle what we're doing now, but have they acknowledged that or acted differently because of it? Not so much.
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