Not a Drill??

Billmon links to an op-ed from Richard Clarke and Steve Simon about the impending war on Iran, Bombs that Would Backfire:

...The president assures us he will seek a diplomatic solution to the Iranian crisis. And there is a role for threats of force to back up diplomacy and help concentrate the minds of our allies. But the current level of activity in the Pentagon suggests more than just standard contingency planning or tactical saber-rattling.

The parallels to the run-up to to war with Iraq are all too striking: remember that in May 2002 President Bush declared that there was "no war plan on my desk" despite having actually spent months working on detailed plans for the Iraq invasion. Congress did not ask the hard questions then. It must not permit the administration to launch another war whose outcome cannot be known, or worse, known all too well.

That's hardly surprising. Bush's lips have been moving, which means he's certainly lying. But this little nugget that Billmon posts in his update is simply terrifying (from the transcript of Col. Sam Gardiner talking with little Wolfie Blitzer):

GARDINER: Actually, Jim, I would say – and this may shock some – I think the decision has been made and military operations are under way . . .
The Iranians have been saying American military troops are in there, have been saying it for almost a year. I was in Berlin two weeks ago, sat next to the ambassador, the Iranian ambassador to the IAEA. And I said, "Hey, I hear you're accusing Americans of being in there operating with some of the units that have shot up revolution guard units."

He said, quite frankly, "Yes, we know they are. We've captured some of the units, and they've confessed to working with the Americans."

The evidence is mounting that that decision has already been made.

This is bush, using his "gut instinct" again, and getting it dead wrong. These nutters will do this, because they think they can, and because they think it will save their hides. They won't consult congress, and they won't listen to anyone that has the temerity to tell them that this is a really, really bad idea. And as the above exchange shows, the press will ignore all the signs and then be awed and amazed when the bombs do start to drop.

Amazing. And disgusting.

You know what I would like? a world where we didn't have a lunatic in the white house and where Billmon didn't feel compelled to sit up at 1:00 am posting things guaranteed to scare the crap out of me.