Letters to the Editor
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The Christianist Angle
We do not know how far-out of a christianist crazy-pants G.W. Bush is. We do not know, and he never has said whether he believes the end of the world is at hand, and that that end will involve a gigantic battle in the Middle East soon, as the kookiest of the kooky believe.
If Bush leans this way, then cynical, not-Christian Cheney and other neo-cons will use this belief to push Bush toward hitting Iran. Hey, what the heck? The end is here anyway... I might as well help it along... I will further the Lord's great plan!
Ask Bush about that, sometime. He will not answer. I agree with the previous poster who said to impeach now, and not to take chances, not wait to find out how crazy these guys really are.
We have grounds to impeach. Please do it. Even if we do not convict, it will use up their attention, and maybe distract them from crazy Armageddon plans.
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Does Bush want to jump-start the Rapture?
Some Christianists long for The Rapture, which will be triggered by a huge Middle Eastern war. Since Jesus will supposedly arrive and save all the devout, they don't have to worry about China getting its oil from Iran, or a billion Muslims reacting to an evil and crazy Bush/Cheney war. The true believers will fly up to meet Jesus - like a combination Disney ride and meet-the-celebrity-party. Wheee!
If Bush believes that a huge bloody war will solve everything by summoning Jesus, it would actually be RATIONAL in his mind to start such a war. Yikes.
I wish, if Bush did bomb Iran, that we could get on tape all the Christianists who speak in church and on the teevee that the End Times are upon us, and to obey Christian authority. There were a number of gushing preacher-war-mongers last year when Israel attacked Lebanon. Funny, I never heard of any of them donating money for all the bombed civilian houses, when that war ended and Jesus didn't appear.
Southern Baptists, the Assemblies of God, and other Rapture-lusting churches will forget again that all previous Middle East wars did not summon the Lamb of God. They would have a thrilling week or two after Bush/Cheney bombs Iran, watching the awesome bomb explosions to Fox Cable News music, and wearing their nicest underwear in case they are whisked to heaven (leaving their clothing behind). Then reality strikes when American casualties mount, oil can't get to America, and the world community pulls its money out of dollars and into Euros. Suddenly it's death, shame, oil shortages and Great Depression II. Jesus never comes.
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Bush won't bomb Iran
Mr Clemons:
I think you are forgetting the dipshit factor. We know from Bremmer et al that Bush either does not read memos sent to him or does not understand them. Personally, I can easily see a Thomas a`Becket-Henry II scenario where Bush get a memo stating that Ahamdinejad is a boil that should be lanced. Bush say yeah (I'm going fishin') and next thing you know B-2 are flying.
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What a nightmare it is . . .
. . . to live in an America where the likes of George Dubya Bush and Condoleeza Rice are the moderates in a debate about going to war.
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See here's the irony
You think Bush is crazy enough to unleash the Bomb for whatever nutty reason he likes, and yet Iran is that stolid sane bulwark of nationalism, geopolitics and sanity and so can be trusted. Somehow I'd rather trust the system we have than theirs. For all it's warts and problems we have a government that semi-functions in a somewhat more preferable and transparent way than their's does. Or if you genuinely believe that the Ayatollahs and Madhis, the men who sent 1 million unarmed children to fight Iraqi tanks and gas weapons, in human wave attacks are more humane, let alone reliable than our guys, have at it. Emigrate. Seriously, it can't be that hard.
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Beltway nonsense
Sorry, but this article is a rehash of the very kind of Beltway wisdom whose erroneous and incestuous ways are so often attacked by Glenn Greenwald in these very pages. An analysis of analyses of still previous analyses based on cherrypicked data.
Ever seen Bush "propose engagement"? ("We invite Iran to give in to all our demands" does not count, sorry.)
Or how about the contention that "If the bombs were at the ready, Bush would be doing a lot more to prepare the nation and the military for a war"? You can't look at a newspaper without seeing the administration or the military accuse Iran of killing Americans through their proxies in Iraq, generally based on ludicrous claims. (My favorite: "Iraqis can't make cone-shaped copper bowls, so they can only come from Iran".) One doesn't invent that kind of spin in order to promote diplomacy.
"Bush also knows that Iran controls "the temperature" of the terror networks it runs." What terror networks might that be, pray? Aside from Hizbollah, which is neither clearly run by Teheran nor purely terrorist, who else? The taliban and Al Qaeda, Iran's mortal enemies? The equally Sunni Hamas?
And what on earth makes the author think that Ahmadinejad will gain from a war? Do the Iranian clerics and the Revolutionary Guard usually react to a crisis by giving more power to elected officials?
Finally and most importantly, the author presents Bush as a thoughtful, informed person when everyone knows him to be incurious in the extreme. He may be a teensy weensy bit more wary of Cheney than he was before, but as far as I know he remains dependent on the easy-to-read one-page summaries supplied to him by his veep. He who controls the information, controls the decision.
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Who's Going To Stop Him?
With respect, I believe you're wrong.
No matter what anyone wants to say about Bush or his personality, I feel (whether he admits it to himself or not)that he understands his rule has been a failure. The election of a Democratic President in 2009 is probable -- and, Bush believes Democrats, liberals and progressives don't have the will to "stay the course", to push the blueprint that Cheney and the neocons have forced on America, and the world.
And, leaders who believe in separate realities are more likely to double-down and go for broke. I'd argue that these things makes Bush more, not less, likely to strike Iran.
It hasn't been proven that his religious views have a place in his decision-making about whether or not to attack -- but they shouldn't be discounted, either.
The Congress seems unable to do anything, except keep sleepwalking, continuing to do nothing to limit more and more Cheney / Bush excesses. And, the Congress's baffling impotence makes a Bush order to attack Iran more likely, not less.
Bottom line: Bush will simply do whatever he wants, without check or brake on his desires. No matter what the ramifications will be for the population of the United States.
All this is worse than watching an auto crash in slow motion, because this is all so preventable.