let's go bomb iran:
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei recently revealed that Iran has agreed to cooperate in providing requested information on its nuclear development program. He has suggested that the Iranians should be given more time. ElBaradei told the New York Times, "This is the first time Iran is ready to discuss all the outstanding issues which triggered the crisis in confidence." However, the U.S. State Department is planning a full court press for a third resolution in the Security Council, against Iran.
(...) And don't wait for the major mass media in the U.S. to adequately inform the public of the danger of a military attack on Iran. Almost totally ignored on its pages and on the airwaves was the Sept. 2nd report in the London Times that "The Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive air strikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians' military capability in three days, according to a national security expert." According to the paper's correspondent, Sarah Baxter, Alexis Debat, director of terrorism and national security at the Nixon Center, told a recent public meeting of conservatives that the plan was not for "pinprick strikes" against Iran's nuclear facilities. "They're about taking out the entire Iranian military," he said.
(...) One story that did attract some attention was the report that the Israeli government did not goad the Bush Administration into attacking Iraq in 2001, that in fact the Israelis saw it as a diversion from what should be on the agenda: taking out Iran. Word these days amongst the conservatives and their neo- cousins is that Tel Aviv went along with the propaganda campaign leading up to the war on Iraq on the assumption that it was only a preliminary step. "The word among the neocon family is Cheney believes Bush will stick to his pledge not to leave office 16 months hence with Iran's nuclear facilities unscathed," right wing columnist Arnaud de Borchgrave wrote in June. On Aug. 8th, former CIA operative Robert Baer wrote in Time magazine, "Officials I talk to in Washington vote for a hit on [Iran] within the next six months."
(...) One thing is certain. Should the White House decide to take such a dangerous step, it is unlikely, at this point, to be constrained by domestic opposition. There is no widespread sentiment for war against Iran. According to a March poll, 57% of people in the U.S. believe Iran is a threat that can be contained with diplomacy. 20% don't see Iran as an imminent threat and only 15% support military action. However, there is practically no opposition in Congress. A Democratic Party majority, already too cowed to end the carnage in Iraq, doesn't even want to talk about Iran. Earlier this year there was talk about a resolution requiring the President to "consult" with Congress before attacking Iran. The House Democratic Party leadership dropped the idea.