Iran hysteria?

I don't know what's real intelligence anymore, but this story caught my eye because at the same time it captures the real possibilities of Iranian counteraction to a US strike, it also seems to frame them in a semi-hysterical way making such a strike more acceptable. I just don't know, but the fact that this comes off Negroponte's desk, and is intended for congress, tells me that it is pro-attack.

Remember, the US intelligence community's best guess is that Iran is still ten years away from a workable nuclear weapon. (But the midterms are in 9 months.)

WASHINGTON -- Iran is prepared to launch attacks using long-range missiles, secret commando units, and terrorist allies planted around the globe in retaliation for any strike on the country's nuclear facilities, according to new US intelligence assessments and military specialists.....

But military and intelligence analysts warn that Iran ... could unleash reprisals across the region, and perhaps even inside the United States, if the hard-line regime came under attack.

Oh, and as a companion piece, might I suggest this from Britain's Telegraph. It would be irresponsible not to plan military action, but leaking that you're planning is obviously intended to crank up the tension.

Strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran's nuclear sites as a "last resort" to block Teheran's efforts to develop an atomic bomb.

Are you afraid yet? Are you ready to let the administration take your civil liberties?

And, what the hey, one more. Rubin and Kagan, certainly acting as a front for other "neocons," are urging Bush to "assist democratic forces inside Iran." If you think Muslims are pissed about a cartoon....