Remember, We Have 8 More Months Of This Guy

You're barely going to even see George Bush's face on the national media between now and his inevitable exit, but it's worth reminding ourselves that 8 months is ample time to do even more damage to America and the world. And the signs are there that he's willing to do it:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hinted after his meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush Wednesday that U.S. action against Iran is imminent. While he avoided saying anything clear and specific on the matter, Olmert did mention a “timetable” and said action would take place before Bush leaves the White House.

“We reached agreement on the need to take care of the Iranian threat,” Olmert said after the meeting. “I left with a lot less question marks [than I had entered with] regarding the means, the timetable restrictions and America’s resoluteness to deal with the problem.”

“George Bush understands the severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it, and intends to act on the matter before the end of his term in the White House,” Olmert reportedly said after his 90 minute long one-on-one meeting with the American Commander in Chief.

As far as I can tell, the Bush-Cheney agenda for the rest of his term is a short list. 1) Get full immunity for his lawbreaking, whether it be illegal spying or torture or rendition or outing Valerie Plame or whatever else, 2) sign a long-term agreement that will keep American troops in Iraq long into the future, and 3) attack Iran. Every action by the Administration from here on out has these goals in mind. I was puzzled by the firings of top leadership at the Air Force until I came to this conclusion, and now, given this additional information, the pieces are starting to fit:

The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting presidential approval to use them to preempt an attack by a nation or a terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction. The draft also includes the option of using nuclear arms to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons . . .

Titled "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations" and written under the direction of Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the draft document [PDF file] is unclassified and available on a Pentagon Web site. It is expected to be signed within a few weeks by Air Force Lt. Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, director of the Joint Staff, according to Navy Cmdr. Dawn Cutler, a public affairs officer in Myers's office. Meanwhile, the draft is going through final coordination with the military services, the combatant commanders, Pentagon legal authorities and Rumsfeld's office, Cutler said in a written statement . . .

The draft document also envisions the use of atomic weapons for "attacks on adversary installations including WMD, deep, hardened bunkers containing chemical or biological weapons."

This guy can be trusted to carry out the Iranian mission. There's no other rationale necessary.

When you have a President so messianic that he believes he will be ultimately vindicated by history no matter what he unleashes, then nothing is beyond the realm of possibility. This attack is going to happen. It may not be staged in Iraq, but the US has plenty of other bases or aircraft carriers from which to launch a first strike.

Immunity, long-term bases in Iraq, bombs in Iran. If you want the last eight months to conclude without total chaos, you'll do what you can to pay attention to these three developments.