Iran: Bush's New Game

One aspect I found disturbing about the President's speech today was that he specifically linked Ahmedinejad as ordering the Quds force to ship weaponry to the Shi'ites in Iraq, when everyone knows Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei controls Quds. Why did he do this? Of course, it's easier for Bush to sow fear and confusion when it comes to Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, professional Holocaust denier and Israel hater. All red-blooded Americans want to bomb him, right? Who could oppose that? He's an evil man just like Saddam Hussein and the world will be a better place without him in it . . .

Sound familiar?

Finally, here's the debate Bush is aiming for. Today Bush asserted, very firmly, that he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Quds was responsible for the EFPs (and other weapons) killing Americans in Iraq. In purposefully muddying the waters of the evidentiary debate, Bush moves the terms onto more favorable ground. Now the right-wing wurlitzer will start pounding out the patriotic notes of this argument, an argument Democrats will be hard pressed to win: a.) the weapons are in Iraq, b.) the Iranians gave them to the Iraqis and c.) I have a duty as president to protect American lives. Thus, we attack Iran. Questioning the evidence is to put American troops in even more danger.

That's Bush's game. How do we respond?