George W. Bush: Decider, Divider, Escalator

Real History Lisa on January 12, 2007 at 2:53 am

I’m borrowing this transcript from this IndyMedia post. This is Bush’s fig leaf excuse for war with Iran:

SEN. BIDEN: Last night, the president said, and I quote, “Succeeding in Iraq requires defending its territorial integrity and stabilizing the region in the face of extremist challenges, and that begins with addressing Iran and Syria.” He went on to say, “We will interrupt the flow of support for Iran and Syria, and we will seek out and destroy networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.”
Does that mean the president has plans to cross the Syrian and/or Iranian border to pursue those persons or individuals or governments providing that help?

SEC. RICE: Mr. Chairman, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs was just asked this question, and I think he perhaps said it best. He talked about what we’re really trying to do here which is to protect our forces and that we are doing that by seeking out these networks that we know are operating in Iraq. We are doing it through intelligence. We are then able, as we did on the 21st of December, to go after these groups where we find them. In that case, we then asked the Iraqi government to declare them persona non grata and expel them from the country because they were holding diplomatic passports.

But the — what is really being contemplated here in terms of these networks is that we believe we can do what we need to do inside Iraq. Obviously, the president isn’t going to rule anything out to protect our troops, but the plan is to take down these networks in Iraq.

The broader point is that we do have and we have always had as a country very strong interests and allies in the Gulf Region, and we do need to work with our allies to make certain that they have the defense capacity that they need against growing Iranian military build-up, that they fell that we are going to be a presence in the Persian Gulf Region as we have been, and that we establish confidence with the states with which we have long alliances, that we will help defend their interests. And that’s what the president had in mind.

SEN. BIDEN: Secretary Rice, do you believe the president has the constitutional authority to pursue across the border into Iraq (sic/Iran) or Syria, the networks in those countries?

SEC. RICE: Well, Mr. Chairman, I think I would not like to speculate on the president’s constitutional authority or to try and say anything that certainly would abridge his constitutional authority, which is broad as commander in chief.

I do think that everyone will understand that — the American people and I assume the Congress expect the president to do what is necessary to protect our forces.

SEN. BIDEN: Madame Secretary, I just want to make it clear, speaking for myself, that if the president concluded he had to invade Iran or Iraq in pursuit of these — or Syria — in pursuit of these networks, I believe the present authorization granted the president to use force in Iraq does not cover that, and he does need congressional authority to do that. I just want to set that marker.

It was clear to a lot of commentators around the net that, lacking any other justification, THIS will be the justification for broadening the war into Iran. Just that thin. And already, Condi is defending it, or at least refusing to oppose it.

We’re about to send two of our least effective instruments of power to the Middle East: Patriot Missile batteries and Condi Rice.

And oh, yeah, 21,500 more troops.

No one seems to seriously think Mr. Bush’s escalation strategy will work, including, one gets the distinct impression, Mr. Bush himself.

The Works

That depends, of course, on what your definition of “works” is. If you mean something along the lines of “restore order to Iraq, disband the militias, unify the government and rebuild the country,” no, that’s not going to work.

If you mean: “escalate and expand the war throughout the region,” yeah, that will work. It’s working already.

The “surge” is underway. ABC reports that elements of the 82nd Airborne Division arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday.

U.S. forces have raided the Iranian consulate in the Iraqi city of Erbil and arrested five members of its staff. It looks like that’s as close as we’re going to come to conducting direct diplomacy with Iran.

Mr. Bush has ordered an additional carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf region.

We’ve conducted air raids in Somalia, ostensibly in an effort to kill senior al-Qaeda members suspected of being responsible for the 1998 bombing U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. CBS reports that none of the intended targets were killed. U.S. Navy ships are intercepting maritime traffic of the Somali coast, searching for al-Qaeda members attempting to flee the country.

We’ve begun to deploy F-117 stealth bombers to South Korea. An Air Force spokesman says the deployment is “part of ongoing measures to maintain a credible deterrent and presence in the West Pacific.”

Yeah.

The House and Senate are holding hearings today on the Iraq policy that Mr. Bush announced last night. I’m more than a little concerned that Congress seems so fixated by Iraq right now that they’re not paying any attention whatsoever to the escalation that’s already taking place.

Military pundit Ralph Peters of the New York Post finally figured out that the assignment of Admiral William Fallon to take charge of Central Command was all about getting tough with Iran. You know something is obvious to everyone if Peters gets it.

Here’s what gets me. Bush backers warn us that withdrawal from Iraq will cause the violence there to spread into a regional war, yet everything Bush is doing seems purposely designed to ensure that a regional war–one that spans the Horn of Africa to the Korean Peninsula–is precisely what happens.

