Read 'Em And Weep

In the game of Poker, it is not necessarily the hand that has the greatest value that controls the table a player with a worthless position may control the bidding through arrogance and bluffing. Disaster can result when that player’s bluff is called and his hand is shown to lack merit. While timid Senators and Representatives in Congress speculate and haggle over rather insignificant semantics in wording a symbolic resolution of disapproval of the Bush Admiinistration troop buildup in Iraq, the White House is busy planning another catastrophe, a pre-emptive attack on Iran.

The leadership of the Bush Administration taken the country into the unnecessary invasion and occupation of Iraq, in which the country is now deeply mired. The stakes have been raised to one half Trillion dollars, more than 3000 US soldier deaths and tens of thousands of Iraqis killed and maimed. Not satisfied with one major fiasco, the President and Vice President are now determined to risk what would likely be a regional, if not global, war with nuclear ramifications. Common sense and a prudent sense of survival would require of our Congress to take forceful and deliberate action to curb the mad excesses of the Bush Administration. The squabbling over the Iraq resolution wording is, in context, silly and trivial.

A responsible Congress would acknowledge the documented fact that Congress was misled in authorizing the invasion, and would also make a formal finding that the purported justifications for the authorization to use military force do not exist. Thus, Congress could rescind the authority and require Bush to seek new authority to continue the occupation, based upon the situation that actually exists. At the same time, a responsible Congress should attach riders to the current budget that prohibit use of funds for any pre-emptive military strike without express approval from Congress. But we do not seem to have a responsible Congress. And in the current game of “Texas Hold-em” all the public can do is “read them and weep.” Consider carefully the following article published today in the United Kingdom newspaper:

US Able To Strike in The Spring
By Ewen MacAskill
The Guardian UK
Saturday 10 February 2007

Despite denials, Pentagon plans for possible attack on nuclear sites are well advanced.

US preparations for an air strike against Iran are at an advanced stage, in spite of repeated public denials by the Bush administration, according to informed sources in Washington.

The present military build-up in the Gulf would allow the US to mount an attack by the spring. But the sources said that if there was an attack, it was more likely next year, just before Mr. Bush leaves office.

Neo-conservatives, particularly at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, are urging Mr. Bush to open a new front against Iran. So too is the vice-president, Dick Cheney. The state department and the Pentagon are opposed, as are Democratic congressmen and the overwhelming majority of Republicans. The sources said Mr. Bush had not yet made a decision…….

Robert Gates, the new US defence secretary, said yesterday: "I don't know how many times the president, secretary [of state Condoleezza] Rice and I have had to repeat that we have no intention of attacking Iran."

But Vincent Cannistraro, a Washington-based intelligence analyst, shared the sources' assessment that Pentagon planning was well under way. "Planning is going on, in spite of public disavowals by Gates. Targets have been selected. For a bombing campaign against nuclear sites, it is quite advanced. The military assets to carry this out are being put in place."

He added: "We are planning for war. It is incredibly dangerous."