I understand Clemons point, but with the record of George Bush and the neocons that McCain has embraced wholeheartedly---I disagree a bit with Steve's "Stop Hyperventilating: Fallon Fired but Iran War Not Back On," take on this one.
By numerous accounts, President Bush was absolutely enraged by an Esquire article -- since amended noting Fallon's demise -- that posited that Admiral Fallon was not on the same page as President Bush and that he was the single military man standing between war and peace...
But the diplomatic course is still dominant and preferred -- and there has been no decision to launch a war despite the opportunistic bravado that will no doubt soon be uttered by Vice President Cheney, John Bolton, Richard Perle and others who have long pined for a conflict with Iran's mullahs...read on
Just because Fallon is thought to be fired over insubordination (I agree with Steve that the article damaged Fallon ) does not mean that these warmongers still aren't hellbent in their attempts to attack Iran. Mike McConnell has done everything he can to undermine the NIE report which threw water on Bush's efforts to spread as much fear as he could on Iran and BushCo. will continue to do so. As Digby reminds us:
You'll recall that just last October, Bush was stridently warning everybody about WWIII. It was that NIE that stopped all that talk in its tracks.
I have no idea if Bush will attack Iran. But depending upon them being logical and rational about it is a mistake. They truly did go into Iraq with the idea that they could install Ahmad Chalabi as their puppet and that was just delusional. So, while I am sure that it's true that most people believe that it's impossible for them to get away with it, I do not trust in such calculations...read on
We're just being cautious...