Denouncing what he called "a new Pearl Harbor," Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., introduced a measure this morning that would grant formal Senate approval to "whatever action the Commander-in-Chief deems necessary to protect our troops, and our nation, from Iranian aggression."

Just change that to an 'R' already, Joe. These claims of independance are laughable, your ability to provide anything even resembling 'leadership' is a joke, and you're just lapping at the teat of the Rethuglican commisars.

I pray for the lives of the soldiers, and for there to be some kind of justice to those that tossed them unprepared into an situation with a fantasy plan, then keeps trying to minimize the help they can get after they survive - physically intact or not - what happened over there.

That's second part is HYPOTHETICAL, right?

will at some point over time create such an "incident". I hope we're wrong, but I see them bombing Iran and I see nothing but terrible consequences coming out of it. What to do? I'm marching this weekend, but I'm not confident anything will force them to change their strategy. They're like out of control gamblers doubling their bet every time they lose and then losing again and again.

...the Gulf of Tonkin?

The bastards are really going to do it.

The Bush regime passed the point of no return long ago. By now, they have more to fear from stopping the War On Iraq at which point, to some degree, the books will be opened and the country will get a good look at what happened. They have lass to fear, personally, from starting a new war, with its attendant chances of declaring a state of emergency (or something close to it) which will render them immune from investigation.

Besides, all anybody will be talking about is the draft, and whether virgins or non-virgins should be drafted. Wouldn't want those more sexually experienced personnal corrupting our good Christian warriors! Why not? Makes as much sense as a lot of our discourse on these matters.

I have absolutely no doubt you are correct. We've seen it before. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. I know all of this to be true. And, yet, I simply do not want to believe our government can do this again in our name.

You're one of the few contributers to this space whom I consistently pray is absolutely wrong.

I'm still holding out hope that what were seeing is a replay of the Nixon era - Madman theory:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_theory

http://hnn.us/articles/10428.html

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that while they match up well, cynical evil to cynical evil, this administration has significantly fewer available brain cells than Nixon/Kissinger.

IOW I'm afraid you're correct in your assessment.

MoveOn is taking action. They need your support. Here’s part of their latest action, not words.

War would be a disaster. Military officials who've gamed-out a war with Iran say it's a very, very bad idea. "Iran would hit back against US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and activate terrorist allies in the Middle East, further destabilizing a region already struggling with two major wars."2 US troops in the region, Israelis and American civilians abroad and at home would all be at risk.

And it's a real possibility. For months, there's been a stream of leaks and revelations by former Bush administration officials that paint a scary picture: Vice President Cheney and the neocons are quietly maneuvering us toward war with Iran—just as they did with Iraq.3,4

Now, the New York Times reports that Freedom's Watch, a $200 million propaganda machine headed by former White House insiders, has started to press for an attack.5,6 And this past week, Bush and Cheney upped the ante with aggressive statements, even invoking the specter of "World War III."7

Observers across the political spectrum, from Senator John McCain to former Middle East envoy Dennis Ross, say the threat is closer than it appears.8,9 And it's never a good idea to underestimate this president's capacity for recklessness.

We can't run the risk that they're crazy enough to do it. That's why it's so important that we make sure policymakers understand the cost of war, and we pressure Congress not to roll over on Iran. If we can raise the money today, here's what we'll do:

· A number of top retired generals and military experts are willing to say publicly that attacking Iran would be a strategic disaster. We'll put them on tour to speak to political leaders, editorial boards and big audiences.

· We'll run ads challenging the Bush administration and key presidential candidates—and remind people that the last time we heard many of these phony arguments was in the lead-up to war with Iraq.

· We'll commission polling to show wavering politicians that if they stand up against war with Iran, the public will stand with them.

· We'll run a major grassroots campaign urging Congress to confront the administration on Iran.

None of us know how likely a strike against Iran really is. But I'm going to do more than just hope it doesn't happen. The signs and signals have become too glaring. We have to act.

Please join in launching this campaign:

https://pol.moveon.org/donate/irandonate.html?id=11491-8383510-T7C.A3&t=3

Kyl/Liebermann Amendment.

You scared the Sh*t out of me with this- good job. Now, if only the GDMF MSM would wake the F*ck up (or sac the F*ck up) and use their well-oiled Hysteria Machine to actually, you know, PREVENT war. JFC, I hope these people all DIAF without taking us along for the ride.

What strikes me the most- is that despite the obvious untruth behind the rationales for attacking Iran- how incoherent the various justifications- how patently absurd the lies- and how easily they can be refuted and challenged- is the total lack of public oppossition from anyone who matters.

...will they actually die fighting the Iranians -- or, since you seem to be predicting this will be a manufactured incident, will we be killing our own soldiers? (Not that Blackwater wouldn't be happy to do it for the right price.)

Though I believe this admin is capable of just about anything, people (most notably, Sy Hersh) have been constantly predicting imminent war with Iran for about thirty months now. So it's hard not to hear echoes of The Boy Who Cried Wolf in all this.

(Not that there isn't a precedent for this sort of thing. Right before Hitler invanded Poland in 1939, he had a bunch of concentration camp inmates dressed in Wehrmacht uniforms, had them shot, then filmed the bodies -- strewn over various border crossings at the Polish frontier -- as proof positive the Poles attacked first, and that Germany only reacted in self-defense ...with a fully-equipped invasion force that just happened to be in the neighborhood.)