Once in awhile, Glenn Greenwald manages to rise above his already stupendous writing and awesome reasoning to make a point of supreme insight and Digbyesque prescience. Today is one such.
The Risks of Staying
One of the most under-discussed facts with regard to Iraq is that the very people who conceived of the invasion and who are the architects of our current military strategy have always believed, and still believe, that we must go to war with Iran. Our current strategy in Iraq was designed and, to a large degree, implemented with that goal in mind. emphasis in orig
More:
All of the super-serious and responsible pundits may be drowning in angst over the fact that we cannot leave Iraq because it is so very vital that, before we leave, we stabilize that country and turn it into a beacon of democracy, or at least avert even worse violence. But however laudable that goal might be, that is not the goal of the people controlling our actual strategy in Iraq. Stabilizing Iraq in order to leave is not what they are interested in.
What they seek -- by their own acknowledgment -- is a conflict with Iran and Syria, and they want to stay in Iraq because that is how that goal can be achieved. Joe Lieberman published an Op-Ed at the end of last year declaring that America's real enemy in this "war" is Iran. Charles Krauthammer and John Podhoretz last year both proclaimed -- excitedly -- that U.S. war with Iran was inevitable, and that (according to Krauthammer) it would be less than a year away.
Obviously there is much more to read at Salon. I'm excluding one of Glenn's also vital points, that the Occupation advocates always play up the risks of leaving while ignoring the risks of staying, but I think his point on Iran is spot on.
It is time to stop pretending that the neo-conservatives engage in any debate honestly and on the merits. They do not. This is not paranoia or partisanship. They believe in Straussian Noble Lies and their ideological father, Irving Kristol, said this:
There are different kinds of truths for different kinds of people," he says in an interview. "There are truths appropriate for children; truths that are appropriate for students; truths that are appropriate for educated adults; and truths that are appropriate for highly educated adults, and the notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy. It doesn’t work.
So when you encounter specious arguments from various neo-conservative circles in the media, keep in mind, they aren't just deluded, sometimes they don't even believe their own bullshit, and are using mendacious arguments to achieve some ulterior motive.
The Bigger Missed Opportunity in the Supplemental Funding Fracas
One of the small silver linings of the Supplemental Cave-In was that the Democrats got a clean minimum wage increase included in the bill. However, this speaks to the larger missed opportunity which was to include a provision explicitly forbidding military action against Iran in the bill.
That the minimum wage increase will pass without threat of Veto or Republican senate filibuster speaks to how high a priority the Iraq war is for them. They're willing to forgo their normal desires to screw the poor in order to continue this occupation. Why?
If the next supplemental is going to turn out like this one, as is likely, then let us begin the groundwork to call the neo-conservative bluff on Iran. If we can't stop this war, let's at least prevent a new one.
Would Bush veto such a bill? Either way would be good for us. If he vetoes just over that, he reveals his plans to invade Iran, if he accepts it, then war with Iran becomes more difficult for him. This is something to keep in mind for the September battle. If the Dems will cave again because they can't muster the courage to "risk" the troops by "denying" them funding (As if Bush's vetoes don't deny them funding!) then put a true poison pill in an otherwise "clean" bill: No war with Iran without Congressional approval. No provocation, no strikes, nada.
We must head them off at the pass. They're trying to outflank us, and hoping for their Gulf of Tonkin moment with Iran.