Crazies in the Box

A few days ago, I wrote about the predictions of an attack on Iraq. In that post I speculated that either a) there never was a plan for an attack and a bunch of reporters got it wrong or b) there was a plan for attack and it was stopped.

Now there appears to be some (albeit weak) confirmation that there may have been an attack and it was stopped by the new Centcom commander:

Fallon, who was scheduled to become the CENTCOM chief Mar. 16, responded to the proposed plan [overlapping three carriers in the Persian Gulf, allowing an aerial bombardment of Iran] by sending a strongly-worded message to the Defence Department in mid-February opposing any further U.S. naval buildup in the Persian Gulf as unwarranted.

"He asked why another aircraft carrier was needed in the Gulf and insisted there was no military requirement for it," says the source, who obtained the gist of Fallon's message from a Pentagon official who had read it.

Fallon's refusal to support a further naval buildup in the Gulf reflected his firm opposition to an attack on Iran and an apparent readiness to put his career on the line to prevent it. A source who met privately with Fallon around the time of his confirmation hearing and who insists on anonymity quoted Fallon as saying that an attack on Iran "will not happen on my watch".

Asked how he could be sure, the source says, Fallon replied, "You know what choices I have. I'm a professional." Fallon said that he was not alone, according to the source, adding, "There are several of us trying to put the crazies back in the box." [emphasis mine]

If true, thank god an adult finally got into a credible position to rein in the idiots who've been running the war.