Oh yes he would

Earlier today, Paul Krugman's op-ed in the NY Times entitled "Yes he would" [behind subscription wall] argued that just because it makes no sense whatsoever to go to war with Iran at this time, the loonies in the White House would do it again.

Now, we learn through Kevin Drum, that the White House has appointed a task force to promote regime change in Iran. It's led by Cheney's daughter. Change the name of the target country and the date and déja vue all over again.

Remember the White House Iraq Group? And the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans? Basically, they were organizations designed to sidestep the moldy old national security bureaucracy and market the war with Iraq directly to the American public. And while in retrospect some may have questioned their, um, dedication to precise and sober analysis, you can't deny they were effective.

Well, guess what? Lawrence Kaplan reports that we now have a similar organization for Iran:

Although a spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) declines to comment on its existence, and the press has yet to carry a single mention of it, last month the administration formed something called the Iran-Syria Operations Group (ISOG) — a group headed by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Liz Cheney, the purpose of which is to encourage regime change in Iran. It's no secret that Cheney has over $80 million at her disposal to promote democracy in Iran. But ISOG isn't simply about promoting democracy. It's about helping to craft official policy, doing so not with one but two countries in its sights, and creating a policymaking apparatus that parallels — and skirts — Foggy Bottom's suspect Iran desk.

[snip]

In any case, connect the dots. "Promoting regime change from within" = the Iranian exile community. The Iranian exile community = source of dubious intelligence about Iran's nuclear program. Iran's nuclear program = excuse to go to war. Why change a winning game plan?

As Sy Hersh said yesterday, Bush has a messianic zeal about this. He thinks (rightly so) that he is the only person, Democrat or Republican, who will do this, so it has to be done on his watch.

If you think Iraq has been a disaster, just wait for Iran.