Those Pesky Iranians

Don't allow shiny objects to distract you. Steve Clemons has a tutorial on the 2003 offer from Iran to the US to calm things down in the Middle East, that included nuclear transparency and intervention in Iraq. If you recall, we turned them down. See this post for more on that. Steve's tutorial breaks down some of the key players in this not-reported-on bombshell of a mess.

John Bolton, US Ambassador to the UN; Zalmay Khalilzad, former Envoy to Afghanistan, former Ambassador to Iraq. Nominated to be Bolton's replacement at the UN; Stephen Hadley, now National Security Adviser, former assistant to Condoleezza Rice, who held that job before becoming Secretary of State. None of these are small fishes in the large pond of geo-politics. Anyway. Read the tutorial.

Because, last week, Secretary of State Rice said that she had no clue that an overture was sent from the Iranians. None, nada. She's the SOS forgawdsakes. How could she NOT know? Funny you should ask.

How? Because it apparently went to Karl Rove. Karl has a long and (more and more) sordid history in Washington. This also went through Republican Congressman Bob Ney, who just went to prison for his role in the Abramoff scandal.

I realize it's more Inside Baseball. However, this is shit that matters. We're dancing on the edge of the abyss with Iran, making not-so-subtle threats and moving carrier groups to the Gulf (why else would we make a Navy guy head of CentCom, which is based in the desert? But I digress). What average people hear on their local evening news is the same lines said by the same people every day, until they expect that war will occur.

Don't let shiny objects distract you. There's a possibility that we could have avoided so many military and civilian deaths, but for the dumbfuckery of political operatives in the White House. No wonder the world loves us.