DON'T IMPEACH BUSH. These days, it's begun to seem that the only check on Dick Cheney's plans to destroy the earth is...George W. Bush. As Joe Klein reports, "last December, as Rumsfeld was leaving, President Bush met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in "The Tank," the secure room in the Pentagon where the Joint Chiefs discuss classified matters of national security. Bush asked the Chiefs about the wisdom of a troop "surge" in Iraq. They were unanimously opposed. Then Bush asked about the possibility of a successful attack on Iran's nuclear capability. He was told that the U.S. could launch a devastating air attack on Iran's government and military, wiping out the Iranian air force, the command and control structure and some of the more obvious nuclear facilities. But the Chiefs were--once again--unanimously opposed to taking that course of action." Cheney, however, has been ceaselessly pushing for a military option. Awhile back, I was in a conversation with two Iran experts, one of whom was arguing that the facts on the ground clearly suggested that the Bush administration was inching towards negotiations and compromise with Tehran. The other expert, who had much more experience inside the administration, only laughed bitterly. "You don't understand," he said. "Dick Cheney will physically kill anyone who so much as mentions a compromise." And now, according to Steve Clemons, Cheney is going a step further and actually trying to create a military conflagaration. --Ezra Klein
