Vanity Fair: From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq

[rodeodance]

good article with lots of details.


http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/whitehouse200703

> From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq

> The same neocon ideologues behind the Iraq war have been using the same tactics—alliances with shady exiles, dubious intelligence on W.M.D.—to push for the bombing of Iran. As President Bush ups the pressure on Tehran, is he planning to double his Middle East bet?

> by Craig Unger March 2007
>
> In the weeks leading up to George W. Bush's January 10 speech on the war in Iraq, there was a brief but heady moment when it seemed that the president might finally accept the failure of his Middle East policy and try something new. Rising anti-war sentiment had swept congressional Republicans out of power. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had been tossed overboard. And the Iraq Study Group (I.S.G.), chaired by former secretary of state James Baker and former congressman Lee Hamilton, had put together a bipartisan report that offered a face-saving strategy to exit Iraq. Who better than Baker, the Bush family's longtime friend and consigliere, to talk some sense into the president?
>
> By the time the president finished his speech from the White House library, however, all those hopes had vanished. It wasn't just that Bush was doubling down on an extravagantly costly bet by sending 21,500 more American troops to Iraq; there were also indications that he was upping the ante by an order of magnitude. The most conspicuous clue was a four-letter word that Bush uttered six times in the course of his speech: Iran.
> His nuclear ambitions make Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (left) a threat. But attacking Iran—as former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) has urged—could be Bush's biggest blunder of all.
>
> In a clear reference to the Islamic Republic and its sometime ally Syria, Bush vowed to "seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies." At about the same time his speech was taking place, U.S. troops stormed an Iranian liaison office in Erbil, a Kurdish-controlled city in northern Iraq, and arrested and detained five Iranians working there.
>.............

[fasttense]

1. Can this neocon ideology survive?

"The same neocon ideologues behind the Iraq war have been using the same tactics—alliances with shady exiles, dubious intelligence on W.M.D.—to push..."

The same neocon ideologues have been pushing "free trade", "free markets" and globalization.

They are the same ones pushing that science is nothing but theories therefore we don't need to believe or act on global warming and evolution.

They are the same idiots selling of our grandfather's labor in the form of US ports, highways and government infrastructure.

They are the same ones who keeping borrowing our grandchildren's money and telling us trade surpluses don't matter.

They are whittling away at our democracy and prosperity.

[Demeter]

3. With Hillary on Their Side, I Expect So.

Damn the woman! Does being president attract her so much that she's willing to further destroy America, or is it the urge to destroy America that drives AIPAC puppets to run for President?

[no_hypocrisy]

2. A "must read" IMO. I printed it out and have underlined and wrote in margins.

I'm keeping it near my desk as a gameplan for Iran.

[lyonn]

4. Who dares to ask bush for proof of his allegations?

Some have asked and been refused. Guess it is a secret, or, Lies. Of course most know it is lies yet the media doesn't disappoint the powers that be by throwing all that disinformation on the public.

Now what do we do?

[KoKo]

5. Unger has done "The History" when will Congress Step UP & IMPEACH!

STOP IT...Drag them out of office. Congress has the info already...but, it seems that Richard Perle and the Neo-Cons STILL HAVE THE POWER. WHY? That's what I want to know...WHY? It can't just be the Religious Right propping these Failed Strategists up...it's got to be darker! Much darker... it's about MONEY and MEDIA and ARMS for SALE...and NO ONE WANTS TO TOUCH IT except some in the Liberal Blogs who write their hearts out...and yet are Stone Walled.

[lyonn]

6. Conyers was someone most of us thought would get the big ball

rolling. Now he seems to be backing up. Has he been pressured with talk about how he might screw up the election? Sure would like to know.

The dems might lose the ball game by fumbling!

Sheesh, can you tell I'm watching football?

[KoKo]

7. Yes and Yes...but I think Conyers was told to "cool it." Don't think

he's happy about it...but it's the way House Works. Lets hope he manages to do an "end run" around those trying to stop him, though... Just to keep with the Football thingy. :D