A Newsmax article raises the interesting possibility that President Bush could order a strike on Iran before his second term ends. Israel's Army Radio is speculating that Bush and Cheney recently visited the Middle East to set the stage for such an operation. Apparently there are signs of a military buildup taking place in the region, but I believe the chances of such action taking place by the end of this year is small.
Reasons against:
1. Our forces are stretched to the limit.
2. Time is running out for the Bush administration, and such plans always end up costing more and taking longer than originally planned.
3. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates are said to be opposed to military action at this time.
Reasons for:
1. We have Iran surrounded, and the encirclement may not be so complete if the next President reduces or completely withdraws our forces from Iraq.
2. To reassure Israel that we are willing to do whatever it takes to help protect them.
3. The Iranians may be able to produce nuclear bombs as early as 2009.
Slate.com describes how skeptical bloggers are of this report:
Mother Jones' national-security correspondent Laura Rozen is skeptical at MoJo Blog: "This is the Jerusalem Post quoting Israel Radio, e.g. they didn't even report it themselves … citing an unnamed Israeli official quoting an again unnamed 'senior member of Bush's entourage' which includes a universe of people that could be say the spouse of a businessperson which was part of the delegation. … Something in the realm of idle gossip." [It's not every day I find myself nodding in agreement with Mother Jones, but this appears to be the best summary available.]
No comments:
Post a Comment