Exactly 1389 words into the very long piece on Chuck Hagel’s political future, the Lincoln Journal Star‘s Don Walton drops a bombshell: “Some in this administration want some excuse to take military action [in Iran],” Hagel says.
ForeignPolicy.com blogger Mike Boyer, a former Hegel staffer, presents this without comment. It’s a rather bold charge to make, no?
The senator goes on:
No doubt Iran has been fomenting violence, Hagel says. But he has long argued the United States needs to engage Iran — and Syria — in direct talks, with Iranian plans to develop a nuclear capacity atop the agenda. Bush administration spokesmen already are “ratcheting up charges” against Iran, he says, perhaps reaching for “an excuse to attack.”
“I hope this administration thinks through this very carefully. Who’s going to do the dying?”
Let’s see . . .
- The world’s leading exponent of jihadist terrorism since 1979? Check.
- Staging a proxy war against Israel? Check.
- Building nuclear weapons? Check.
Are we at war with them? Nope.
