Neocons Preparing the Sequel to Plan of Attack

You might want to re-read Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack now that you know the FBI has been attempting for at least two years to determine whether or not the development of that plan and/or associated National Security Presidential Directives (NSPD) involved any acts of treason.

Treason?

That's right. Not spying. Treason. It would be an act of treason for any American to deliberately develop an NSPD that was in the best interests of some other country, but not in our best interests.

Of course, the neo-crazies and their media sycophants claim that the FBI is merely looking for Israeli spies, and that there are none because Israel doesn't need them.

The neo-crazies boast that if the Israelis or their paid lobbyists at the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) want to know something, all they have to do is drop by the White House and National Security Adviser Condi Rice or one of her deputies will tell them anything – literally anything – they want to know.

But, one of the "persons of interest" in the FBI investigation is Larry Franklin – a munchkin in the neo-crazy fiefdom of Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith. According to news reports, Franklin is not suspected of spying. But he has apparently been observed by the FBI asking AIPAC lobbyists if there is anything in a top secret "draft" NSPD on Iran that the Israelis object to. Or if there is anything that isn't in the NSPD on Iran that the Israelis want included.

One wonders what other Bush administration weenies or munchkins the FBI have on tape, coordinating the development of some other top secret NSPD with the Israelis or their paid lobbyists.

One thinks immediately of NSPD-17 – "National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction."

An unclassified version of NSPD-17 was released in December 2002, shortly after Woodward tells us President Bush had finally "decided" to launch an unprovoked war of aggression against Iraq.

In the unclassified version of NSPD-17, Bush vows to "respond with overwhelming force," including, possibly, the use of nuclear weapons, "to the use of biological, chemical, radiological or nuclear weapons on the nation, its troops or its allies."

You can probably guess which "ally" the folks who developed NSPD-17 had in mind.

The Washington Post promptly revealed that the top secret version of NSPD-17 "breaks with 50 years of U.S. counterproliferation efforts by authorizing preemptive strikes on states and terrorist groups that are close to acquiring weapons of mass destruction or the long-range missiles capable of delivering them."

"In a top-secret appendix, the directive names Iran, Syria, North Korea and Libya among the countries that are the central focus of the new U.S. approach."

Imagine that. Bush is breaking with a half-century of U.S. policy of deterrence and containment in order to adopt a policy of preemptive strikes.

Now, where do you suppose Bush got the idea to make that U.S. policy?

Wait a minute. Didn't Israel launch an unprovoked strike in 1981 – to the thundering applause of the neo-crazies – against the French-supplied Osirak nuclear power plant in Iraq? Claiming that the Iraqis intended to make weapons-grade plutonium at Osirak for use against Israel?

Of course, it would have been impossible for the Iraqis to make weapons-grade plutonium at Osirak without the permission of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on-site inspectors. Just as it would be impossible for the Iranians to make weapons-grade enriched uranium at Natanz without IAEA permission.

So, while you're waiting for the Israeli (or perhaps Bush) preemptive strike against Natanz or Bushehr, you might reread Plan of Attack, imagining that you are watching Larry King Live, wherein a famous actress and her loving husband are gushing over their fabulous children. Except you and the famous actress know something that Larry and the husband don't – the fabulous children aren't his.

Woodward must now be outraged. Presumably, he was frequently the only person in the room that didn't know about the FBI investigation. If Condi really tells the AIPAC crowd anything and everything they want to know, how could she have not told them the FBI was investigating them? And how could Feith not have told his former law partner, L. Marc Zell, now practicing law in Israel? And how could Richard Perle – the Prince of Darkness – not have known?

Oh, well. If Bush is reelected, Woodward will still be in position to write Another Plan of Attack. All he would have to do would be to replace "Iraq" every time it appears with "Iran." And change a few dates.