by sunny » Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:43 pm
<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://billmon.org/archives/002769.html">billmon.org/archives/002769.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Fall Classic<br>The October surprise came early this election year and has Republicans on the defensive, searching for a way to change the subject from congressional scandals and an unpopular war.<br>Bloomberg News<br>October Surprise in This Campaign<br>Puts Republicans On the Spot<br>October 3, 2006<br><br>__________________<br>Colonel Gardiner, who has taught military strategy at the National War College, says that the carrier deployment and a scheduled Persian Gulf arrival date of October 21 is "very important evidence" of war planning. He says, "I know that some naval forces have already received 'prepare to deploy orders' [PTDOs], which have set the date for being ready to go as October 1. Given that it would take about from October 2 to October 21 to get those forces to the Gulf region, that looks about like the date" of any possible military action against Iran.<br>The Nation<br>War Signals?<br>September 21, 2006<br><br><br>One of the things that makes watching the Cheney Administration so exciting is that you never know how paranoid you ought to be. Would the cabal really time the launch of a massive air strike against Iran to gain maximum advantage at the polls in an off-year congressional election? Are they that depraved?<br><br>Considering what we've just learned about the GOP's two-strikes-and-you're-out policy for Internet sex criminals in the House leadership, maybe I should consider my question answered already.<br><br>But -- despite everything -- I still find it hard to believe an American president and his political hit team would deliberately use a war, and the inevitable war hysteria, to hold a few more marginal seats in Pennsylvania and Connecticut.<br><br>Call me naive, but I still don't think we've sunk quite that low -- yet.<br><br>It remains a fact, though, that this administration, and the criminal conspiracy it calls a political party, both desperately, desperately need to change the subject, and fast, if they're going to preserve their death grip on power and keep the process servers at bay. It doesn't look like a Code Orange Alert is going to cut it this time.<br><br>It would, in a totally perverse way, be carthartic (in both senses of the word) if the real October surprise turned out to be a tactical nuclear strike on Isfahan. At least the uncertainty would be gone. We would know beyond a reasonable doubt that the United States is no longer a constitutional republic, at least not in any meaningful sense, and could respond as our consciences and courage dictate. And I could finally stop worrying about whether I'm being too paranoid.<br><br>Like I said, I don't expect it happen. War with Iran may be and probably is coming, but I doubt it's coming on Karl Rove's timetable.<br><br>Still, given the hole the Rovians now find themselves in, and the stakes they're playing for, I'm going to be nervously paranoid each and every day until the polls close on November 7.<br><br>Can you blame me?<br><br>Posted by billmon at October 3, 2006 12:43 PM <p></p><i></i>
