I mean I think this guy is the one really giving the orders... and I think he is for real.
A pleasure I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude
One good thing might be that he has no 'ownership' of the debacle. The whole thing was engineered by the Rumsfeld acolytes - the neo-Blitzkrieg crew. Apparently, they ignored the Navy altogether. It may have been a giant miscalculation on the part of the Cheney cabal: they thought that the Navy would be the spearhead for the Iran attack, so best to get them involved. (Of course, there may be a master plan: get the supplemental budget passed, build the super-bunker-busters, wait for a propitious event, go for it.)
Best hope is that things have evolved somewhat in the last few months. The Turkey/Kurd situation was tense, but not explosive. The Russians had not shown their exasperation with U.S. saber-rattling (maybe their SAMs are better than we know). Even the money crisis may be playing a role, by weakening the U.S. hold on 'allies' and trading partners. paul spencer
At the time I took it to be a challenge to the Iranians. Later I read that he was essentially stiffing the administration's plans. In fact he was alleged to have said that he was trying to "put the crazies back in the box". If true, this bolsters the point-of-view that he opposes military action against Iran - at least for now. Only caveat is - why did the administration follow through with the promotion, given his alleged remarks? paul spencer
