Adm. Fallon, 63, famously said that an attack on Iran would not
happen "on my watch," and is widely believed to have already
threatened, along with a number of other top generals and admirals, to
quit the service if the Bush administration were to launch an air
attack on Iran.
Put the pieces together. We know that the
vice
president is obsessed with a desire to attack Iran, and has been since
before he even took office. Bush has repeatedly stressed that Iran
cannot be permitted to continue with its nuclear processing (he calls
it their "nukular" bomb program, though there is no evidence that the
country has a nuclear bomb development program, and in fact the last
National Intelligence Estimate on Iran said there was not and hadn't
been since 2003). And Fallon has now quit.
The Harry S. Truman
aircraft carrier battle group is in place there, and loaded to the brim
with strike aircraft, Tomahawk missiles, and even nuclear weapons. It
was long ago reported that air bases with aerial tankers had been put
in place in Central Asia north of Iran, ready to refuel B-2 stealth
bombers flown from the US or Diego Garcia islands in the Indian Ocean.
All
the elements, that is to say, are being assembled for a massive air
assault on Iranian targets, designed to destroy its nuclear program,
cripple its military command and control, and--at least this is a
stated Cheney goal--to lead to the overthrow of the Iranian government
by its own people.
It is, of course, the strategy of madmen.
The
US has no forces to send into Iran. All they can do is bomb it. And
bombing a country doesn't lead its people to rise up. It leads them to
rally 'round the flag. Especially when the civilian casualties of our
not-so-"smart" bombs start to soar.
If such an attack were to
happen, we can kiss goodbye to six years of domestic peace, such as
we've had. The Iranians have considerable capability to inflict damage
on US targets of interest, both overseas and here in the domestic US
using assymetrical warfare techniques. The worse part is, they'd be
completely justified in doing so, since any attack on them would be a
crime against peace--the gravest of all international crimes.
American
troops already mired and pinned down in a war in Iraq, would find
themselves suddenly under attack by Shia forces there, who for several
years now have been largely leaving them alone.
And oil, which
just bumped up against $110 a barrel, an all-time record, will double
in price overnight, as the whole Persian Gulf becomes a war zone.
We
can expect massive launches of small boats armed with missiles and
torpedoes, as well as sophisticated anti-ship missiles from shore
batteries, all fired at US ships in the Gulf, and it would be
astounding if some or even many vessels of the US fleet weren't sunk.
Meanwhile,
tanker traffic in the Gulf, which accounts for 20% or more of the
world's oil, will cease as insurance rates for those vessels goes
through the roof.
The monster of war will be unleashed, and
will not easily be defeated. That's why Adm. Fallon was so opposed to
the whole idea. He knows that it will be a disaster for the US
militarily, economically and politically.
The worst part is that
Cheney knows this, too. He just doesn't care. This is the man's parting
shot as he leaves office--to put the country into the throes of a war
so vicious that no one will think of pursuing him for his long list of
crimes against the nation and the Constitution.
He is
guessing--and he may be right--that the American public will,
sheep-like as always, rally to the cause, with a new round of yellow
magnet "ribbons" on their cars. He is hoping--and he may be right--that
war will be a boon for the candidacy of Republican John McCain and for
embattled Republicans running for Congress.
It's a kind of political Hail Mary.
Writings 
Every horror movie has that "Oh Shit!" moment, when the hero or heroes are huddled in some creepy hideout, and suddenly something happens that tells you that the monster is just around the corner, or just about to attack. 
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