Bill Ayers as terrorist pal of Obama isn’t it. Neither are thinly veiled appeals to racism by Palin and McCain. Calling for a $300 Billion Dollar bailout on top of the Paulson $700 Billion Dollar bailout didn’t pass muster, nor have the efforts by the McCain camp to blame the economic crisis on the Democrats and African American home buyers. Republican officials privately admit they expect Obama to beat McCain handily. The only question is the margin of Obama’s victory which seemingly grows a percentage point each day in the tracking polls.
No there is only one possible game changer left in the Republican party’s arsenal. And not surprisingly, it all depends on the mood of the worst President in history, Mr. 24% himself. The question is, will he pull the trigger and grant the Fourth Branch of Government’s (and Joe Lieberquisling’s) fondest wish, or not? Strangely enough, the McClatchy-Tribune News Service is reporting that the answer just might be yes.
The likelihood of an American attack has diminished. American commanders “think it would complicate the situation in Iraq and the region,” John Bolton, the former U.N. ambassador, told me. He favors an attack but says “the Bush administration was much more inclined to do it a few years ago.” Secretaries Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates, at State and Defense -_ relative moderates within the Bush administration – now dominate discussion of issues like this. […]
… But then, why did the Pentagon announce last month that it planned to sell Israel 1,000 new GBU-39 bunker-busting bombs? They are small weapons that can be dropped from the wings of the fighter jets in Israel’s air force. Each can penetrate 6 feet of reinforced concrete. If several aircraft hit the same target the total penetration could be much deeper.
Why does Israel need those bombs? Israeli military analysts have been saying they are for attacking underground weapons depots in Gaza or southern Lebanon. Perhaps.
But then, why about the same time did the Pentagon agree to sell Israel sophisticated upgrades for the country’s Patriot anti-missile missiles _ and send more than 100 technicians to install them? If Israel attacked, Iran has warned that it would fire volleys of ballistic missiles in response.
And there’s more: Just last week came the news that the United States has deployed an advanced early-warning radar system in Israel for detecting incoming missiles. It is so sophisticated that, for now, U.S. Army crews will be stationed there to operate it. […]
Still, all of this may be a hall of mirrors. The United States may be arming Israel purely for defensive reasons. Israel’s military exercises and blustery threats may simply be the state’s way of warning Iran. On the other hand, the Bush administration’s statements cautioning Israel may simply be an attempt to prevent Iran from blaming Washington if Israel does attack.
Before, the fear that the price of oil would skyrocket in the event of an attack was thought to be the drag on any approval by the Bush administration for an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear program. But with crude oil prices falling due to slackening demand thanks to the burgeoning global economic meltdown, that may no longer be as great of a concern for Bush as he assesses the likelihood that Obama, a man he views as an appeaser, is likely to follow him into the Oval Office come January.
If the Bush administration is hawkish enough to attack Iran or support an Israeli attack before it leaves office, the drop in world oil prices to the $80 to $90 a barrel range may give it enough of a cushion against the consequence of skyrocketing oil prices.
The administration may gamble that a quick, tightly targeted strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities would bring only a brief, modest spike in oil prices, with the price settling back down in a week’s time given the apparent downward trend in world oil demand. […]
An attack against Iran is off the radar of the U.S. media, now focused on economic shocks and the presidential campaign.
However, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told Haaretz, the Israeli daily, in an interview on Oct. 3 during a visit to Israel: “I know that some people in Israel and in the army are preparing a military solution or not a solution but a military attack (on Iran). … This is not, according to my opinion, the solution.”
Something tells me that the McCain camp is well aware of this “possibility” and will do everything in its power to convince Bush that he must allow an attack on Iran by Israel before the November election. Changing the conversation from the economy to the “War on Terror” is really the only hope McCain has of reversing dismal electoral prospects. The only question is whether Bush will feel the same urgency to help an old Maverick by deciding to do the unthinkable — again.
The Israeli Defense Force, whatever else it is, is not as stupid as Sarah Palin.
The Alaska Legislature is debating whether or not to release the Report: While we wait here’s a hint from
The Independent, UK
Criminal charges for what?
Reuters Breaking News
Alaska ethics probe report says Governor Sarah Palin “abused” her power in order to benefit personal interests
It’s game over for the GOP now. Sister Sarah, the shining star, is that she violated the public trust and may now face impeachment as she has broken Alaska state law. McSame is buried under his own erratic insanity, being booed down at his own rally for defending Obama as a human being.
Iran is the October Surprise from a group that has ALWAYS chosen to double down when their backs are against the wall.
The economy is about to fall into the abyss. The McSame campaign is now DOA.
The real October Surprise is the only card left. It will be played. We will be at war with Iran soon. Oil prices are dropping, $78 today and falling. Energy stocks are getting crushed.
Pushing oil back up to $150 a barrel or more will be Bush’s final fuck you to the world.
The page must be turned on the economy. There is only one choice now, and it is war.
McCain is reckless. Palin was never vetted. This probe was undergoing long before she was picked.
As for the price of crude. That’s temporary. It was put down deliberately to help out McCain. Gustav came, knocked out the oil production. shortages in the south and south east yet the price went down. In any other year, a drizzle, a cough and the price goes up.
