. . . and sounds like the generals are doing everything they possibly can to avoid Bush starting an utterly catastrophic war with Iran." Thus Tristero at Hullabaloo in attempting to firgure out the dissonance from within the Bush Administration. Gen. Peter Pace says one thing, the Bush team rolls out anonymous sources to say another, and Tristero's decoding seems not only plausible but a good, scientific explanation, in that it covers disparate, discrete data, and predicts future behavior as well (Team Bush will repeat themselves, Pace will refuse to play along, Pace will get fired, etc.).
Starting a war with Iran, whether one cooks the intelligence or not, is easy if there are representatives as clearly ignorant AND stupid as the one quoted at length here, again at Hullabaloo. What makes this exchange so unbelievable is the fact that Chris Matthews - hardly a leading intellectual - is as stunned as Rep. Israel by the sheer audacious idiocy flowing from Cantor's mouth. This is sock-puppetry gone bad, with someone clearly too dumb to realize he is being dumb. Of course, the fate of America is in his hands, so perhaps we should pull the covers a bit higher tonight . . .
BTW, I followed my own advice and sent emails to my Senators, Durbin and Obama, on the whole Iran thing. Durbin has responded, Obama has not, and I plan on writing to Durbin again, probably tomorrow when I have more time, and can sit and consider my response. I will not write to my Congressman, Rep. Don Manzullo (R - IL16) because (a) he is a lightweight backbencher in the minority; and (b) his greatest achievement has been failing to get emergency assistance for areas of Rockford hit hard by flooding over Labor Day weekend. If a Republican can't get federal funds during an election year for disaster from Republican-controlled Executive agencies, the this person is clearly of no consequence.
I think highlighting Gen. Pace's comments, as well as the utter foolishness of leaving this monumental decision in the hands of morons such as those in the House would be an excellent place to start.
