We have no intention to invade Iraq Iran

Quote of the day

Robert Gates, the new US defence secretary, said yesterday: "I don't know how many times the president, secretary [of state Condoleezza] Rice and I have had to repeat that we have no intention of attacking Iran."

I don't know either Mr. Gates, but you're going to have to keep repeating it until January 2009 before I believe it. And if you think I'm overstating my skepticism here, and in the post below this one, consider this from the UK Guardian. As I recall, the British press was the first to alert us to fake intel about Iraq, stepping in when our own media failed to do its job.

US preparations for an air strike against Iran are at an advanced stage, in spite of repeated public denials by the Bush administration, according to informed sources in Washington.

The present military build-up in the Gulf would allow the US to mount an attack by the spring. But the sources said that if there was an attack, it was more likely next year, just before Mr Bush leaves office.

And if you've been lulled into complacency by the thought that we can't muster the manpower to attack Iran, snap out of it.

"All the moves being made over the last few weeks are consistent with what you would do if you were going to do an air strike. We have to throw away the notion the US could not do it because it is too tied up in Iraq. It is an air operation."

More to the point, it's a legacy saving operation. Reality is a not a factor in White House calculations.

Mr Bush is part of the American generation that refuses to forgive Iran for the 1979-81 hostage crisis. He leaves office in January 2009 and has said repeatedly that he does not want a legacy in which Iran has achieved superpower status in the region and come close to acquiring a nuclear weapon capability. The logic of this is that if diplomatic efforts fail to persuade Iran to stop uranium enrichment then the only alternative left is to turn to the military.

It's hard to see how one could use logic and Bush in the same paragraph when his entire foreign policy is based on ego and delusions of grandeur. It's clear enough that if diplomacy was an option he was really willing to entertain, he would be talking to Tehran, not threatening them at every available opportunity.

I suspect the only thing stopping him right now is no one has come up with a cool name for the air strike. I hear from some unnamed sources, he didn't like Operation Nuke Swoop that much.