Next stop: Iran?

I don’t want to get all tin-foil hat on here, but an interesting development has happened today as the Cetntcom commander who not only opposed the surge in Iraq but also said that an attack on Iran “will not happen on my watch” and that labeled conservative officials’ warmongering rhetoric as “not helpful” has… well, we’ll say “resigned” for now.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the announcement this afternoon that Centcom commander Adm. William Fallon submitted his resignation, mere days after he (Fallon) was the subject of an Esquire magazine article in which the admiral suggested he could be “relieved of his command before his time is up next spring,” in favor of a commander more amenable to war with Iran. (If you want to see more examples of Fallon disagreeing with this administration, click, per ThinkProgress, HERE to go to National Security Network’s post about that)

Allegedly Fallon resigned, according to Gates, because of post-article fall-out, with Fallon, again allegedly until I hear otherwise form Fallon himself, telling Gates; “The current embarrassing situation, public perception of differences between my views and administration policy, and the distraction this causes from the mission make this the right thing to do.”

Gates said he approved Fallon’s request to retire with “reluctance and regret.” (but immediately called “President” Bush who hooted and hollered in approval I’m guessing…)

It should be pointed out that there is a line in the Esquire story that says, essentially, if Fallon gets fired, the US is going to war with Iran. When asked to address that, Gates responded with a flippant, “Well that’s just ridiculous.”

Doesn’t seem so ridiculous when you use your own brain and think about it… Bush obviously wants to attack Iran and, as he did in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, Bush is sweeping aside respected senior officers who oppose his war plans… what could be even more troubling is that Gates is seemingly playing ball with Bush and going along with this preposterous exercise.

The US can NOT afford another war… and I don’t mean in an economic sense either, though I doubt that would help our looming recession. Our military is already stretched to the max and adding another war front would not only be disastrous to our military, but our nation as well.

January 20, 2009 can NOTcome soon enough…