The war in Iraq is essentially over. - Bob Edwards, National Public Radio, April 28, 2003
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/...
Well, anyone can make a mistake - right? And it's not like everyone else in the corporate media [you thought those tasteful between-program sponsorship announcements didn't count?] wasn't also swooning over the manly bulge in the Commander's flightsuit. If Obama can "look forward, not backward", why not NPR?
Besides, Iraq is such old news now. And no one got excited about Afghanistan even the first time around. So how else can we can put some fresh blood, so to speak, in the programming?
U.S. intelligence estimates suggest Iran could produce weapons-grade material as soon as the year 2013.
http://www.npr.org/...
And what more reliable justification for going to war could there be than a U.S. intelligence estimate?
[Note the thought-suppressing cluster of weasel words "suggest", "could", and "as soon as". Not to mention that having weapons-grade material is not the same thing has having a weapon.]
The NPR hack quotes a retired Air Force general and some other Serious Person at the Pentagon to the effect that a months-long bombing campaign of Iran might prove necessary. Then, in tones of regret, she adds:
Putting aside for a moment the question of whether that's remotely politically palatable for Americans at home or U.S. allies abroad, there are serious practical challenges to consider.
Of course, the moral challenge of slaughtering hundreds of thousands of civilians is left unconsidered as the reporter sighs over how much easier selling war used to be.
Iran is believed to maintain undeclared clandestine sites.
"Believed" by who? Dick Cheney? The Car Talk guys? On this point, no additional detail is considered necessary.
And now for the real red meat, with my emphasis added:
And as the clock continues to tick, the likelihood of Israel attacking on its own is rising - says Jeff White, the former Pentagon intelligence official. "It might actually be a way out for the Obama administration. I'm not saying they're encouraging it, but if the Israelis conducted a successful attack, it would take a lot of the pressure off the administration."
Pressure to do something to slow Iran's march towards a nuclear weapon.
Not that we wouldn't get our hair mussed...
Still, as Iran inches closer to a bomb, the risks of military action must be weighed against the risk of doing nothing.
Gee, that sounds awfully familiar. As does this.
Clearly, military action is not the way the Obama administration wants to go - says Pentagon veteran Jeff White. But if diplomacy doesn't work, he adds, that could force the administration to think hard about its last resort.