A surge against Iran

By Creature

[Creature's note: Last night at State of the Day my initial reaction to the president's speech went something like this: "It is now clear that staying-the-course in Iraq is meant to be a pathway to Iran. This war is getting bigger. The door has been opened. We should be very afraid." Today I continued that thought after reading this bit of escalation news.]

Welcome to the "new way forward":

U.S. forces raided the Iranian consulate office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil on Thursday and arrested five employees, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said.

There was no immediate comment by the U.S. military on the raid which came hours after President George W. Bush vowed in a speech to interrupt what he called the "flow of support" from Iran and Syria for insurgent attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq.

The US will goad Iran, the rhetoric will increase, the bombs will drop. It's only a matter of time and Bush, Cheney et al. are just looking for an excuse. While I'm sure Iran is helping to destabilize Iraq--though they couldn't destabilize it more than the US has--this is not about Iraq. It's about starting a regional war. A war the neo-cons have dreamed about for years. Bush believes history will remember him as a hero. Iran is the next step toward cementing that legacy in his demented mind.

Update: I'm not alone in thinking last night's "surge" speech was more about Iran than Iraq. Glenn Greenwald helps fill in the details.

Update II: The Washington Post has more on the Iranian consulate raid.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)