Der Spiegel seems to think so:

The most talked about story is a Dec. 23 piece by the German news agency DDP from journalist and intelligence expert Udo Ulfkotte. The story has generated controversy not only because of its material, but also because of the reporter's past. Critics allege that Ulfkotte in his previous reporting got too close to sources at Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND. But Ulfkotte has himself noted that he has been under investigation by the government in the past (indeed, his home and offices have been searched multiple times) for allegations that he published state secrets -- a charge that he claims would underscore rather than undermine the veracity of his work.

According to Ulfkotte's report, "western security sources" claim that during CIA Director Porter Goss' Dec. 12 visit to Ankara, he asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to provide support for a possibile 2006 air strike against Iranian nuclear and military facilities. More specifically, Goss is said to have asked Turkey to provide unfettered exchange of intelligence that could help with a mission.

DDP also reported that the governments of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman and Pakistan have been informed in recent weeks of Washington's military plans. The countries, apparently, were told that air strikes were a "possible option," but they were given no specific timeframe for the operations.

This doesn't look good. Apparently Bush the Lesser seems to think he can do what Ronald Reagan and Daddy couldn't do back in 1981, when the Iranian regime was new and had been holding American hostages. President Reagan, who at that time was something of a reckless cowboy when it came to foreign policy, opted to trade arms for hostages during his election rather than launch a military assault after his inaugural.

But let's look at what's quite possibly the real reason such an attack is being contemplated: Bush is "the wartime president," according to his political image, and we all know that when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. War is what Bush does. He seems to like it.

And I'm sure Karl Rove is pushing hard for this option. Nothing like exploiting international conflict for domestic political gain in an election year!

Sources in German security circles told the DDP reporter that Goss had ensured Ankara that the Turkish government would be informed of any possible air strikes against Iran a few hours before they happened. The Turkish government has also been given the "green light" to strike camps of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iran on the day in question.

The DDP report attributes the possible escalation to the recent anti-Semitic rants by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose belligerent verbal attacks on Israel (he described the Holocaust as a "myth" and called for Israel to be "wiped off the map") have strengthened the view of the American government that, in the case of the nuclear dispute, there's little likelihood Tehran will back down and that the mullahs are just attempting to buy time by continuing talks with the Europeans.

If Bush wants to divide the world more completely, I can't think of a more effective way of doing so. Unfortunately, over the past year we've seen parades of military experts on the various cable and network news shows explaining how the Iranians have dug in so deep and hardened their facilities so much that even a nuclear ground strike could not guarantee success.

Let's hope "God" doesn't tell Bush to launch nukes. Everyone, pray for Bush to hear calmer voices in his head.

Even if it weren't a nuclear attack, going into Iran would be a horrible mistake. Iran is a sophisticated society, with a long-established middle class, education and literacy rates that rank highly even by Western standards, deep suspicion and wariness of its neighbors, and an historical legacy that goes back to ancient Persia. If Bush gets a bug up his ass about lunatic rhetoric from the mullah minority that temporarily controls Iran, and does something stupid, it will only unite the people behind the vastly unpopular government and make real change there all the less likely.

Peaceful, "orange revolutions" have been more successful so far -- in the Ukraine, of course, and possibly in Lebanon. Alas, there's no way for Karl Rove to wait for something similar to happen in Iran. They need something quickly. Something flashy. Something that pushes Abramoff and Iraq and Osama bin Laden and the spiraling national debt and the deepening poverty in our own country off the front page, and gives the cable news networks a new war to sell.

Talk about wag the dog!

[via Talk Left. Now also on Raw Story.]

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