Cheney charts a course to (the next) war

Earlier today, I posted on what appeared to be hawkish elements within the administration (read: Cheney) trying to subvert US-Russia policy, now we have this.

Ms. Rice’s assurance on U.S. strategy came as senior officials at the State Department are expressing fury over reports that members of Vice President Cheney’s staff have told others that Mr. Cheney believes the diplomatic track with Iran is pointless, and is looking for ways to persuade Mr. Bush to confront Iran militarily....

But, the official said, “the vice president is not necessarily responsible for every single thing that comes out of the mouth of every single member of his staff.“ The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about any divide within the administration.

(As opposed to the officials who are "authorized to speak publicly about any divide within the administration?")

According to the NYTimes, Wurmser is one of those making the comments against the diplomatic track.

This is pretty strong reinforcement for the Steve Clemons report last week.

This White House official has stated to several Washington insiders that Cheney is planning to deploy an "end run strategy" around the President if he and his team lose the policy argument.

The thinking on Cheney's team is to collude with Israel, nudging Israel at some key moment in the ongoing standoff between Iran's nuclear activities and international frustration over this to mount a small-scale conventional strike against Natanz using cruise missiles (i.e., not ballistic missiles).

This strategy would sidestep controversies over bomber aircraft and overflight rights over other Middle East nations and could be expected to trigger a sufficient Iranian counter-strike against US forces in the Gulf -- which just became significantly larger -- as to compel Bush to forgo the diplomatic track that the administration realists are advocating and engage in another war.

We're talking about the Vice President of the United States coordinating an effort to subvert policies approved by the President for the purpose of starting a war.