Mission Accomplished: Iraq destroyed. Now for Iran
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=10253
by Justin Raimondo
Arnaud de Borchgrave – a conservative Washington Times columnist, but no neocon – recently had this to say about our president’s future course in Iraq:
"Some political soothsayers in Washington predict Mr. Bush is limbering up for the biggest U-turn in his political life. Think again. The French have an expression for what will probably come next – ‘La fuite en avant.’ The literal translation doesn’t hack it. Loosely interpreted, it means evading an issue with a headlong rush somewhere else."
Rather than listening to the Baker-Hamilton commission, the petulant frat boy who imagines himself Winston Churchill at the height of World War II is far more likely to pay attention to the recommendations of another report, this one prepared by the Two Chucks – Gen. Chuck Wald, former EUCOM commander, and Chuck Vollmer, president of VII, Inc., a Pentagon contractor – that paves the way for la fuite en avant times 10. "Rather than planning withdrawal from Iraq," says the Wald-Vollmer paper,
"With the entry of Iran into the equation,the next phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom could possibly include … a major invasion of Iran and pro-Iranian forces against Western forces in the region and Israel, and/or a global energy crisis. We may be better served to plan for repositioning in this strategically important region. While withdrawal may be necessary in Iraq, withdrawal from the region would precipitate a global balance-of-power shift toward the Iran-Russia-China axis, which would be very detrimental for the energy dependent West."
Cities, suburbs and rural communities involved: Some 330 cities, suburbs and and rural communities across America have signed up to a campaign to slash their energy consumption and reduce emissions of the pollutants that cause climate change.