U.S. Generals ‘Will Quit’ if Bush Orders Iran Attack
February 25th, 2007A couple of quick quotes from recent Cryptogon essays:
Brzezinski’s testimony indicates to me that the expansion of the conflict into Iran might not be allowed to happen. Don’t ask me how it will be stopped, but he is the mouthpiece of the people who run this show, not in appearance, but in fact. He didn’t say what would happen if Congress doesn’t stop the junk yard dogs.
—Zbigniew Brzezinski Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
And…
THE WAR WITH IRAN MUST BE STOPPED BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
Where does that leave us?
The full weight of this burden now rests squarely on the shoulders of the men and women of the U.S. military. Attempt to save America and the world from the diabolical lunatics who have subverted power, or parish in oblivion with the rest of us: Those are the options that every member of the U.S. armed forces must now consider.
—Bush Violation of FISA Law a Felony
Now, as you read the mainstream, British news article below about the “unprecedented” hostility between U.S. military and the White House, ask yourself what these generals are really talking about over whiskey?
I bet it’s not golf.
Via: Times Online:
SOME of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.
Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack.
“There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran,†a source with close ties to British intelligence said. “There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible.â€
A British defence source confirmed that there were deep misgivings inside the Pentagon about a military strike. “All the generals are perfectly clear that they don’t have the military capacity to take Iran on in any meaningful fashion. Nobody wants to do it and it would be a matter of conscience for them.
“There are enough people who feel this would be an error of judgment too far for there to be resignations.â€
A generals’ revolt on such a scale would be unprecedented. “American generals usually stay and fight until they get fired,†said a Pentagon source. Robert Gates, the defence secretary, has repeatedly warned against striking Iran and is believed to represent the view of his senior commanders.
The threat of a wave of resignations coincided with a warning by Vice-President Dick Cheney that all options, including military action, remained on the table. He was responding to a comment by Tony Blair that it would not “be right to take military action against Iranâ€.
…
General Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said recently there was “zero chance†of a war with Iran. He played down claims by US intelligence that the Iranian government was responsible for supplying insurgents in Iraq, forcing Bush on the defensive.
Pace’s view was backed up by British intelligence officials who said the extent of the Iranian government’s involvement in activities inside Iraq by a small number of Revolutionary Guards was “far from clearâ€.
Hillary Mann, the National Security Council’s main Iran expert until 2004, said Pace’s repudiation of the administration’s claims was a sign of grave discontent at the top.
“He is a very serious and a very loyal soldier,†she said. “It is extraordinary for him to have made these comments publicly, and it suggests there are serious problems between the White House, the National Security Council and the Pentagon.â€
Mann fears the administration is seeking to provoke Iran into a reaction that could be used as an excuse for an attack.
Related: Retired U.S. Officers: Iran Attack Would Be a Disaster
A significant quantity of Brass is apparently on board with this and *will* step down en masse if they feel the handful of people in the West Wing who truly want to “rip the roof off” Iran actually try to pull the trigger. (That push is driven mainly by Cheney and Hadley, with Bush amenable because he thinks a weakened Iran might be his only way out of Iraq.)
This dramatic “self-sacrifice” doesn’t seem to involve the E-Ring crowd as much as the real working generals in Centcom and Northcom. (Even possibly SecDef, with Lieberman probably replacing him.)
This is a classic good news/bad news situation. The people who are willing to do this are the principled, skilled, less politicized ones. However if they step down, guess who will replace them? Loyal, politically/industrially-connected military leaders, who *will* do whatever crazy shite emanates from On High later.
As for the other players on the stage, the Navy is schitzoid about going hot, and the Air Force is apparently most willing to go and see what the Persians have got in their shorts. No surprise there. The Agency is mostly just resigned to it at this point and is working hard to stay low and not get blamed for this fiasco, too. Foggy Bottom is desperatly trying to catch Bush’s eye and showcase NK as a template for resolving Iran. (China and Russia helped with NK mainly for that reason, as I understand it.) I hope they will succeed, but only if Condi can face down Vice for a change.
