Bush Administration Planning "Surgical Strikes" On Iran

Posted by Steve Benen at 11:00 AM on October 1, 2007.

This post, written by Steve Benen, originally appeared on The Carpetbagger Report

The president is connecting Iran to attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq. Cheney's rhetoric is becoming more strident. Senate Republicans and a few too many Dems have labeled Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as "terrorists." Freedom's Watch is considering a national advertising campaign focused on Iran
The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh explains that this isn't an accident. If his sources are right, plans for a military confrontation with Iran are moving forward apace.

This summer, the White House, pushed by the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney, requested that the Joint Chiefs of Staff redraw long-standing plans for a possible attack on Iran, according to former officials and government consultants. The focus of the plans had been a broad bombing attack, with targets including Iran's known and suspected nuclear facilities and other military and infrastructure sites. Now the emphasis is on "surgical" strikes on Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran and elsewhere, which, the Administration claims, have been the source of attacks on Americans in Iraq. What had been presented primarily as a counter-proliferation mission has been reconceived as counterterrorism. [...]

During a secure videoconference that took place early this summer, the President told Ryan Crocker, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, that he was thinking of hitting Iranian targets across the border and that the British "were on board." [...]

At a White House meeting with Cheney this summer, according to a former senior intelligence official, it was agreed that, if limited strikes on Iran were carried out, the Administration could fend off criticism by arguing that they were a defensive action to save soldiers in Iraq. If Democrats objected, the Administration could say, "Bill Clinton did the same thing; he conducted limited strikes in Afghanistan, the Sudan, and in Baghdad to protect American lives." The former intelligence official added, "There is a desperate effort by Cheney et al. to bring military action to Iran as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the politicians are saying, 'You can't do it, because every Republican is going to be defeated, and we're only one fact from going over the cliff in Iraq.' But Cheney doesn't give a rat's ass about the Republican worries, and neither does the President."

Apparently, Cheney is, once again, calling the shots, and he has a plan. This isn't "Regime Change 2007"-- there wouldn't be another occupation -- but rather a fast "in and out" mission. What could possibly go wrong? Swoop in, drop a few bombs, be home in time for dinner.

It's not as if these guys have rushed into military confrontations in the Middle East based on ridiculously optimistic military scenarios and dubious intelligence before, right?

The revised bombing plan for a possible attack, with its tightened focus on counterterrorism, is gathering support among generals and admirals in the Pentagon. The strategy calls for the use of sea-launched cruise missiles and more precisely targeted ground attacks and bombing strikes, including plans to destroy the most important Revolutionary Guard training camps, supply depots, and command and control facilities.

"Cheney's option is now for a fast in and out -- for surgical strikes," the former senior American intelligence official told me. The Joint Chiefs have turned to the Navy, he said, which had been chafing over its role in the Air Force-dominated air war in Iraq. "The Navy's planes, ships, and cruise missiles are in place in the Gulf and operating daily. They've got everything they need -- even AWACS are in place and the targets in Iran have been programmed. The Navy is flying FA-18 missions every day in the Gulf." There are also plans to hit Iran's anti-aircraft surface-to-air missile sites. "We've got to get a path in and a path out," the former official said.

A Pentagon consultant on counterterrorism told me that, if the bombing campaign took place, it would be accompanied by a series of what he called "short, sharp incursions" by American Special Forces units into suspected Iranian training sites. He said, "Cheney is devoted to this, no question."

What happens next? Hersh was on CNN yesterday, explaining that administration officials will argue that this isn't about invading another Middle Eastern country and overthrowing a rival government; this is about a counter-terrorism strike to protect Americans.

"You can also sell counter-terror, it's much more logical. You can say to the American people, we're only hitting these people that are trying to kill our boys and the coalition forces and so that seems to be more sensible, The White House thinks they can actually pitch this, this would actually work."

Digby summarizes the big picture:

It would seem that Cheney and the Big Money Boyz have decided that we can't take any chances on a premature withdrawal from the middle east. And that takes precedence over the possibility of things hurtling out of control. Or perhaps, for inscrutable reasons, they want thing to hurtle out of control. Maybe they are just like so many rich, short-term thinkers who apparently don't love their children or their country or they would care more about the future. (History? We'll all be dead.) Maybe they're just insane. Whatever the case, hitting Iran seems to be more likely than it has been up to now and the political establishment seems to be either on board or paralyzed.

Stay tuned.

Tagged as: iran, bush, hersh, cheney

Steve Benen is a freelance writer/researcher and creator of The Carpetbagger Report. In addition, he is the lead editor of Salon.com's Blog Report, and has been a contributor to Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Crooks & Liars, The American Prospect, and the Guardian.