I do recall speaking once with a wise American, probably the only one that I would like to call wise anyway, an ex CIA project manager that I had the pleasure of working with many years ago, who described to me his own country in the following terms. 

'America is the only nation on earth, that has gone from infancy to senility, with no period of maturity'.  

The events of the past few days have certainly reinforced that view in my mind.

Whilst George Dubya was giving his all in front of the nation, with the entire press corp focused on the words coming out of his mouth in disbelief, another lesser known group was having a press conference of its own across town, with a briefing called – How to make the Military Surge Work – A complimentary Political Plan for Iraq. 

Who is this other group? The Iran Policy Committee. 

The Iran Policy Committee, formed in January 2005, set up and run by Dick Cheney is a pressure group meant to influence US government policy towards Iran, and is made up of former White House, State Department, Pentagon and CIA officials. 

They said “President Bush is suggesting a surge of U.S. Forces in Iraq and corresponding political benchmarks for the government of Iraq to become more inclusive. Yet, the government of Prime Minister Maliki has failed to meet such milestones in the past and is unlikely to do so in the future because of the influence of Tehran on Baghdad. As the Iranian regime works to increase sectarian strife in Iraq, new analysis by the Iran Policy Committee suggests a role for the Iranian opposition in Iraq to build a national compact among the Iraqi factions.”

They said a lot more as well, you can read the Press release here 

So, why would the “Iran Policy Committee” be making public statements about Iraq? And commenting that Prime Minister Maliki won’t be able to meet milestones in the future?

Because Iran is now the new enemy. 

Recall how I mentioned in an earlier blog that an ‘event’ would occur, in response to Sir Ian Blair’s comments about internment.  I suggested that these ‘events’ would happen both here and in the US.

As part of George Bush’s plan, he has given overall command of the land forces to a Naval officer, which people could not immediately appreciate or understand, and in addition to the  22,500 troops there would be extra carrier task forces deployed. 

Two US carrier task forces will certainly make the Persian Gulf a very congested place, which it is already, even before the new arrivals get there.  We have already seen a US nuclear sub collide with a Japanese tanker this week.

It therefore seems that such congestion will be for a reason. Either to provide the means for a massive hit on Iran or to serve as sitting ducks for a new Pearl Harbour type of sacrifice that would rally Americans behind the new war.  

Such an ‘event’ would certainly galvanise the American public to support U.S. troops going into Iran.

Having already provoked Iran by storming their Consulate in Irbil, seeing the build-up of US forces in the region, hearing an escalation of rhetoric from the White House, the Iranian government must be aware that there is an underlying plan to attack them. 

Given an opportunity, in just the same way that the Argentines were presented with the British Fleet moored in San Carlos water….. if Iran were to strike the first blow, this would provide the only justification that George Bush is looking for.

For Tony Blair, I have to say that his body language and presentation over the past week has been somewhat out of kilter to the normally confident and determined man we are used to seeing, confident in the mission that was Afghanistan and Iraq. 

His delay in making a comment about Saddam.  His delay in giving a very weak comment about Bush’s speech.

He now has the appearance of a frightened rabbit caught in the headlights, probably having just dawned on him that up until now he has been the willing accomplice of probably the maddest man on earth, and he is now way out of his depth.