This from Newsweek via The Huffington Post, entitled:
Bothersome Intelligence
In public, President Bush has been careful to reassure Israel and other allies that he still sees Iran as a threat, while not disavowing his administration's recent National Intelligence Estimate. That NIE, made public Dec. 3, embarrassed the administration by concluding that Tehran had halted its weapons program in 2003, which seemed to undermine years of bellicose rhetoric from Bush and other senior officials about Iran's nuclear ambitions. But in private conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week, the president all but disowned the document, said a senior administration official who accompanied Bush on his six-nation trip to the Mideast. "He told the Israelis that he can't control what the intelligence community says, but that [the NIE's] conclusions don't reflect his own views" about Iran's nuclear-weapons program, said the official, who would discuss intelligence matters only on the condition of anonymity.
Ignoring the obvious double entendre' of "bothersome intelligence", the story is equally disturbing as the headline.
I find this troubling because we are stuck with two equally unacceptable interpretations of Bush's remarks to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
There is the distinct possibility that Bush is blowing sunshine up Olmert's pant-legs. That is, he is telling the hawkish Prime Minister exactly and precisely what the Prime Minister wants to hear. Namely, that Bush is ready to attack Iran on a moments notice and thereby eliminate what Israel sees as it's most serious remaining threat in the region. Bush is known for pandering to his audience of the moment and that, often, while he appears sincere and earnest in telling the audience that he's "on their side", he doen't mean a word of it and forgets and ignores promises or statements as soon as he sets foot inside Air Force One again.
In this case, this is a dangerous game. By signaling Olmert that Bush is "really on his side" vis-a-vis Iran, Olmert may get the impression that America would support an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear power industy. In short, Bush may have given Olmert a "green light". That's disturbing.
The other equally depressing possibility is that Bush really believes what he says and that, sadly is always possible. How many times have we heard Bush say that, facts notwithstanding, he had to go with his "gut" feeling..... (cue John Cusak from High Fidelity:" If you think with your gut you've got shit for brains") That being the case, Bush may believe that it is his destiny to attack Iran before he leaves office and will continue to promote provocations in the Straits of Hormuz in order to justify such an attack....like the silly "speedboat" incidents last week.
I sided with Congressman Dave Obey when he said that impeachment wasn't a practical matter about a year ago...now, I'm not so sure that Dave...nor I were right. This dude is dangerous....either way...whether he meant this or not....
