New Sy Hersch Article re: Attacking Iran... will it be the last straw?

[Windy]

I hope that after the leak news, the falling opinion polls on the conduct of the war in Iraq, etc.. that the new Hersch article will be the last straw for the Bush Administration in the eyes of the public.

I'm glad Hersch wrote it and the New Yorker is publishing it. Perfect timing for the best effect, I hope!

[Jack Rabbit]

1. It might be icing on the cake

Wait until the new approval ratings come out next week. Can you say "twenties"?

[BrklynLiberal]

3. from your keyboard to the minds of the koolaid drinkers!!!

[bluestateguy]

2. How many stories have been predicted to be the last straw for Bushco?

He is weakened with every one of these stories, but he will not be driven from office. He just won't.

[Windy]

4. I think if he unilaterally bombs Iran... he just may be

but if he does that, its already too late... the damage will have already been done.

[sable302]

5. There's no last straw with this guy

He just doesn't break easy.

He does whittle away nicely, however. After the next round of polls show his approval in the 20's, his cred. on this stuff will be as good as zero.

[flyingfysh]

6. you could make a haystack

with all the "last straws" Bush has produced already.

[LoKnLoD]

7. I have to say it..

he could take that last straw and use it for his cocaine....

[Skarbrowe]

8. Bush and Cheney are angry. They need to bomb another country.

I wouldn't put it past them to bomb Iran just to make sure they go out with the biggest "In your face!!" possible. I know that's a totally irrational thought. I distrust these guys so much, I can't help it. They are so very, very dangerous. Part of me realizes that Iran and nuclear weapons are a dangerous combination and it would certainly make the world much worse than it is now. But these two idiots have proven they are incompetent at everything they do.

Hoping that this is a big bluff on their part. I knew they weren't bluffing about Iraq. A few Republicans I know thought that was the case back in 2002. We at the DU and many others KNEW they weren't bluffing about Saddam. My brain wants to believe that talk of using some type of nuclear weapon on Iran is bluff, bluff, bluff.

My gut is saying something else. Depressing.

[JohnyCanuck]

9. Explains why they wouldn't negotiate with Iran when they had a chance.

The crazy-mad, chickenhawk, PNAC Strangeloves can't wait to try out their new nuke bunker busters on a live target. The first Shock & Awe hasn't had the desired effect of convincing the brown people that turning over their oil and compliantly submitting to Pax Americana is the only way to go, so I guess they need to try out the New and Improved Shock & Awe (now comes with the evil-doer killing power of nukes).

America's Botched 2003 Iran Diplomacy: No Talks with Evil People in the "Axis"

SNIP

Lawrence Wilkerson, then chief of staff to secretary of state Colin Powell, said the failure to adopt a formal Iran policy in 2002-03 was the result of obstruction by a "secret cabal" of neo-conservatives in the administration, led by Vice President Dick Cheney.

"The secret cabal got what it wanted: no negotiations with Tehran," Wilkerson wrote in an e-mail to Inter Press Service (IPS).

The Iranian negotiating offer, transmitted to the State Department in early May 2003 by the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, acknowledged that Iran would have to address US concerns about its nuclear program, although it made no specific concession in advance of the talks, according to Flynt Leverett, then the National Security Council's senior director for Middle East Affairs.

Iran's offer also raised the possibility of cutting off Iran's support for Hamas and Islamic Jihad and converting Hezbollah into a purely socio-political organization, according to Leverett. That was an explicit response to Powell's demand in late March that Iran "end its support for terrorism".

In return, Leverett recalls, the Iranians wanted the US to address security questions, the lifting of economic sanctions and normalization of relations, including support for Iran's integration into the global economic order.

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001320.php