Suddenly the smell of Britons being prepared for an attack on Iran is all pervasive. On Radio 4 this week, the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson hosted a bizarre 45-minute round-table on how Britain would react if America and Israel went ahead and bombed Iran. Broadcast on Wednesday and repeated tomorrow, it was pitched as a discussion of hypothetical 'what ifs'.
The next morning, Anatole Kaletsky, of the Times, wrote a column about Blair and US-Israeli-Saudi plans to trash Iran. Yesterday's Spectator went further. In its cover story, it states that Israel is planning to use nuclear strikes to stop the Iranian nuclear industry. It is not a question of if but when Israel will launch its missiles and bombers, we are told.
Add in the possibility (probability?) that the Bush 'surge' in troop numbers for Iraq is intended to bring the Shia militias under control, even if (especially if?) that meant the Sunnis were to play a more prominent role in the Iraq government. And this would be music to the ears of the Saudis who must be worried about the increasing influence of Shia Iran and who, incidentally, are pals again with Blair after the latter called off the dogs in the BAE investigation. The same Blair who in Dubai recently and suddenly dumped on the ISG recommendation of consultations with Iran and Syria about the future of Iraq. Finally, consider that Bush has recently sent an additional aircraft carrier to the Gulf (see here).
Something is going on.
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