In June I listened to an interview of someone connected to Big Oil, what he had to say was mostly dismissed: said the interviewee, “McCain is their man… “Oil will go to under $80/bbl and gasoline to $3.50 before the election”
We’ll see.
Eh. Price of crude is down because the dollar has stormed upwards as one of the few safe currencies that people are flocking to dump their money in as the market tanks, the Eurozone can’t get their shit together, and the other nations are either developing nations (and therefore shaky) or near-totalitarian states that don’t give much confidence to investors for paying back their invested money. The price of crude and the strength of the dollar are intimately tied together. If the dollar drops again, the price of crude will rise. (Though the demand will be down for a while because of slowing world economies, which means speculators are out of the picture for the moment. As winter comes to the northern hemisphere, we’ll see energy prices rise again.)
However, reports are that OPEC is meeting soon to look into cutting production to try to get the price of crude back up again. OPEC hasn’t been able to get IT’S shit together lately either, so I doubt it will happen, but if they actually manage to do it we could see oil prices rise again in the next few weeks.
Defense force my Aunt Fatima! They are not a defense force at all, they are an occupation force, and they are a force for aggression. Israel has not done anything in decades that could even remotely be called defense.
The fall in oil prices and the fact this administration has nothing left to lose are bad omens. They give Israel a loaded gun and then say don’t shoot while winking at them. Beliving the “end times” are a coming they are literally praying for a strike on Iran. Bunch of wacked out zealots in Tel Aviv and Washington.
While this would be a horrifying thing, it would not necessarily help McCain. It might convince fence sitters that we should get out of the Middle East and off oil as soon as possible.
I agree, but the Israelis may wait until after the presidential election. Striking before the next administration takes over. Israel must realize that attacking Iran would be very shortsighted. At least I hope.
Shortsighted in the extreme if Obama is elected. They would be making a political enemy of the POTUS while they need his support for their war.
Starting the war BEFORE the election is also risky but could be a gambit to elect McCain.
I have long felt that the Neocons in the US are merely bullies and most of their ilk (except for the John Bolton fringe) believe an Iran flush with oil money and armed with newer Russian and Chinese weapons would be better threatened into compliance than provoked into mischief in Iraq and Lebanon. I think their hope is that ten years of sanctions will weaken Iran so that its economy and relative political cohesion will deteriorate enough for the US to be able to install a client government then.
Iran is not another Iraq of 2003,a Syria or Lebanon. The vision of Israeli captured pilots paraded before angry crowds in Tehran must have sobered at least one Israeli general. Perhaps they even realize that even for Iran nuclear weapons are a great defensive threat but a suicidal offensive weapon.
“for Iran nuclear weapons are a great defensive threat but a suicidal offensive weapon.“
I know you, so I know you know this, but for the record, Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program, and there is no evidence at all that they have ever had a nuclear weapons program, or ever intend to have one.
There are no “game changers” left. McCain is finished and he knows it.
Let us hope that Obama is up to the job he’s about to get.
The administration may gamble that a quick, tightly targeted strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities would bring only a brief, modest spike in oil prices, with the price settling back down in a week’s time given the apparent downward trend in world oil demand.
I wish the writer would have said this out loud and actually thought about it before putting it out there. This is too stupid to be believed, let alone it possibly being a hoped-for policy result.
bombing iran won’t turn things around but there’s still bristol and levi’s wedding to consider.
Bristol has refused!
To get married?
If Iran is bombed, I think the Shiites will explode and we shall soon witness their surge in Iraq much to the detriment of our troops there.
Don, you are giving much too much importance to this Shiite thing. First, the overwhelming majority of Iraqi Shi`as have never identified with Iran at all, and in fact are quite different even in some of their religious views. They are Arabs and Iraqis, and they have traditionally identified first as Iraqis, second as Arabs, third as Shi`as. Second, understand that there has never been such a huge difference between Sunnis and Shi`as, particularly in Iraq.
Most Muslims, regardless of sect, would view an attack on Iran first simply as another unprovoked act of aggression by the United States or Israel, second, as an unprovoked act of aggression against a Muslim country.
Do not assume everything among Muslims is a Sunni or a Shi`a thing. Very little is.
“The United States may be arming Israel purely for defensive reasons.“
Oh, come on! This business of Israel being defensive is contradicted by the facts throughout its history. Israel has been the clear aggressor in the majority of its wars. The only war in which it was clearly not the aggressor was 1973, and the reason for that war was that Israel would not comply with UNSC 242 but was actually colonizing occupied Syrian and Egyptian territory. After years of attempting to negotiate for Israel’s withdrawal from their territory, the Arabs finally decided to liberate it themselves by force. They did not set out to destroy Israel in 1973 – they knew that was not a realistic goal. They set out simply to liberate their own land, knowing that Israel had no intention at all of ever complying with international law and its own agreements that obligated it to negotiate a complete withdrawal.
Israel is its own worst enemy.
Israel has a new coalition government, established I believe by the thinnest of margins (2 votes?) How can they take this risk right now? I have been thanking God for Olmert’s embezzlement.
Why? The new government isn’t exactly better.
Boo,
Are you sure an attack on Iran would help McCain?