Seymour Hersh's excellent New Yorker article outlining the Bush administration's behind-the-scenes green light to Israel to pound the hell out of Lebanon even before the Israeli soldiers were kidnapped is proof yet again that the Neocons are a bunch of scary nutjobs.
The wacko this time whispering into the pliant ear of the man with the most destructive power on the planet is Elliot Abrams. Like fellow traveler Michael Ledeen, Abrams has glided effortlessly from the illegal and frighteningly anti-democratic dirty tricks of the Iran-Contra scandal right into the Bush II White House. Unlike Ledeen, however, Abrams was facing possible jail time for lying to Congress about Iran-Contra before Bush I pardoned him.
Today Mr. Abrams is our Deputy National Security Advisor and one of the main cheerleaders for going after Iran. In his twisted, sophomoric world view Israel and Hizballah were the surrogates for the title match between us and Iran. And that's not even the most frightening part. The most-frightening part is that Abrams seems to have convinced Bush that Israel won.
Nevermind that Hizballah have become heroes to the Arab street. Nevermind how horribly Iraq has turned out for us. Never mind how Afghanistan seems to be tilting into a loss column as well.
No matter what the reality is on the ground, the Neocons see the world the way they want to see it. To them the planet is a giant game of Risk and since we have the most pieces...let the dice roll!
Mr. Hersh, who knows more about U.S. national security than just about anybody, said this on Democracy Now! "I'm just holding my breath till 2008."
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