Instahoglets 6th Apr. 06

Some foreign policy related big news as well as some of the "news less travelled" today.

THE big story today is the revelation that George Bush personally authorized "Scooter" Libby's leaking. You're not going to see better than the Joe Gandelman (the Moderate Voice) summary so go read. As usual, Joe has the pulse:

1. This administration does not just have a credibility problem, it has a credibility catastrophe.

2. Bush is now in the "loop" on these allegations. The stories point out that he didn't violate any law — but he can't talk about how leakers hurt the government if he is actively involved himself in leaking when it suits his political purposes.

3. This underscores again the abysmal failure of one-party government where there is effectively no vigorous Congressional oversight for political reasons.

Next up is what appears to be an echo of the GOP's sectarian split between traditionalists and neocons over Iraq - this one from the White House. When asked if he agreed with Condi Rice's figurative estimate of "thousands of tactical errors" in Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld replied "I don't know what she was talking about, to be perfectly honest."

Which is, perhaps, why the neocon great adventure is such a perfect shambles. Rummie can't find the truth with both hands and a map. It's interseting to see that Rumsfeld is still defending the neocon narrative even though several prominent old PNAC friends have had their knives out for him for a while now.

Is it possible Rumsfeld believes the pure pap that the Lincoln Group got paid $80,000 a week to plant in the Iraqi media, talking up the occupation?

Whatever Rumsfeld may believe on whatever fantasy island he calls home nowadays, Arab nations have been holding secret talks on what they will do if the Iraqi civil war bursts into full flame. One of the main topics covered was heading off possible Shiite domination of Iraq and sect leaders' alliance with Iran. A bit late, that one, I think. Bush's crew of blind neocons already made it a certainty.

Pat M. Holt, former chief of staff to the Senate Intelligence Committee, has a run-down of just how much of a mess the neocons have made - and how much could have been avoided if not for their Iraqi Adventure.

Maybe Bush should just drop thousands of crates of Jack Daniels on Tehran... Following from the news that Iran has a major drug problem, it also looks like Iran has a major booze problem. In this Islamic state with a 7,000 year history of wine-making, smuggling and the production of "medicinal" alchohol have reached record proportions. Most interesting for me was the indication of just how porous the Iran/Iraq border is, with thousands of bottles of brands such as Absolut and Bailleys smuggled in from Kurdish Iraq every year.

RedState links Kevin Drum as evidence for the accusation that Democrats see everything - including war with Iran - from a "how will this run in an election" standpoint. Both seem to agree to believe the fairytale that this time there really is "slam-dunk intelligence" about nukes. RedState obviously thinks war is inevitable - Do they seriously expect us to believe that some solution short of force will work? Meanwhile Steve Clemons thinks that the US should be "listening to [Israeli] national security bureaucrats -- diplomats and generals-- [who] have far greater confidence that there are numerous potential solutions to the growing Iran crisis short of bombing them in an invasive, hot attack." Steve hasn't been paying attention, or is hearing whispers from very odd quarters. The loudest warmongers, the ones who are willing to lie to make war, are intimate friends of the JINSA/AIPAC lobby.

If I had been forced into betting which Dems would be first to back Bush's destabilizing nuclear deal with India, I would have named three - two Joes and a John - whose funding by corporations with a vested interest in Indian outsourcing and arms deals made them likely contenders. Two of them, John Kerry and Joe Biden, have obliged by saying they think the India deal is a good thing. Obviously they haven't seen Pakistan's reaction...but then again, I've not seen a single report of that out-and-out blackmail in the U.S. media yet.