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Editorial
See other Editorial Articles

Title: Who Wants To Bomb Iran? Democrats, Not Republicans, Says Seymour Hersh
Source: [None]
URL Source: [None]
Published: Oct 4, 2007
Author: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-wiener
Post Date: 2007-10-04 21:41:34 by tom007
Keywords: None
Views: 390
Comments: 33

Who Wants To Bomb Iran? Democrats, Not Republicans, Says Seymour Hersh

Posted October 4, 2007 | 06:36 PM (EST)

The following piece is part of an ongoing series of OffTheBus reports by citizen policy experts critiquing different aspects of Campaign 08.

When George Bush and Dick Cheney talk about their plans to bomb Iran, they are told "You can't do it, because every Republican is going to be defeated"--that's what a Republican former intelligence official told legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. "But," the former official went on, "Cheney doesn't give a rat's ass about the Republican worries, and neither does the President."

I recently spoke with Hersh, whose new piece, "Target Iran," is featured in The New Yorker this week.

When I asked Hersh who wants to bomb Iran, he said, "Ironically there is a lot of pressure coming from Democrats. Hillary Clinton, Obama, and Edwards have all said we cannot have a nuclear-armed Iran. Clearly the pressure from Democrats is a reflection of - we might as well say it - Israeli and Jewish input." He added the obvious: "a lot of money comes to the Democratic campaigns" from Jewish contributors.

But while Democrats argue that we must "do something" about an Iranian nuclear threat, Hersh says the White House has concluded their own effort to convince Americans that Iran poses an imminent threat has "failed." Apparently the public that bought the story of WMD in Iraq is now singing the classic Who song, "Won't be Fooled Again."

Moreover, Hersh reports, "the general consensus of the American intelligence community is that Iran is at least five years away from obtaining a bomb" - so the public is right to be skeptical.

As a result, according to Hersh, the focus of the plans to bomb Iran has shifted from an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities to an emphasis on the famed "surgical strikes" on Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran and elsewhere. The White House hopes it can win public support for this kind of campaign by arguing that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is responsible for the deaths of Americans in Iraq.

Why don't Bush and Cheney "give a rat's ass" about getting Republicans reelected to the Senate and the House in 2008? "Of course that was hyperbole to make a point," Hersh said. "When it comes to choice between bombing Iran and taking some political heat, the president will do what he wants. Look, no decision has been made, no order has been given, I've never said it's going to happen. But I had breakfast this morning in Washington with somebody who's close to a lot of military people, and there's a sense among them that the president is essentially messianic about this. He sees this as his mission. It could be because God is telling him to do it. It could be because his daddy didn't do it. It could be because it's step 13 in a 12-step program he was in. I just don't know."

The biggest problem in US relations with Iran, Hersh said, is that Bush refuses to "talk to people he doesn't like. . . . We dealt with China, we dealt with the Soviet Union in those bad days of Stalin and Mao. But there is no pressure whatsoever" coming from the leading Democratic presidential candidates demanding that Bush negotiate with the Iranians rather than bombing them.

Read more OffTheBus coverage here.

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 9.

#1. To: tom007 (#0)

Yeah, sure. Seymour, go take a pill. The Repukes are the ones who are trying to nuke Iran. WTF?

Mekons4  posted on  2007-10-04   21:46:58 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: Mekons4 (#1)

Those who blame the Democrats are half-right. Those who blame the GOP are half- right. A pox on both of their houses.

Anyone who thinks that we'd a more sane foreign policy with Hillary than with Rudy or any of the other GOP neocons is an idiot and a half (and vice-versa for those who want to vote for the GOP "lesser evil").

Rupert_Pupkin  posted on  2007-10-04   21:52:57 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: Rupert_Pupkin (#2)

Those who blame the Democrats are half-right. Those who blame the GOP are half- right. A pox on both of their houses.

Simplistic. The Dems have been against the war since the git go. You want the Bushies to stay in power? We were FAR FAR FAR better off under Clinton. I can get you the charts, but you probably won't even look at them.

The idea that both parties are the same is insane, you know.

Mekons4  posted on  2007-10-04   22:12:48 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: Mekons4 (#4)

Simplistic. The Dems have been against the war since the git go. You want the Bushies to stay in power? We were FAR FAR FAR better off under Clinton. I can get you the charts, but you probably won't even look at them

No, I don't want the Bushies to be in power, I'm just not naive enough to think that the Democrats are any better. Hillary supported the war in Iraq just like the Republicans did. She may want her supporters to THINK that she was against the war all along, but she wasn't. Like her sleazy husband, Hillary's views change by 180 degrees depending on what audience she talks to and what the polls say.

And the economic charts that show us how much better off we were under Clinton - well, I have news for you. The economy goes through cycles. Whether we have a Democrat, a Republican, or Alfred E. Newman in the White House doesn't matter. It's just that when the economy does well, an incumbent gets the credit. When it's on a downswing, the incumbent suffers. Not much more to it than that.

Rupert_Pupkin  posted on  2007-10-04   22:26:10 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#9. To: Rupert_Pupkin (#6)

No, I don't want the Bushies to be in power, I'm just not naive enough to think that the Democrats are any better. Hillary supported the war in Iraq just like the Republicans did. She may want her supporters to THINK that she was against the war all along, but she wasn't. Like her sleazy husband, Hillary's views change by 180 degrees depending on what audience she talks to and what the polls say.

Uh, Hillary is the only Dem? I support Obama and he opposed it from the beginning. And her husband threw the only war perfect game. Zero dead. And he ran a surplus that the Repukes then said was dangerous and turned into a HUGE deficit. If you like wasting money on bullshit, vote Repuke. Otherwise, just stop saying they're the same. You may disagree with both, but they are in no way similar. It's a stupid, comfortable lie.

Mekons4  posted on  2007-10-04   22:38:28 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 9.

#10. To: Mekons4 (#9)

And to their credit, more than half of the House Dems voted against the Iraq war powers.

MUDDOG  posted on  2007-10-04 22:44:48 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#12. To: Mekons4 (#9)

Uh, Hillary is the only Dem? I support Obama and he opposed it from the beginning. And her husband threw the only war perfect game. Zero dead. And he ran a surplus that the Repukes then said was dangerous and turned into a HUGE deficit. If you like wasting money on bullshit, vote Repuke. Otherwise, just stop saying they're the same. You may disagree with both, but they are in no way similar. It's a stupid, comfortable lie.

The only Democratic candidates with solid anti-war credentials are "fringe" candidates like Kucinich and Gravel.

The only reason Clinton's war against Serbia was casualty free is that the Serbs surrendered after air strikes and the Iraqis did not, so don't give sleazy Bill credit for Iraqis having more fight in them than Yugoslavs. And speaking of the war in the Balkans, Clinton attacked another country with even less justification and provocation than Shrub's invasion of Iraq.

And when it comes to mideast policy, scrapper is right: both parties are firmly in the back pocket of AIPAC. They just use different gimmicks and rhetoric to peddle the same garbage.

Rupert_Pupkin  posted on  2007-10-04 23:03:55 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 9.

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