Iran

Apropos the ABC CIA/Iran story, it seems as if a whole host of perhaps related, but not necessarily complementary, Iran engagement policies are in effect. Kevin takes a stab at an explanation:

A week ago, in a reversal of its longtime policy, the Bush administration agreed to hold face-to-face talks with Iran. This decision didn't go over well with conservatives, who believe that negotiation is a sign of weakness, and likely didn't go over well with hardliners within the administration for the same reason.

What to do? Answer: Prove that you're still as tough as you ever were. Perhaps this is why we've seen the following in the past few days:

• An obviously planted story about plans to respond strongly to any Iranian provocation in Iraq this summer.

• A leak to ABC News about a covert program to destabilize the Iranian regime.

• The start of a major naval exercise in the Persian Gulf. Mustafa Alani of the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center made the connection plain: "The Americans are sending a message to Iran that they are not coming to the negotiating table weak, but with their military at Tehran's doorstep.''
  

These actions are probably designed both to put the Iranians on notice and to quell conservative disquiet at home.

Maybe! It's an explanation of things that jives well with what Steve Clemons has been hearing. It's really juicy and equally frightening:

Multiple sources have reported that a senior aide on Vice President Cheney's national security team has been meeting with policy hands of the American Enterprise Institute, one other think tank, and more than one national security consulting house and explicitly stating that Vice President Cheney does not support President Bush's tack towards Condoleezza Rice's diplomatic efforts and fears that the President is taking diplomacy with Iran too seriously.

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 is insane. Kevin's suggestion is that the things happening in Iran are the result of a compromise between differing factions within the administration. Which it technically probably is. But if what Clemons is reporting is true, it's actually more like the Vice President hijacking foreign policy away from the less-psychotic people in Bush's circle by threatening to make sure war with Iran happens by proxy if the president isn't willing to attack them directly. If this story gets out and isn't dispelled, it will add only more credence to an idea that's been floating around the left flank of Congress for a while: Cheney should be impeached.