It's Happening All Over Again

Kansas City Star | 02/01/2007 | Strategy shifts in U.S.-Iran face-off

Ray Takeyh, an expert on Iran, said the risks are all the greater because Tehran has an “unhealthy” disregard for American power, which “enhances the prospect of a miscalculation.” Gary Sick, a leading authority on Iran, thinks that the United States is seeking to divert world attention from the crisis in Iraq and organize a coalition of Israel and conservative Sunni Arab states to confront Iran. “I see this as a very dangerous long-term policy because it promotes the idea that Sunnis and Shiites should be distrustful of each other, and I think that could come back and bite us later on,” he said.

Bear in mind that there is little evidence that Iran is trying to build nuclear bombs, let alone the fact that they are at least five years away from such a thing if they are. The only thing keeping Ahmadinejad in office is fear of the U.S. invading. He and Bush are playing each other the same way Saddam and Bush did before the invasion of Iraq. It's insane, but BushCo is pushing for it.

The No. 2 U.S. general in Iraq told USA Today in an interview published Tuesday that Iran was supplying Iraqi Shiite militias with a variety of powerful weapons, including Katyusha rockets and armor-piercing rocket-propelled grenades.

“We have weapons that we know through serial numbers ... trace back to Iran,” Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno said.

The Air Force is considering more forceful patrols on the Iraqi side of the border to counter smuggling of weapons and bomb supplies, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing Pentagon officials.

The U.S. also is building up its military presence in the Gulf in a show of strength directed at Iran. A second aircraft carrier is heading for the region, and Patriot missile batteries are being deployed.

Notice that line about "serial numbers" from Odierno. Is he talking about weapons we sent to Iran during the Iran-Contra fiasco? Reminds me of the joke about us knowing Iraq had weapons of mass destruction because we kept the receipts.

And people in the know are getting more than worried.

The war of words has raised fears among both Democrats and Republicans in Congress that the United States and Iran are drifting toward armed conflict at a time when America is struggling against determined foes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It also has unnerved the Iraqi government, many of whose members have close ties to Iran.

“We have told the Iranians and the Americans, ‘We know that you have a problem with each other, but we’re asking you, please, solve your problems outside of Iraq,’ ” Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, told CNN on Wednesday. “We do not want the American forces to take Iraq as a base to attack Iran … we will not accept Iran using Iraq to attack American forces. But does this exist? It exists and I assure you it exists.”

Sounds pretty serious to me. Are Bush and Cheney two desparate men with nothing to lose? Should these be the people calling the shots in the Middle East?

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