Iran 143

'Bush Faces Opposition on Iran Attack

By Robert Parry

Consortium News

A number of US military leaders, reportedly including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have waged an extraordinary behind-the-scenes resistance to what they fear is a secret plan by George W. Bush to wage war against Iran.
One intelligence source told me that Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Peter Pace, has explored the possibility of resigning if Bush presses forward with air attacks against Iran, a war strategy that might be done in coordination with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Though Pace has given no public signal on resigning, he has undercut Bush's case for an expanded Middle East war by challenging the administration claims about Iran's alleged sponsorship of attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and by telling Congress that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have eroded American military capability to confront another crisis.
In a classified report to Congress, Pace warned that there is a significant risk that the U.S. military would be unable to respond quickly and fully to a new threat, the Associated Press reported, citing "senior defense officials."
Pace's grim assessment represents a mark-down from a year ago when Pace concluded that the risk was only moderate. The AP wrote that a report accompanying Pace's review said that while the Pentagon is working to upgrade its readiness, it "may take several years to reduce risk to acceptable levels." [AP, Feb. 27, 2007]
In other words, the Pentagon brass is raising an alarm over how stretched the U.S. military has become because of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, suggesting that another front in Iran could add to American vulnerabilities.
Sources familiar with concerns inside the Pentagon have told me that senior U.S. military commanders, including Pace, have publicized their differences with the White House as part of a shadow bureaucratic battle to head off Bush's Iran war plans.
Despite assurances from Bush and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates that they have no plan to attack Iran, the steady build-up of U.S. forces in the region – including two aircraft carrier attack groups – have concerned the commanders as well as some members of Congress and the public that Bush is simply waiting for a pretext to attack.
War on Hair Trigger
One intelligence source directed me to a paragraph in Seymour Hersh's new article in The New Yorker, referring to Bush's order for hair-trigger preparations on going to war with Iran so he can attack within 24 hours.
In that paragraph, Hersh cites information from a former intelligence official that "a special planning group has been established in the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, charged with creating a contingency bombing plan for Iran that can be implemented, upon orders from the President, within 24 hours." [New Yorker, Posted Feb. 25, 2007]'

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