And nobody in Congress or the mainstream media seems to be on to that yet.

Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired) writes from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Read his commentaries at ePluribus Media and Pen and Sword.

5 Comments

BooMan on January 11, 2007 at 9:47 pm

Biden seemed to be sniffing under the tent today.
- Jeff Huber on January 11, 2007 at 10:04 pm
  
  …and as I believe you said, he’s sending a strong signal over to 1600 PA.
diane101 on January 11, 2007 at 11:24 pm

Well I spent the entire day watching cspan and congress in action and will watch more yet tonight and I wanted to add in response to your statement above

I’m more than a little concerned that Congress seems so fixated by Iraq right now that they’re not paying any attention whatsoever to the escalation that’s already taking place.

I think they are, I heard many questions and staements asked and commented upon during the hearings in that regard.
Also, Personally I think congress is reving themselves up with this latest move by Bush and the machinery is cranking to be ever more bold in their actions. I think they are just stunned with the actual plan and more than that the testimony concerning the plan.
I am also getting many emails from various congresspersons asking me to sign petitions about stopping the surge or excuse me, the augmentation. Funny that’s what they call breast enhancement.
Love your diaries, btw.
Real History Lisa on January 12, 2007 at 2:33 am

There’s a good argument to be made (and which has been made, in a few key essays) that the Bay of Pigs was designed to fail. It was meant as an intense provocation that would fail, after which our military was to come to the rescue. Most people don’t realize that huge navy ships waited for orders just outside of Cuban waters. Kennedy realized his hand was being forced and resisted.

Bush is trying to poke at Iran with every stick he can use. Israel. Attacks on their diplomatic core. Refusing to talk in person (because why talk to someone you’re planning to bomb anyway, or whose regime you’re planning to overthrow, or both). Eventually he’ll find that flint and start a conflagration. I don’t think he’ll leave office willingly until he’s done this.
Real History Lisa on January 12, 2007 at 2:53 am

I’m borrowing this transcript from this IndyMedia post. This is Bush’s fig leaf excuse for war with Iran:

SEN. BIDEN: Last night, the president said, and I quote, “Succeeding in Iraq requires defending its territorial integrity and stabilizing the region in the face of extremist challenges, and that begins with addressing Iran and Syria.” He went on to say, “We will interrupt the flow of support for Iran and Syria, and we will seek out and destroy networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.”
Does that mean the president has plans to cross the Syrian and/or Iranian border to pursue those persons or individuals or governments providing that help?

SEC. RICE: Mr. Chairman, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs was just asked this question, and I think he perhaps said it best. He talked about what we’re really trying to do here which is to protect our forces and that we are doing that by seeking out these networks that we know are operating in Iraq. We are doing it through intelligence. We are then able, as we did on the 21st of December, to go after these groups where we find them. In that case, we then asked the Iraqi government to declare them persona non grata and expel them from the country because they were holding diplomatic passports.

But the — what is really being contemplated here in terms of these networks is that we believe we can do what we need to do inside Iraq. Obviously, the president isn’t going to rule anything out to protect our troops, but the plan is to take down these networks in Iraq.

The broader point is that we do have and we have always had as a country very strong interests and allies in the Gulf Region, and we do need to work with our allies to make certain that they have the defense capacity that they need against growing Iranian military build-up, that they fell that we are going to be a presence in the Persian Gulf Region as we have been, and that we establish confidence with the states with which we have long alliances, that we will help defend their interests. And that’s what the president had in mind.

SEN. BIDEN: Secretary Rice, do you believe the president has the constitutional authority to pursue across the border into Iraq (sic/Iran) or Syria, the networks in those countries?

SEC. RICE: Well, Mr. Chairman, I think I would not like to speculate on the president’s constitutional authority or to try and say anything that certainly would abridge his constitutional authority, which is broad as commander in chief.

I do think that everyone will understand that — the American people and I assume the Congress expect the president to do what is necessary to protect our forces.

SEN. BIDEN: Madame Secretary, I just want to make it clear, speaking for myself, that if the president concluded he had to invade Iran or Iraq in pursuit of these — or Syria — in pursuit of these networks, I believe the present authorization granted the president to use force in Iraq does not cover that, and he does need congressional authority to do that. I just want to set that marker.

It was clear to a lot of commentators around the net that, lacking any other justification, THIS will be the justification for broadening the war into Iran. Just that thin. And already, Condi is defending it, or at least refusing to oppose it.

George W. Bush: Decider, Divider, Escalator

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Jeff Huber

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