The White House has been very busy these past few days as they continue to ratchet up the rhetoric against Iran. It began this weekend, when anonymous officials in Baghdad trotted out various weapons to show that, "Iran is a significant contributor to attacks on coalition forces" in Iraq. And on Monday, during the White House press briefing:

Is the U.S. administration confident that there is conclusive evidence that Iran is providing these weapons to Iraq? MR. SNOW: Yes.

Of course, given this administration's track record on intelligence, skepticism was high, and when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff apparently missed the memo and said of the evidence:

That does not translate that the Iranian government per se, for sure, is directly involved in doing this.

...it was time for George Bush to hold a press conference. And what did we learn? We learned that Bush knows:

...that the Quds force was instrumental in providing these deadly IEDs to networks inside of Iraq. We know that. And we also know that the Quds force is a part of the Iranian government. That's a known.

He knows, he can say with certainty, he is confident. Just as he knew with confident certainty that:

Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. ...had upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. ...had several mobile biological weapons labs. ...recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. ...has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production.

Bush knew all that for a fact in January, 2003, and four years and 3,127 U.S. deaths later, everything that Bush knew has been proven wrong. But today he knows that Iran is supplying weapons that have killed 170 U.S. troops in Iraq. Except he doesn't.

What we don't know is whether or not the head leaders of Iran ordered the Quds force to do what they did.



What? After repeatedly claiming that Iran was supplying these weapons, we don't really know that? Said Bush:

But here's my point: Either they knew or didn't know, and what matters is, is that they're there. What's worse, that the government knew or that the government didn't know? [...] ...what's worse -- them ordering it and it happening, or them not ordering it and it happening? And so we will continue to protect our troops.

First ignoring that blathering idiocy, and leaving aside the 2,957 U.S. troops that weren't killed by the weaponry that may or may not have been provided by Iran, what really is the point?

...our strategy is comprehensive in order to resolve problems that will affect our own peace and the peace in the world. And the biggest problem I see is the Iranians' desire to have a nuclear weapon.

And finally, that is the point. The Iranian branch of the axis of evil must be dealt with. With anonymous briefings, accusations, shifting claims and aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, the case for war is being built under the guise of "protecting the troops." Or how Bush characterizes it:

...making sure that this weapon is dealt with, the program is dealt with in a constructive, peaceful way.

Because after all, "we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." Again.