Iran Stuff

Ok, so I go to work yesterday to make up some of the hours that I missed earlier in the week when I was rather ill, and I come upon this post on Americablog and this one at Hullabaloo. They are both about an article by The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh about how Bush has already decided to go to war with Iran, and they are considering using nukes.

Since the commentary is flying fast and furious about this, I'd like to focus in on one part of it:

One former defense official, who still deals with sensitive issues for the Bush Administration, told me that the military planning was premised on a belief that “a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government.” He added, “I was shocked when I heard it, and asked myself, ‘What are they smoking?’ ”

Now, while Iran is a country that cannot be ignored, these guys in charge at the White House really have demonstrated that they have absolutely no grasp on psychology or human nature, as well as military strategy, and are totally unqualified to deal with..well..anything. Mostly because they refuse to acknowledge facts that contradict their preconceptions.

Look, there is NO WAY that an attack on Iran will do anything but rally the people behind their government. When people are threatened or attacked by an outside aggressor, they will put aside their internal disputes and turn their anger on the guy flinging the bombs at them. People will take security over freedom. Hell, they did it here, right? Land of the Free, where you shouldn't be worried about surveillance because a good citizen has nothing to hide, right? Where due process is a luxury for only when we are not under threat by anyone.

There is a post up at The Dark Wraith Forums that gives a really good analysis of the whole situation. It's really worth reading. There's also this one at Sadly,No!, which is a repost of a post from a Canadian who asks:

Speaking as a Canadian who is fond of judicious language, I feel that this situation deserves careful and measured thought. So let me just open with:

Is your entire f*cking country on crack???

To which I answer: No, the entire fucking country is on meth.