On the probable suspected IEDs from the Iranian government someone

Okay, so the big question ever since Bush's sabre-rattling speech outlining his "plan," if you will, for Iraq has been if/when the US is going to invade Iran, and whether it's an "if" or a "when" that we're really dealing with. You'd think that, with troops currently very involved in Iraq and a previous war still unfinished in Afghanistan, we'd be reluctant to go for the trifecta, but you can't always count on logic in these situations.

What can you count on? A blinding desire to drop the bomb on the next person to look at Bush sideways. A review of what we're dealing with:

December 4, 2006: Bush meets with Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iran, and applauds him for his "strong position against the murder of innocent life."

February 2, 2007: A planned White House briefing on Iran is repeatedly delayed because, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley says, it was “overstated” and not “focused on the facts" and the intelligence community had insisted on repeated "scrubbing."

February 11, 2007: US military officials say that armor-piercing explosives provided to Iraqi militias associated with Muqtada al Sadr and Abdul-Aziz "Strong Position Against the Murder of Innocent Life" al-Hakim had been sanctioned by the "highest levels" of the Iranian government (Ahmadinejad denies it categorically).

February 12, 2007: Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Peter Pace indicates that, while it's clear that Iranian materials were involved, there is no evidence showing that top Iranian officials had any knowledge of it.

February 14, 2007: Bush is certain that the weapons can be connected to the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, "a vital part of the Iranian government."

February 15, 2007: Now that they think about it, the White House thinks that an "anonymous intelligence briefer" might have gone "a little too far" in assertions and that the highest levels of the Iranian government were behind the weapons.

February 15, 2007 (later): Defense Secretary Robert Gates points out that the Iranian IEDs weren't actually all that big of a deal to begin with.

February 16, 2007 (projected): Tony Snow briefs the White House press corps: "Um, look! It's a unicorn!"


"Oh, sorry, I guess it was just a regular horse."

(Couldn't have done it without Talking Points Memo, Think Progress, or Political Animal.)