Cheney trying to undercut Bush on Iran

There is a strong disagreement within the Administration over policy with Iran.  Dick Cheney favors a confrontationalist approach, while Condoleezza Rice, although she is still very far to the right, favors diplomacy.  According to the Washington Note, Dick Cheney is worried that Bush favors the Rice-approach, and it prepared to undercut the President:

Multiple sources have reported that a senior aide on Vice PresidentCheney's national security team has been meeting with policy hands ofthe American Enterprise Institute, one other think tank, and more thanone national security consulting house and explicitly stating that VicePresident Cheney does not support President Bush's tack towardsCondoleezza Rice's diplomatic efforts and fears that the President istaking diplomacy with Iran too seriously.

This White House official has stated to several Washington insidersthat Cheney is planning to deploy an "end run strategy" around thePresident if he and his team lose the policy argument.

The thinking on Cheney's team is to collude with Israel, nudgingIsrael at some key moment in the ongoing standoff between Iran'snuclear activities and international frustration over this to mount asmall-scale conventional strike against Natanz using cruise missiles(i.e., not ballistic missiles).

By "end run strategy," it likely means that Cheney's people will speak to Israel on behalf of the U.S. government, even if their message is opposite the policy of the Bush Administration.

This strategy also includes using Chalabi-like tactics to control what the media reports about Iran.  For example, a story this week in the UK's The Guardian cited unnamed Administration officials who speculated that Iran will try and push the U.S. out of Iraq this summer.  Could this story have been planted in order to influence Israel's policy towards Iran?  Remember, Israel, more so than any other nation in the world, is particularly uneasy about Iran's meddling in Iraq.

Apparently this is much more serious than just a few rumors.  It is drawing a close eye of Congress.  In a letter sent to the White House on Tuesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers demanded that the Bush Administration release a clear a report regarding U.S. strategy towards Iran.  The letter urgently asked for a response "as soon as possible."

The problem is that Cheney, who is ideologically miles apart from Condoleezza Rice on U.S.-Iran policy (and that is saying something!), is not running for president in 2008.  He has nothing to lose by acting insubordinate to Bush.  So what will Bush do -- fire him?  Not likely.   Since Bush refused to fire Gonzales -- why would he fire Cheney, even if he undercuts the President?

To put it in layman's terms: Cheney is like an 8th grader in the last week of school.  He knows that anything he tries to pull will go unpunished.

Comments

[pelican1]

Or is it just supposed to appear that way, when the nukes start going off? Just call me leery of leaks.

Say, the chances are, that in order to continue to carry out the PNAC manifesto, somebody is going to wind up is serious trouble; like prison trouble.

Better Cheney than Junior. No body is going to put that sicko in prison.

Either way, it seems they just got caught. Publish this far and wide.

[granny]

While all this unravelling around Iran is really troubling, and I do not want to dismiss it, the first reaction I had to this post was: It's like getting the windows washed. You knew it was out there all the time, but now you see it.

Cheney has been running the foreign policy of this country from day one.

Bush is an arrogant, petulant, little bully - and such a moron that Cheney and Rumsfeld could give him enough line to play his little theater of "I'm the man", and go about their serious business of world takeover; but Bush has never been "the man".

And Cheny has never, for a nanosecond, been afraid of him. In fact it's the reverse. That's why Bush didn't fire Rumsfeld. Rummy is Cheney's man, and you can bet your bottom dollar he's right at Cheney's side, right now, working on this next step in global expansion.