Washington Post hires another attack-Iran-now writer

Finally, the Beltway's paper has someone to make the case for war with Iran :)

By Alex Pareene in Salon

The Washington Post has finally achieved online balance, by hiring a conservative blogger to make up for those two liberal bloggers they have, who make up for the majority of their Op-Ed page. Fred Hiatt is thrilled to announce that Commentary's Jennifer Rubin will be launching a blog next month with a "conservative perspective" on "conservative policy-making and Republican campaigns, pundits and politicians."

(Republicans won the last major election, so the Post must hire more conservatives to reflect their new stature. Once Republicans lose a major election, the Post will of course hire some former Republican speechwriters and aides, so that they don't have to stoop to finding respectable work. But on the other hand, Ezra Klein.)

In the coming debate at the Post between the neocons -- who urge immediate military action against Iran -- and the moderates -- who have reluctantly come to the tragic conclusion that military action against Iran is the only viable option -- Rubin will join the neocons. [See Rubin's Keep Our Eye on the Ball — Iran.]

Former Post reporter/blogger Dave Weigel -- who knows the conservative beat as well as any journalist in the nation, but was fired from the Post for saying a mean thing about Matt Drudge -- applauds the hiring.

Israel Losing Its Soul

Israel won't let nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu leave Israel or talk to the press, because he is a perceived threat to national security, who would criticize Israel in the world press.

Now, Israel won't let American anti-militarist critic, Norman Finkelstein, into Israel because he is a perceived threat to national security, who would criticize Israel in the Israeli and Palestinian press.

As Israel continues its obscene violence in Gaza that has killed, wounded and starved 10,000s of innocents, the world watches a country relying on militarism and collective punishment lose its soul.

Top U.S. Middle East Commander Resigns, Citing Esquire Article

From ABC News:

Admiral William Fallon, the top U.S. military commander for the Middle East, is resigning, citing a magazine article in which (he) appeared to criticize President George W. Bush's policy toward Iran.

So the top military commander in the most volatile region in the world resigns because a magazine article? I'm guessing there is something more substantive going on here.

For background, see Esquire: Concern Bush May Ax Admiral 'Fox' Fallon. Fallon said attack on Iran 'will not happen on my watch'.

See also Breaking: CentCom Chief Admiral Fallon Resigns.

See also National Security Network: Adm. Fallon's Dissenting Voice: Views on Iraq Strategy More in Line With American Mainstream than Bush Administration.

UK Times: US Perfecting Plan for Iran Strike

If we're going kill 1,000s, destabilize the world, and break international law, then let's do it right.

The Sunday Times carries a heartening story about a secret US Air Force team perfecting the plan for an Iran air strike. One can't help but thinking: Are Bush and Cheney really that freaking dumb?

Sarah Baxter reports:

THE United States Air Force has set up a highly confidential strategic planning group tasked with “fighting the next war” as tensions rise with Iran.

Project Checkmate, a successor to the group that planned the 1991 Gulf War’s air campaign, was quietly reestablished at the Pentagon in June.

It reports directly to General Michael Moseley, the US Air Force chief, and consists of 20-30 top air force officers and defence and cyberspace experts with ready access to the White House, the CIA and other intelligence agencies.

Detailed contingency planning for a possible attack on Iran has been carried out for more than two years by Centcom (US central command), according to defence sources.

More at the Sunday Times.

Meanwhile, the commander of U.S. military forces in the Middle East says "No" to war with Iran.

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Iran War Moves

If you wish to understand how Bush and Company got away with the atrocity of Iraq, observe how the administration's moves against Iran are portrayed on the cover of the London Independent versus your local newspaper, nevermind the network news channels.

We live in a depoliticized, dumbed-down, corporate media society spawning an American public that can believe still that Saddam caused 9/11 (one out of three), and accept its government's statements unquestioningly, with merely a muttered comment.

A vibrant democracy would be alive with indignant cries of: They're doing it again, let's stop them.

But the depoliticalization of the American public, along with its related susceptibility to emotion and image, is an aspect that Bush and Cheney and the whole despicable lot of them know so well.

As Bush took a projected long-term $5-trillion surplus and turned it into projected multi-trillion dollar debt within five years while slashing social service spending, the Cheneys and Roves made a political calculation that they could get away with it without economic dislocations and political costs to the people who matter.

"Reagan proved deficits don't matter," Cheney said, according to former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill (Suskind. The Price of Loyality, p. 291). And Bush proved an all-out looting of the U.S. Treasury doesn't matter.

So now as tax cuts for the super-wealthy, public money directed at the high-tech sectors as never before, and war without end is waged, the burden of war falls on a small number of Americans in the armed forces and their families, while profiteering and crony contractor capitalism's fraud remains protected by the Bush administration, as it continues to insist that war is necessary to protect America as a society.

But Cheney is right, you get away with quite a bit; it's up to each American to draw the line at how much squandering the treasury, lying, and killing and maiming our young does matter.

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