Seymour Hersh weighs in on the Iran issue. You may remember that he exposed the atrocities in Abu Ghraib and My Lai, among other important stories.

In a series of public statements in recent months, President Bush and members of his Administration have redefined the war in Iraq, to an increasing degree, as a strategic battle between the United States and Iran. “Shia extremists, backed by Iran, are training Iraqis to carry out attacks on our forces and the Iraqi people,” Bush told the national convention of the American Legion in August. “The attacks on our bases and our troops by Iranian-supplied munitions have increased. . . . The Iranian regime must halt these actions. And, until it does, I will take actions necessary to protect our troops.” He then concluded, to applause, “I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran’s murderous activities.”

The President’s position, and its corollary—that, if many of America’s problems in Iraq are the responsibility of Tehran, then the solution to them is to confront the Iranians—have taken firm hold in the Administration. This summer, the White House, pushed by the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney, requested that the Joint Chiefs of Staff redraw long-standing plans for a possible attack on Iran, according to former officials and government consultants. The focus of the plans had been a broad bombing attack, with targets including Iran’s known and suspected nuclear facilities and other military and infrastructure sites. Now the emphasis is on “surgical” strikes on Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran and elsewhere, which, the Administration claims, have been the source of attacks on Americans in Iraq. What had been presented primarily as a counter-proliferation mission has been reconceived as counterterrorism.

The shift in targeting reflects three developments. First, the President and his senior advisers have concluded that their campaign to convince the American public that Iran poses an imminent nuclear threat has failed (unlike a similar campaign before the Iraq war), and that as a result there is not enough popular support for a major bombing campaign. The second development is that the White House has come to terms, in private, with the general consensus of the American intelligence community that Iran is at least five years away from obtaining a bomb. And, finally, there has been a growing recognition in Washington and throughout the Middle East that Iran is emerging as the geopolitical winner of the war in Iraq.

I encourage you to read the entire article. Seymour Hersh is not a reporter to be taken lightly, if he says something is about to happen you can safely bet the kids college fund that it will.

I caught an interview on CNN between Wolf Blitzer and Hersh. Hersh is carefully choosing his words but he leaves no doubt that we are going into Iran in the very near future.

This issue needs to be brought up as often as possible. Every Presidential candidate should be asked for their opinion, every White House representative should be hammered on this, and every news program should lead with this every night until George Bush leaves office.

If and and when it happens it will shove everybody's pet issue to the back of the bus. Iraq will join Afghanistan as "forgotten wars" as the Iran conflict takes center stage.

By the way Hillary has made her stand on Iran obvious: But Clinton, earlier that day in the Senate, moved one step even further to the pro-war right by voting for a nonbinding resolution that declares the Iranian Revolutionary Guards a “terrorist entity”.

Since this terrorist entity is part of the Iranian state, this was understandably regarded by many as a small but necessary congressional step towards authorising war on Iran. None of her rivals in the presidential campaign voted with her. No wonder neoconservatives are taking a second look at a woman they once demonised.

Clinton is presenting herself to be George Bush in a skirt. Well fuck that, I will never support a candidate that allows themselves to be led by George Bush and his minions. We want a leader who will take us in a new direction, not one who will continue to destroy our country with senseless war.