Newsweek: "The Hidden War With Iran" As Bush Amasses Troops in Persian Gulf

[Ed. note: Cross-posted at All Things Democrat. Read "U.S. Makes Its Case on Iran as well. Also, note the Live Vote on the Newsweek piece referenced below; at last look, 57% of 17K respondents said U.S. would go to war with Iran over nuclear issues while less than half (28%) answered no; the rest (15%) undecided.]

While so much of the media is spinning around the "great tragedy" of the death of Anna Nicole Smith, it was almost refreshing - not to mention downright scary to the max - to see Newsweek cover "The Hidden War With Iran" (a/k/a "Rumors of War"). Outside the U.S., the press talks far more frequently of what appears to be an almost inevitable - thanks to our beluffed president - outright war with Iran, but this topic sure hasn't been getting much play here.

From Newsweek, which backs up what we've heard before that we've already begun to amass a serious troop/equipment buildup to prepare for what some report as a war to commence in April:

At least one former White House official contends that some Bush advisers secretly want an excuse to attack Iran. "They intend to be as provocative as possible and make the Iranians do something [America] would be forced to retaliate for," says Hillary Mann, the administration's former National Security Council director for Iran and Persian Gulf Affairs. U.S. officials insist they have no intention of provoking or otherwise starting a war with Iran, and they were also quick to deny any link to Sharafi's kidnapping. But the fact remains that the longstanding war of words between Washington and Tehran is edging toward something more dangerous. A second Navy carrier group is steaming toward the Persian Gulf, and NEWSWEEK has learned that a third carrier will likely follow. Iran shot off a few missiles in those same tense waters last week, in a highly publicized test. With Americans and Iranians jousting on the chaotic battleground of Iraq, the chances of a small incident's spiraling into a crisis are higher than they've been in years.

Remember, too, what I've reported before: that Israel recently hosted an all-neocon, all Israeli war hawk summit whose main purpose seemed to be to encourage the U.S. to declare war against Iran. On Friday, new Defense Secretary Robert Gates' announced - ironically on the heels of the Pentagon inspector general's report that the Bushies did indeed cook the intelligence for going into Iraq - that the U.S. now has conclusive evidence Iran is responsible for the funding, technology, weapons, and people that have Iraq such a mess (as if the Bush management of the war and Iraq plays no role whatsoever).

Don't only be afraid, folks. Stand up, speak out, make it clear to lawmakers you will not tolerate a new war that will make Iraq look like a day at the kiddy arcades.