February 05, 2007

VOICES IN THE WILDERNESS, AGAIN




Caption: At least these chickens don't think they're hawks.

The Bush administration has a pretty consistent record of disregarding the warning voices of experienced military and intelligence experts.

Here's hoping they don't do the same thing again.

According to the Associated Press, former high-ranking U.S. officials are urging for a diplomatic rather than military approach to U.S. tensions with Iran:

LONDON - Three former high-ranking U.S. military officers have called for Britain to help defuse the crisis over Iran's nuclear program, saying military action against Tehran would be a disaster for the region.

In a letter to the Sunday Times newspaper, the three former officers urged President Bush to open talks, "without preconditions," with the Iranian government in a bid to find a diplomatic solution.

The signatories were retired Lt. Gen. Robert G. Gard, a senior military fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation in Washington, D.C.; retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, former head of U.S. Central Command; and Vice Adm. Jack Shanahan, former director of the Center for Defense Information.



So far, in the two way contest between sanity and administration policy, sanity comes in a distant third.


BONUS FEATURE. There is a great deal of evidence that social inequalities are hardening in the U.S. and that that social mobility now is actually greater in some European countries. For a breakdown, here's an op-ed by your humble goat herder in yesterday's Gazette-Mail.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I understand that Iran is the world’s fourth largest producer of crude oil, averaging about 3.72 million barrels per day. I am sure the administration will do whatever is necessary to allow their oil tycoon backers to get their hands on it, just as they did in Iraq.

El Cabrero said...

They don't even seem to do imperialism very well...

El Cabrero said...

Regarding the square root of negative one, El Cabrero received a fairly detailed explanation of the imaginary number i as the answer to that question. It seems like more of a name than a number to me.

Anonymous said...

My two favorite dogs on the WV Blue blog. They're my personal Bugular Alarms and Watchdogs.

(for some reason I can't enter responses on the Blue Blog)

I'm working on it tho....

El Cabrero said...

One of them looks kind of like a mastiff. Is that the case? Looks like a commentator to me...

Jspiker said...

Yes...the big on the right. He looks just like Rush Limbaugh

El Cabrero said...

I once had a mastiff that looked like yours. He reminded me of the gargoyle who came to life in "Ghostbusters." Bad heart (like me)...I still miss him. He looked so fierce but he was a baby...

Our boxer is some consolation. There's something about dog jowls...