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IRAN : Who Wants to Bomb Iran? Democrats, Not Republicans, Says Seymour Hersh

by Open-Publishing - Friday 5 October 2007
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Who Wants to Bomb Iran? Democrats, Not Republicans, Says Seymour Hersh
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-10-05 13:56. Iran

By Jon Wiener, Huffington Post

When George Bush and Dick Cheney talk about their plans to bomb Iran, they are told "You can’t do it, because every Republican is going to be defeated"—that’s what a Republican former intelligence official told legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. "But," the former official went on, "Cheney doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the Republican worries, and neither does the President."

I recently spoke with Hersh, whose new piece, "Target Iran," is featured in The New Yorker this week.

When I asked Hersh who wants to bomb Iran, he said, "Ironically there is a lot of pressure coming from Democrats. Hillary Clinton, Obama, and Edwards have all said we cannot have a nuclear-armed Iran. Clearly the pressure from Democrats is a reflection of - we might as well say it - Israeli and Jewish input." He added the obvious: "a lot of money comes to the Democratic campaigns" from Jewish contributors.

But while Democrats argue that we must "do something" about an Iranian nuclear threat, Hersh says the White House has concluded their own effort to convince Americans that Iran poses an imminent threat has "failed." Apparently the public that bought the story of WMD in Iraq is now singing the classic Who song, "Won’t Get Fooled Again."

Moreover, Hersh reports, "the general consensus of the American intelligence community is that Iran is at least five years away from obtaining a bomb" - so the public is right to be skeptical.

As a result, according to Hersh, the focus of the plans to bomb Iran has shifted from an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities to an emphasis on the famed "surgical strikes" on Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran and elsewhere. The White House hopes it can win public support for this kind of campaign by arguing that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is responsible for the deaths of Americans in Iraq.

Why don’t Bush and Cheney "give a rat’s ass" about getting Republicans reelected to the Senate and the House in 2008? "Of course that was hyperbole to make a point," Hersh said. "When it comes to choice between bombing Iran and taking some political heat, the president will do what he wants. Look, no decision has been made, no order has been given, I’ve never said it’s going to happen. But I had breakfast this morning in Washington with somebody who’s close to a lot of military people, and there’s a sense among them that the president is essentially messianic about this. He sees this as his mission. It could be because God is telling him to do it. It could be because his daddy didn’t do it. It could be because it’s step 13 in a 12-step program he was in. I just don’t know."

The biggest problem in US relations with Iran, Hersh said, is that Bush refuses to "talk to people he doesn’t like. . . . We dealt with China, we dealt with the Soviet Union in those bad days of Stalin and Mao. But there is no pressure whatsoever" coming from the leading Democratic presidential candidates demanding that Bush negotiate with the Iranians rather than bombing them.
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  • The title’s a bit provocative, which undermines some of the credibility. This isn’t a minor point. What’s helped get us to this dreadful point in American history is hyperbole, deceit, and hyperinflated drama, which are used to ratchet up the fear. It’s so pervasive now, episodic TV, bloggers, and otherwise fair-minded humanists all seem to customarily resort to it.

    Yes, Lieberman and Clinton want war with Iran, but Kucinich, Richardson, Dodd, Biden, and Gravel don’t. Obama seems to be floating somewhere in the middle, though he expresses no explicit aim to do so. Also, Feingold and a host of other Democrats want the whole "War on Terror" brought to a screeching halt. Granted, however, the Democrats as a whole are sitting on their hands as we inch increasingly closer to bombing Iran. We aren’t seeing the kind of passionate resistance necessary to counter the Neocons, who now sit patiently waiting for Fox TV to build the case of just how evil the Iranian Administration is.

    Sadly, there’s a lack of passion on the American people’s part, so, it seems, the politicians feel obliged to sustain a tough talking posture in order to ’stave off’ terrorism. It’s really quite laughable, that is if you have another planet you can move to soon.

    The worst of the bunch, by far, is Hillary, who has, unfortunately, aligned herself with Joe Lieberman’s left wing Neocon con game. And to think, Lieberman was this far ---- away from being V.P. How pathetic.

    It appears inevitable now, as the world’s tilting towards Revelations and the return of the 3 great messiahs, Hebrew, Christian and Muslim, that the believers who currently run the show feel as if they’ve got nothing to lose by going to war because they’ve got God on their side. Obviously, at least two factions are wrong, that is if any of them are right, which is truly a ludicrous notion. A wise God - if such a force actually exists - would gain nothing from WWIII when zealots mix it up to see who’s going to go to the promised land. Instead, a wise God, no doubt, would be inclined to believe that humankind has existed long enough so that peace could be established and differences in belief could be successfully mediated through mutual respect. Yet somehow the holier than holies, the Born Again, Saved Again, Lost Again types are willing to spill your blood to fight a war against a demonized opponent, which will, accordingly, initiate the End Times.

    If you can think of something more insane, please respond.

    • To call Bush or Cheney a "christian", or their blood thirsty cheerleaders, is REALLY a stretch, they are nothing more than EXACTLY the "wolves in *sheeps* clothing" and false prophets HONEST Christians are warned about following. They USE false witness as a "religion" to attempt to carry out occupations for Oil profits and geopolitical reasons, I see nothing very hard here for Hersh to try and comprehend in their motives. I DO however appreciate Hersh’s refreshing honesty admitting how JEWISH interests are funding many on BOTH sides of the aisle. Hillary is receiving much of the same funding Bush received and has been bought just like G.W. was.

      The idea in attacking Iran is also in BIG part simply another attempt to pull oil OFF the market, apparently the hundreds and hundreds of BILLIONS of extra $$$ the Oil Parasites have extorted from the American public simply isn’t enough yet. And obviously the Cabal includes Israel who doesn’t want any cahllenges to it’s dominance by it’s nuclear arsenal in the region. What I would like to hear is voices in Congress that Haven’t been bought by Isreali $$$ start to talk about disarming Isreal of it’s illegal WMD’s and allowing for a BALANCE of power. BUt with so many Israeli $$$ filling the pockets of many Dem’s as well as Reps and our *representitives" selling out to the highest bidder that may well be a long uphill battle.