BushCo's Real Plan RE: Iran

And now -- the rest of the story.

Bush's apparent reversal of course on Iran appears to be nothing more than "checking off a box" prior to a military confrontation (from the NYTimes via Alterman):

"Cheney was dead set against it," said one former official who sat in many of those meetings. "At its heart, this was an argument about whether you could isolate the Iranians enough to force some kind of regime change." But three officials who were involved in the most recent iteration of that debate said Mr. Cheney and others stepped aside — perhaps because they read Mr. Bush's body language, or perhaps because they believed Iran would scuttle the effort by insisting that the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty gives it the right to develop nuclear fuel. The United States insists that Iran gave up that right by deceiving inspectors for 18 years.

In the end, said one former official who has kept close tabs on the debate, "it came down to convincing Cheney and others that if we are going to confront Iran, we first have to check off the box" of trying talks.

BushCo's strategy with regard to Iran is apparently to buy a little time before attacking. They clearly don't want to attack Iran too soon before the U.S. Mid-Term elections. After all, the Bush Regime's foreign policy has little to do with actual foreign policy and everything to do with the American election cycle (think October 2002).

The attack on Iran will come sometime between mid-September and mid-October 2006. It will be interesting to see how the American people respond to it.