Democracy for Vancouver

It seems Dear Leader took his trip to the Middle East not so much to persuade the Israelis and Palestinians to make nice, but to ramp up his threats toward Iran.

First, we had the Tonkin on the Hormuz “they’re attacking the fleet!” bullshit. Then there was Bush’s one and only big speech over there so far indicting Iran as “the world’s leading state sponsor of terror” (look in the mirror, big guy). And now,

The Bush administration will notify Congress on Monday of its intent to sell $20 billion in weapons, including precision-guided bombs, to Saudi Arabia, moving up the announcement to coincide with the president’s arrival in Riyadh, The Associated Press has learned.
…
The sale is a key element in the U.S. strategy to bolster the defenses of its Arab allies in Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing majority Sunni Muslim Gulf nations against threats from Shiite Iran.

A main aim of Bush’s Mideast visit is to convince the Saudi leadership as well as those in Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates that he remains committed to preventing Iran from destabilizing the region, despite U.S. intelligence findings that Tehran halted its nuclear weapons development in 2003.

Evidently, Bush has been busy telling anyone who’ll listen that the NIE - the one that said Iran isn’t a nuclear threat, and Ahmadinejad doesn’t have control of the military anyway - “doesn’t reflect” Chimpy’s own views. Leaving aside the fact that anything with “intelligence” in the title couldn’t ever be in agreement with what rattles around in Bush’s spongiform nutloaf, this is all part of Bush’s intent to “deal with” Iran before the end of his term.

He and John McCain should have a sing-a-long. Because, unfortunately, there is no doubt that the Preznit and Cheney are ramping up to some kind of strike against Iran - and whatever it is, innocent deaths and a resurgence of Shiite violence in Iraq is sure to follow.

Evil idiots.

Related note: WMD investigator (and Iran nuclear debunker) Scott Ritter will be speaking tonight at Lincoln High School, 1600 SW Salmon, from 7-10pm. Suggested donation $10 general admission, $5 for students & seniors