Quotes from unnamed Pentagon and other sources:
"This White House believes that the only way to solve the problem is to change the power structure in Iran, and that means war."
"There are very strong sentiments within the military against brandishing nuclear weapons against other countries."
"What will 1.2 billion Muslims think the day we attack Iran?"
The Pentagon adviser said that, in the event of an attack, the Air Force intended to strike many hundreds of targets in Iran but that "ninety-nine per cent of them have nothing to do with proliferation. There are people who believe it’s the way to operate"—that the Administration can achieve its policy goals in Iran with a bombing campaign, an idea that has been supported by neoconservatives.
"The bottom line is that Iran cannot become a nuclear-weapons state. The problem is that the Iranians realize that only by becoming a nuclear state can they defend themselves against the U.S. Something bad is going to happen."
A retired four-star general told me that, despite the eight thousand British troops in the region, "the Iranians could take Basra with ten mullahs and one sound truck."
"If you attack," the high-ranking diplomat told me in Vienna, "Ahmadinejad will be the new Saddam Hussein of the Arab world, but with more credibility and more power. You must bite the bullet and sit down with the Iranians."
The diplomat went on, "There are people in Washington who would be unhappy if we found a solution. They are still banking on isolation and regime change. This is wishful thinking. The window of opportunity is now."
A large part of the article is that all of Bush's civilian leadership and even the GOP politicians on the Hill are seriously considering the nuclear attack option over the strong objections of the military.
NYT - Officials denying portions of article.
WP: Some officials want to believe preparations for attacks on Iran only a threat - especially the nuclear weapons part. Others warn about the wackos with power.
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