Rats.

posted by The Vidiot @ 8:50 AM Permalink

Back from Canada. All in all, a pleasant trip. Though, I have to say, Canadians are a little dorky. They're nice and hospitable and all, but dorky nonetheless. What they consider "night life" is little more than a club with really bad music and a bunch of kids who have no idea what they're doing. They only sold Budweiser at the bar! In the land of friggin' awesome beer (because, let's face it, it's Canada and besides hockey and healthcare, what else do they have really) they sold the friggin' worst American beer there is. Wow.

Anyway, the entire drive back, Mr. Vidiot and I were bemoaning the fact that yes, while we were happy to get back to our stuff and our apartment, we were not happy about the fact that that stuff and that apartment are in NYC which, besides the expense of living there and the obnoxiousness of the city itself which is annoying to begin with, we would be bulls-eye number one in the event of bush et al completing their plans to bomb Iran.

Excerpt: In mid-September 2006, CNN invited retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner, previously a strategic scholar at various U.S. Army War Colleges, to discuss the probability of a U.S. military strike against Iran. Responding on how close, in his opinion, the Bush Administration was away from giving the go-ahead order regarding Iran, Gardiner unmistakably said: "It’s been given. In fact, we’ve probably been executing military operations inside Iran for at least 18 months. The evidence is overwhelming." He is now promptly interrupted by his interviewer’s anticipatory obedience, who recalls that the President had underlined that he wanted diplomacy to work in order to convince the Iranian government to stop enriching uranium. Quoting Bush, in an interview by David Ignatius of the Washington Post from the day before, with the words "I would tell the Iranian people that we have no desire for conflict," CNN’s familiar face Wolf Blitzer turns back to Gardiner and repeats his initial question. Almost desperately the colonel replies with great emphasis: "We are conducting military operations inside Iran right now. The evidence is overwhelming, from both the Iranians [and] Americans, and Congressional sources."

The troop surge is getting bigger and bigger

Excerpt: In early April, the Defense Department announced that a separate and additional 12,000 National Guard could be headed to Iraq and Afghanistan by early next year in connection with the surge. If the Pentagon deployed the normal number of support personnel to cover the new National Guard troops, in addition to the typical number of personnel for the original 21,500 troops plus the initial 21,500 soldiers themselves, the total would reach more than 78,000 in surge-related deployments.

and it's "unclear" how long it will go on for.

Excerpt: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that it was unclear how long the current buildup of U.S. forces in Baghdad would last and that commanders would have to wait until midsummer to evaluate whether it was working.

Note to Mr. Gates: It will go on for as long as it takes for Iran to fall.... which is like FOREVER.

This administration is itching to bomb Iran for whatever incomprehensible reason. Hell, they may have even offered to "scare" the Iranians for the British during the whole manufactured 'captured navy personnel' crisis.

Excerpt: Citing unidentified diplomatic sources, The Guardian newspaper reported that Pentagon officials offered a series of military options to scare Iran during the sailors’ dispute, but Britain told them to stay out of the affair and tone down armed forces activity in the Persian Gulf.

Even Halliburton is abandoning ship.

Excerpt: US oil services giant Halliburton said Monday it had wrapped up its work commitments in Iran and was no longer conducting any projects in the Islamic republic.

When Cheney's pet rats start leaving the ship, well then you KNOW some crap is going down.

And then Mr. Vidiot and I will become VERY nervous about living in NYC. Even though I have a hard time believing that Iran would counteract any attack on Iran with an attack on civilians here in the US, especially ones that do not support this administration on any level, I do believe that the powers that be could EASILY stage something and make it look like it was Iran's fault. And, let's face it, NYC is a favorite target of the powers that be. No, Iran would be way more strategic about what it went after in retaliation, especially since they would have to try to rally support from allies and well, killing innocent New Yorkers probably wouldn't cut it.

Programming note: Stay tuned for comments by Mr. Vidiot on the Northeastern police state.