Sunday, May 15, 2005

Green Light

I wonder whether Bush's dropping approval ratings will actually make the neo-Con fantasy of trying to take Iran out "while they can" more likely? It appears that they think they may be able to do it on the cheap. That was Seymour Hersh's conclusion a few months ago.

From the Times on Line:

ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear programme.

The inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave “initial authorisation” for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert...

The plans have been discussed with American officials who are said to have indicated provisionally that they would not stand in Israel’s way if all international efforts to halt Iranian nuclear projects failed.

Tehran claims that its programme is designed for peaceful purposes but Israeli and American intelligence officials — who have met to share information in recent weeks —are convinced that it is intended to produce nuclear weapons.


Surely we can get the Islamic world, and certainly the Shi'ites, even angrier? The Bush foreign policy, "keep poking with that stick, there's got to be more hornets in that nest".