Mounting US war threats against Iran

by SBU Mon Nov 08, 2010 18:12

Justin Raimondo, writing on the pacifist Anti-war.com site today sees Lindsey Graham’s speech as a desperate move to the right as a response to the recent gains of the Tea Party faction within the Republican Party .
“In the case of a desperate politician like Sen. Graham, who is clearly in the Tea Party’s sights, what he’s trying to do ought to be clear enough: he’s trying to do what every politician spends most of his time doing – get reelected.” http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/11/07/lindsey-g...tion/

But Graham isn’t up for re-election until 2014 , and the conservative senator from South Carolina is not any sort of a maverick backwoodsman trying to get back in touch with his right wing base . He is a senior Republican who sits on the Armed Services Committee and the Homeland Security Committee and who, as a friend and confidant of former presidential contender Sen John McCain, enjoys the closest relationship with the military top brass .

Democrats who appear astounded by Graham's “containment is off the table" remarks have been asking how Obama can now “nudge Mr. Graham back into the fold” of bi-partisanship unaware that the carefully crafted Halifax speech was in fact bi-partisanship unfolding.

The threat Graham delivered in Halifax ,coming so shortly after the rout of Democrats in mid-term elections , should be seen as an early and public indication of the foreign policies that republicans will be expecting from President Obama in exchange for bi-partisanship for the remainder of his presidency and taken as a warning on the policies to be expected from a future Republican administration.

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Wed Nov 10, 2010 13:08

....if you rattle the sabre long and loud enough, when Israel hits the button and delivers your threat, your fig-leaf of bluff blows down the road with its withered moral authority.

I can already hear the outraged White House, '....we never authorised such unilateral acts...', and '..steps must be taken to ensure no repeat....'.