What's that thing nature abhors, again?

by Kagro X

Via Crooks and Liars, there's video available of Sy Hersh's appearance on CNN's Late Edition today, in which he discusses his latest article for The New Yorker.

The gist of Hersh's comments on CNN? That changing the "mission" with regard to Iran makes an attack more palatable to the American public. Instead of the failed smoking gun/mushroom cloud line...

Hersh: You can also sell counter-terror, it’s much more logical. You can say to the American people, we’re only hitting these people that are trying to kill our boys and the coalition forces and so that seems to be more sensible, The White House think s they can actually pitch this, this would actually work…

By all rights, though, the "administration" shouldn't be able to get away with this one, either. Iranian "meddling" in Iraq was as foreseeable and as obvious and likely an outcome as the post-invasion looting and a sustained anti-occupation insurgency, both of which the war cheerleaders claim to have been unable to predict.

Purely from a force protection perspective, isn't it a spectacular failing to have our troops falling prey to Iranian interference at this stage of the game? And pretending it's a surprise?

Just another day in Republican Bizarro World.

Comments

[Zappatero]

If Bush's Pet-raeus was not political, he would have asked for troops to shut down the Iraq/Iran border. He didn't, even while he hyped the danger to them from Iran.

[kvenlander]

Right, I did notice that some weeks ago everybody started appending a clause like ", who are killing American troops in Iraq" to any mention of Iran or Iranian entities.

[lunylegume]

Oh god oh god oh god NO

[MarkC]

The thing is that I've seen claims that parts come from Iran, but they'll really have to use a crowbar to make them into claims about specific entities like the Revolutionary Guard. That said, I fully expect they will soon start recovering some unexploded IED's with the words "Iran's Revolutionary Guard" emblazoned on them in poorly-spelled Farsi.

[Kagro X]

Mark,

Do you think it'll be harder to crowbar this in than it was to move from Smoking Mushroom Cloud Guns to "WMD-related program activities?"

[JohnJ]

My fear is; how many of those 200,000 missing American weapons said "made in Iran" on them, and is that why they went "missing"?

[Mad Dogs]

And what's Deadeye sayin'? "Hah! Try and stop me! With my will, there's always a way!"

[Kagro X]

Wouldn't that be something? "They all thought for sure we'd plant WMD in Iraq if they weren't really there, and we didn't to that. So it's still a viable option in Iran!"

Yuck. Look what this crap is doing to us.

But how could it not?

[katie jensen]

It's amazing to me to think that any of can say that our government might plan a war, not to save us from an attack or to help another country, but strictly to profit. There is no greater evil. The fact that any of us can seriously (and we can, because there are facts to back it up) entertain this notion blows my mind and makes me feel so totally helpless. I suppose it feels exactly the way it should when mad men are running your country.

[Mary]

Face it - Congress voted to spin the QUDs forces into the "terrorist" category without ever asking Bush for any accounting whatsoever on the Iranians he has taken at gunpoint (one that almost provoked an armed showdown with Kurdish forces) and what is being done with them, as they have been hidden away for months.

It is pretty much par for the "retroactive legislative pardons of war crimes" Democratic Platform.

But in any event, I think that think nature abhors is a "Eureka" and apparently nature will fight like snot against the powers of experience and logic to keep American corporate party politicians from learning anything.

[Kagro X]

We would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't have been for those meddling Quds.

[emptypockets]

As I understand Republican party ideology, I think they believe nature abhors... gays. Which, by all rights, would put them on the same side as the Iranian government.

[prostratedragon]

Purely from a force protection perspective, isn't it a spectacular failing to have our troops falling prey to Iranian interference at this stage of the game? And pretending it's a surprise?

Well, there's so much recent precedent [sic] for failing to see events even as large as the D-Day armada on one's horizon, yet having to answer to no one for the fault.

A possible O/T remark (I'm never quite sure these days): Justice Thomas has set about to dispell any misimpressions that might have been fostered by an earlier remark of his that ew mentioned the other day.

[radiofreewill]

Nature abhors a Bus flying through thin air, but Bush says he's divinely driven...

[Phoenix Woman]

O/T, but interesting --

Subpoenas in the Brent Wilkes/MZM case have been issued on people like our good buddy Larry "Wide Stance" Craig, though Craig's spokespeople are saying that the Craig subpoena hasn't been served yet: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/wilkes-faces-court-date-on-friday-2007-09-28.html

[freepatriot]

so I heard that the Iranians declared the CIA to be a terrorist organization

looks like two can play this "global war on terrorists" game

the Iranians been playin this game for 5000 years

how long has America been playin again ???

does anybody ever think about that ???

5000 plus years of experience ???

and all we got is the boy presnit and dead eye dick

has cheney ever killed anything that wasn't in a cage or his hunting partner ???

[casual observer]

Kagro, you seem to have satisfied yourself that Iran actually is "meddling" in Iraq. Where or what is your evidence for this?

[darclay]

I find it absurd that two people (GWB & DC) who have never served a day in combat presume to have the right to go off and envolve us in wars for profit. I cannot believe that the American people can be so nieve as to believe them.Wish George SR. would slap som sense into his progeny.Looks like the remaining three presidents would go to him together and knock some sense into him. Cheney sounds more and more like a Hitler rant everyday.

[katie jensen]

And as this narrative continues to unfold it seems more and more likely that Valerie Plame had to go.

[darclay]

Speaking of Valerie, It seem there is no verity on Iran and I just heard on MSMBC Buchannan say congress should bring the Generals in and ask them...Yes lets let Bush pick those Gen. like any of them would give us an honest assessment. Our intelligence has been so crippled by this admin. Liberman and Cheney need to go... at the very least cheney. Congress seems inept at stopping this war maybe an impeachment would help?

[Kagro X]

CO: No, I haven't. I accept it for the sake of argument, but that's all.

But I think it's certainly within the realm of things one might have expected. Which also means it's something that one might have tried to protect against.

We apparently did not. That would be a failure, even if the Iranians didn't take advantage of it.

[casual observer]

Kagro,

I haven't seen much pushback, even on the tubes, regarding this "common knowlege" re: Iranian "meddling" in our wonderful righteous occupation.

[Nell]

This argument about Iran is the same one that Nixon used to move to Cambodia (actually the bombing began under Johnson, but it escalated massively under Nixon).

Maybe that will mean nothing to people under 50, but it should be effective with my g-g-generation. We're is the largest single population group in the U.S.

[Nell]

The only pushback by a pol that I've seen was in Webb's floor speech demanding that the Kyl/Lieberman resolution be withdrawn. See it here:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/25/webb-kyl-lieb-iran/

[Nell]

In the course of explaining why it's a bad idea to urge the designation of a state's military as a terrorist organiazation, he says: "If they're attacking us, then they're not a terrorist organization, they're an attacking army. Are they? Are they attacking us? I'm not so sure. [goes on to quote Adm. Fallon depreciating the 'drumbeat for war', and emphasizes that there hasn't been one hearing in the Armed Services or Foreign Relations Committee on the question.]

Now, that's not the ringing repudiation you'd get on a blog, but it's the strongest pushback that currently exists in the U.S. Senate to the propaganda that's been pushed for the last ten months about Iran's activities in Iraq.