The Times (UK) ran today a headline with the flat declaration, Pentagon ‘three-day blitz’ plan for Iran.
by Howard A. Rodman
For long time now, perhaps a year, I’ve been hearing (we’ve all been hearing) that the White House is planning to bomb Iran. As the neo-cons say, “Boys go to Baghdad; real men go to Tehran.” It’s a strategy so seductive that John McCain set it to music. I’ve been dismissive of these rumors, as have you. Why? Because one would have to be a madman (or Dick Cheney) to start a second war when the first one is going so fucking well. Unfortunately, this doesn’t take into account the way decisions about these things are made; and it neglects to take into account, as well, this particular president’s view of himself in history.
As Bush this weekend was disclosed to have said to his biographer, “I made a decision to lead… One, it makes you unpopular; two, it makes people accuse you of unilateral arrogance, and that may be true. But the fundamental question is, is the world better off as a result of your leadership?” [The biography, by the way, is called Dead Certain. How reassuring to the rest of us.] In the eyes of our president, an Iran with a different government is a world better off. The people of Iran, or what’s left of the people of Iran after a 1,200-target bombing campaign, will greet us as liberators. History and Joe Lieberman will judge him brave for having turned the tide in the Grand Battle Against Islamo-fascism — a battle which, as we now know, had its origins in the Vietnam war.