Smoke and Mirrors

Rational minds are saying that Iran's recent missile launches (which apparently have been beefed up thanks to the magic of technology) were an effort to give the country more leverage should they decide to come to the table and talk about disassembling their nuclear program.

Meanwhile, equally rational minds such as Salon's Joe Conason are warning us that the Bush administration is laying on pressure about a potential military strike against the country. (I guess Dubya had enough "negotiating" with North Korea and doesn't want to appear soft??)

Not only would this be disastrous in terms of world order, it certainly wouldn't solve anything. Attacking Iran isn't going to stop terrorism and extremism. More than likely it would increase it. Nor will military measures against the country make gas prices better. I am certain the opposite would happen, as the Middle East would be thrown in even greater turmoil. And it won't improve the situation in Iraq, which might actually be getting better through the support of Iran, its neighbor. Go figure.

The Bush administration assures us that they would use force as a last resort. Well we have heard that bedtime story before and more than 4,000 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis have died because of it. What further atrocities will our country and the rest of the world have to endure due to the irrationality of this administration? Their flagrant disregard for reality continues to astound me, just when I think they have reached their limit.

Every day I am left questioning if we can just make it until the end of Bush's term. 193 days and counting . . .

Three Strikes

Yesterday the news broke that Obama's passport file was breached three times by the State Department since the first of the year. Of course this is all due to the lack of oversight and no-warrants-required system that our government has created in recent years.

Maybe some of you think it is no big deal, but when the Department of Justice acknowledges (as it did two weeks ago) that the FBI has for years been abusing the national security letters part of the Patriot Act that is bad. The national security letters allows the FBI to look at whatever personal info they want about Americans without a warrant or any oversight. This means that without being accused of anything, Americans have been having their personal information riffled through. Nice. The Washington Post has more details here.

Then, of course, there is the recent interview that Dick Cheney gave to ABC's Martha Raddatz. Cheney made a statement that the surge has been a success (duh, of course he WOULD say that) and then Raddatz asked him how that squared with a recent poll that showed two-thirds of Americans think the fight in Iraq isn't worth it. As you probably all know by now 'ole Dickie-boy's response was "So." Nice. You can read or view the interview for yourself here. 

Finally, there is McCain's recent gaffe in a press conference in the Middle East where he stated that Iran was training and harboring Al Qaeda terrorists. His sidekick Joe Lieberman quickly stepped forward to correct him, and McCain restated his remark, but I am not sure I am buying that he didn't mean what he first said. This hasn't gotten much coverage because many of the media just seems to trust the idea that McCain knows what he is talking about when it comes to foreign policy. (For more on that, visit Glenn Greenwald's blog on Salon.com.) This is the man after all who sang, "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran."  Then Thursday, McCain's national security spokesman said this:

"There is ample documentation that Iran has provided many different forms of support to Sunni extremists, including Al Qaeda as well as Shi'ia extremists in Iraq. It would require a willing suspension of disbelief to deny Iran supports Al Qaeda in Iraq."

There is a lot we don't know about Iran. But one thing seems clear, that if the Bush administration doesn't get its chance to go after Iran, something it has seemingly hungered after for years, then McCain (if elected president) may just carry on that dream.

Just something to think about if you are on the fence about who to vote for—the Democrats or the Republicans. Frankly to me, it looks like three strikes against the current and incumbent Republicans in just this last week. Imagine what they could do with four more years . . .