Monday, October 19, 2009

Rethinking World War III


Our spooks stopped Bush from bombing Iran, but can they stop Obama?

by Justin Raimondo, October 19, 2009

"In 2007, just as the Bush administration was hyping the alleged "threat" from Iran’s ostensible nuclear ambitions – and facing renewed pressure from the Israel lobby to go after Tehran – the CIA issued a National Intelligence Estimate that punctured the War Party’s balloon. The NIE, which represents the considered opinion of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, averred that we knew with "high confidence" Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and not restarted it........

The 2007 NIE delivered a body blow to the War Party from which it is only now beginning to recover. However, the fight to avert World War III – surely the result of an attack on Iran – is very far from over. The election of Barack Obama, and the vanquishing of the more explicit wing of the War Party, just means the battle will be fought on different terrain. Already Obama is facing challenges from within his own party, as well as the neocon Right, to prove his "toughness." Whether he chooses the proving ground of Afghanistan to establish his bona fides as commander in chief or opts to keep his powder dry until it’s time to go after Iran is a toss-up, at the moment. What we can count on, however, is that the groundwork for a confrontation with Iran has already been laid. "

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