What a Charlie Foxtrot. The most interesting thing to me, and maybe the scariest, is continuing rumours of high-level discussions between senior military people and senior Congressional staffers about how to bring Impeachment into the picture if Bush actually gets ready to give the Go order. One possible scenario I was told about involved a draft agreement that if the military gets clear orders to bomb Iran, the President will be quietly threatened with impeachment. He must then force Cheney’s resignation. Success in that will be a sort of a “plea bargain”, allowing Bush to escape actual Impeachment but not the humiliation of the beginnings of the process. McCain would probably be appointed VP, btw, which would likely make him the GOP candidate in 2008.
Who knows. It’s all probably bunk and OC BS. But some sort of unprecedented showdown between the military and their civilian commander does seem to be brewing over this. Most of the smart ones view the map of Iraq upside down, with the whole US force hanging by two skinny 400 mile umbilical cords that keep those troops alive. Iran holds the scissors in that picture, so pissing them off just now seems… unwise.
The real wildcard is still the Israelis. It is going to take a hell of a lot to talk them down from this. (I heard one wild-ass story that they actully had nukes enroute to Iran in early January before the TOR-1’s went live, but the US stopped them over Iraq somehow. Probably crap, but it could really go down like that. Israel will do *anything* to stop an existential threat if they perceive one. Friends be damned. At that point, we’d just be along for the ride.
Wild-ass prognostication follows: Watch the Nimitz. If they also deploy to the Gulf, it’s a go. This could all go down astonishingly quickly, or get put off for a year. So keep taking deep breaths.
Christ, how did we get here.
I’ve been waiting for a story like this. Oh my. This really gets me going.
In my mind, kinda like Zabrinski, General Pace may be the last chance action hero we’ll see in our lifetime if there is to be any END TO the CRIME, MURDER, RAPE, TORTURE, PSYCHOPS, DRUG TRADE etc. done in the US, to its people and to all in the world IN the US NAME!! Shucks, I sure hope someone in the military can read the SOS CODE. I for one would say to those who want to quit in protest of more war, PLEASE. DO. IT.
I told many friends in what seems another lifetime ago after 9/11, that I wished the CIA had the strength and resolve to put it to the Bush-Chene gang when they used (read screwed) them when it came to Iraq and would bring the gang down. That failed. I don’t know whether the CIA tried. It’s all secret, you know?
These days, I’m thinking it may take the military to END THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, and that would be a fine thing (I think?).
I say to the military there is and SOS out for you and it is “QUIT!!!”
Quit following “orders” and take back the US for America and the rest of the world.
Right now – I’d rather that I lived to see a military coup and junta in the U.S. and live under martial law for a time than continue down the path of never ending warfare that is beholden to a individual or group of wheezy old Skull and Crossbone or Opeis Dei goats that are living on their ventilators with their neophytes at their sides taking blind orders, than live in their troglodite world vision that is based on a never ending war for oil. Every other check on the Bush-Chene gang has failed or is going to take toodarn long. OOps, Cheney forgot his brain on the runway in Australia.
LONG LIVE GENERAL PACE!
VIVA ZE PACE!
“The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012” – http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/1992/dunlap.htm
an interesting piece from ‘parameters’ winter ’92-’93
HOWDY Partner!
Basically, the US government is a huge hedge fund of Heroin, Oil, Weapon, Debt and Your taxes (HOWDY!).
Turkey’s Deep State:
http://wotisitgood4.blogspot.com/2007/03/what-heck-is-sibel-edmonds-case-about.html
http://www.letsibeledmondsspeak.blogspot.com/
“Sibel Edmonds’ case is about the intersection of illegal arms trafficking, heroin trafficking, money laundering, terrorist activities and the corruption of many “highly-recognizable, highly-known names” in and around the US government. Sibel says that the people involved will go straight to prison if we can get hearings into her case. Richard Perle, in prison. Douglas Feith, in prison. Dennis Hastert, in prison. Marc Grossman, in prison.”