The Workday Liberal

Norman Podheretz wrote a column last May in which he prayed that America would bomb Iran. With yesterday's bombshell revelation that our intelligence services have determined that Iran halted it's nuclear weapons program in 2003, sane people would expect Podheretz to be thankful that war with Iran had been avoided with American goals satisfied. But sane people, being sane and all, would be mistaken.

Rather than welcoming good news, Podheretz takes a shot at writing fiction, penning a column which ascribes political motives to a conspiracy by the CIA in order to make the President (and Poheretz, to be sure) look bad. I expect the next Podheretz column to be filled with black helicopters and maybe some invading space aliens. Even the title of today's Podheretz fiction is conspiratorial: "Dark Suspicions about the NIE". After a rehash of outdated and cherry picked proof to determine that Iran needed bombing in the first place Podheretz writes:

"I entertain an even darker suspicion. It is that the intelligence community, which has for some years now been leaking material calculated to undermine George W. Bush, is doing it again. This time the purpose is to head off the possibility that the President may order air strikes on the Iranian nuclear installations."

Gee... the notion that the NIE findings are just what they appear to be is not acceptable if you are a raving madman who prays for needless war. It's hard to twist the facts when the all the NIE findings are released. It was much easier to start an unnecessary war when they let out selective parts of the Iraq NIE in the fall of 2002. If they can not manipulate the intelligence and narrative, by putting out the parts which most suit the Cheney goals, it is proof that the intelligence community is out to get Bush.

Actually, come to think of it, Podheretz may actually be right but for the wrong reasons. By releasing all of the findings of this NIE and stopping a needless war in Iran the intelligence agencies HAVE thwarted Bush. Not from defending America and acting in our best interests as the Podheretz gang have been loudly proclaiming an attack on Iraq would be, but from starting another bloody, costly needless war and handing the mess off to the next President. Stopping this President from spawning another disaster is a good thing, unless you take the perspective of a nutty neocon. Podheretz might think thats a bad outcome, but all you need to know about his thought process is that he actually prays for war! I can't even begin to imagine the thought process that goes into an actual supplication to God that people die and nations go to war as a result of your prayer.

We can almost see the spattered tear stains on the original copy of this editorial when Podheretz pens:

"If this is what lies behind the release of the new NIE, its authors can take satisfaction in the response it has elicited from the White House. Quoth Stephen Hadley, George W. Bush’s National Security Adviser: 'The estimate offers grounds for hope that the problem can be solved diplomatically—without the use of force—as the administration has been trying to do."

Podheretz' despair at the prospect of peace is nearly palpable. Just remember, he is currently advising Rudy Giuliani on foreign policy.