Tailspin

The neocons are quite upset that the latest NIE on Iran didn't produce the desired effect on the American body politic. They started their assault on the intelligence community with Norman Podhoretz leading the way. When that didn't gain much momentum they turned away from attacking the intelligence community to another favorite target of theirs, the State Department, and this time John Bolton is leading the charge.

One blogger Xymphora thinks this latest NIE is showcasing an ever widening split between the Old American establishment and the relatively new up and coming neocons who've set the pace for American policy strategy during the lethargic Bush Administration. In an effort to reassert its predominance on policy the old guard has allowed this NIE to be published, debated in public, and then thrown its weight behind supporting the conclusions. So says Xymphora.

Not content with yet another failure to distract and deflect opinion, the neocons unleashed the Israelis who weighed in saying they may unilaterally pursue war against Iran. Of course that means all of Israel's allies would have to join in and disregard the NIE's conclusions. The Israelis are using the good cop, bad cop strategy, even dusting off the likes of Bebe Netanyahu to do some stumping for the cause of war against Iran, he himself taking the "high" road of a diplomat instead of a warmonger.

However, inspite of all this, the other side of the American establishment, continues its spin against unilateral war against Iran, with Scott Ritter making a case for reassessing US-Israeli ties.

The insidious manner in which the current Israeli government has manipulated the domestic political machinery of the United States to produce support for its policies constitutes nothing less than direct interference in the governance of a sovereign state.

Ritter seems royally pissed, as should we all be, and most likely that anger will subside over time, especially if Israel is not able to rack up the support for its war. In the meantime, look for the media to pick up the baton given to them by the neocons, and then the Israelis!