CODE RED, America: Bush Administration laying groundwork for war with Iran

Right now. As we speak. Behind our backs. Without the approval of Congress.

And they’re using Iraq to do it. I’ve been writing (here and here) about the Bush administration pushing a secret plan to extend the US occupation of Iraq indefinitely, even though the great majority of Iraqis (about the same percentage as that of Americans who disapprove of Bush) are vehemently against the plan. What’s Bush asking for?

– 58 permanent bases (almost twice what the US has now, although originally the US wanted 200.)
– “…authority to detain and hold Iraqis without turning them over to the Iraqi judicial system…”
– “…immunity from Iraqi prosecution for both U.S. troops and private contractors…”
– “…the prerogative for U.S. forces to conduct operations without approval from the Iraqi government.”
– “…continued control over Iraqi airspace and the right to refuel planes in the air…”
– “…power to determine if a hostile act from another country is aggression against Iraq.”

Additionally, the US has been essentially extorting the Iraqi government into accepting this plan by holding approximately $50 billion of Iraq’s foreign reserves hostage…AND, oh, surprise, Bush doesn’t want to have to get congressional approval.

Put them all together, and what do you get? ThinkProgress figured it out last night:

The reason the White House is so hell-bent on signing a long-term agreement may have less to do with Iraq and more to do with Iran. According to press reports of the ongoing negotiations, the Bush administration is seeking the “power to determine if a hostile act from another country is aggression against Iraq.”

(…)

The administration’s request would seemingly allow the U.S. to brand Iran as an enemy of Iraq and attack Iran in the name of defending Iraq [You know how they're always overselling Iranian influence in Iraq? Yeah. -Ed.] pursuant to a legal obligation under the status of forces agreement.

Other details from press accounts confirm that the Bush administration has one eye on Iran in the course of its negotiations with Iraqis. The Washington Post explains that the administration is seeking “the prerogative for U.S. forces to conduct operations without approval from the Iraqi government.” Moreover, the U.S. wants control over Iraq’s airpsace:

The American negotiators also called for continued control over Iraqi airspace and the right to refuel planes in the air, according to [Sami al-Askari, a leading Shiite politician], positions he said added to concerns that the United States was preparing to use Iraq as a base to attack Iran.

Since the administration is unlikely to get an Iran war authorized through Congress, it’s instead trying to sneak it through the Iraqi parliament.

And there you have it. This is how Bush & Cheney want to sneak their new war in without anyone’s approval. They want to pressure the Iraqi government to roll over and let Bush use it as the 52nd state (the 51st is Israel, um, duh) in a war against Iran. The American people don’t support this. The Iraqi people don’t support this. The Iranian people certainly don’t support this, and it would be disastrous for any future chances for the Iranian people to reform from the inside out. They’re remarkably like us, the Iranians. They really don’t like their current regime. But if a foreign power comes in and attacks, they have enough national pride that they’ll immediately rally around said regime, and the geopolitical consequences for all nations involved, including ours, will be disastrous.

The Bush administration is hellbent on having this “agreement” pushed through by the end of next month because the current UN security agreement expires at the end of the year, after which Bush won’t be president, and neither will John McCain. This way, George gets to leave a final “fuck you” to the world before he goes back to Crawford to think about what he’s done.

This should be the biggest story in the media right now, but, alas, it’s not, because the media is lazy and stupid. Spread the word to everyone you know.

I’ll continue to cover this, and as always, if you read one website per day, make it ThinkProgress.