Ray McGovern on attacking Iran: "I know it sounds crazy, but..."

[Cocoa]

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=67&ItemID=7343

For a host of good reasons -- the huge and draining commitment of U.S. forces to Iraq and Iran's ability to stir the Iraqi pot to boiling, for starters -- the notion that the Bush administration would mount a "preemptive" air attack on Iran seems insane. And still more insane if the objective includes overthrowing Iran's government again, as in 1953 -- this time under the rubric of "regime change."

But Bush administration policy toward the Middle East is being run by men -- yes, only men -- who were routinely referred to in high circles in Washington during the 1980s as "the crazies." I can attest to that personally, but one need not take my word for it.

According to James Naughtie, author of The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency, former Secretary of State Colin Powell added an old soldier's adjective to the "crazies" sobriquet in referring to the same officials. Powell, who was military aide to Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger in the early eighties, was overheard calling them "the f---ing crazies" during a phone call with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw before the war in Iraq. At the time, Powell was reportedly deeply concerned over their determination to attack -- with or without UN approval. Small wonder that they got rid of Powell after the election, as soon as they had no more use for him.

If further proof of insanity were needed, one could simply look at the unnecessary carnage in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003. That unprovoked attack was, in my view, the most fateful foreign policy blunder in our nation's history...so far.

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[rock]

1. air attack on Iran seems insane

So I wonder what bushsucks* is going to do.

[wtmusic]

2. I hope Ray keeps his big mouth open

Richard Clarke, Ray McGovern, Scott Ritter, Richard Baer, Gerald Albright.

Guys who were on the inside. Guys who know WTF is going on. They all say it--the "fucking crazies" now run your government.

[EVDebs]

3. Yes, indeed. "Blank Check" by Tim Weiner -- the crazies in the basement

as he called them, referring to the White House basement where they operated out of. Back then, their unrestrained black funding was causing budget chaos (the '80's Reagan defense buildup), today totally under the radar of Congress, who is supposed to oversee this funding under Constitutional mandate, the 'crazies in the basement' have rung up a large share of the $2.3 Trillion that Rumsfeld's DoD cannot account for:

CBS News' "War on Waste" http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

""'According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions,' Rumsfeld admitted.

$2.3 trillion — that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America. To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions, consider the case of one military accountant who tried to find out what happened to a mere $300 million.

"We know it's gone. But we don't know what they spent it on," said Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service.""

Congress needs the help of Ray McGovern's VIPS in order to restrain the wastrels in the basement, before our own fiscal house comes undone.

[CindyDale]

4. It's insane unless they want to silence the Iranian liberals

for some reason. That's what it would do, fuel the right wing. That's what Saddam's bombings did to Israel 15 years ago and what 9/11 did to us.

[reprehensor]

5. BRILLIANT ARTICLE!

I love sane voices.

[sarcasmo]

6. Lucky us having "the crazies" in charge during our lifetime.

We have all know they are nuts, but calling them "the crazies" is the best.