Gates Memo Urges Military Plan for Iran if All Else Fails

My gut tells me If we ever enter into war with Iran, even though our military is the strongest, it will wipe out millions of people, not just in Iran. It will lead to the biggest war ever on this planet. I hope the smart people are doing everything they can to prevent any kind of military action with Iran.

This story will no doubt antagonize the republicans, who are always itching for military action.

Several officials said the highly classified analysis, written in January to President Obama’s national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, came in the midst of an intensifying effort inside the Pentagon, the White House and the intelligence agencies to develop new options for Mr. Obama. They include a set of military alternatives, still under development, to be considered should diplomacy and sanctions fail to force Iran to change course.

Officials familiar with the memo’s contents would describe only portions dealing with strategy and policy, and not sections that apparently dealt with secret operations against Iran, or how to deal with Persian Gulf allies. More at the NYT

I found this at the NYT. It is written by the paper's public editor and it says that the New York Times abuses anonymous sources. 100% agreed. In the case of the secret memo story, "officials familiar with the memo's contents" are used without naming the officials. The "officials familiar with the memo's contents" likely have an agenda--they describe the memo as a "wake up call"--and they are manipulating the media for their purposes:

One senior official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the memo, described the document as “a wake-up call.” But White House officials dispute that view, insisting that for 15 months they had been conducting detailed planning for many possible outcomes regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

Another Update: Gates says the "officials familiar with the memo's contents" were wrong, which sort of proves that the NYT is abusing anonymous sources, as noted below. The "officials familiar with the memo's contents" are probably against Obama.

Responding to a report in the New York Times, Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday said the sources who had described his January classified memo on U.S. Iran strategy had "mischaracterized its purpose and content."

"The New York Times sources who revealed my January memo to the National Security Advisor mischaracterized its purpose and content," Gates said in a statement Sunday.

"With the Administration's pivot to a pressure track on Iran earlier this year, the memo identified next steps in our defense planning process where further interagency discussion and policy decisions would be needed in the months and weeks ahead," Gates said.

"The memo was not intended as a 'wake up call' or received as such by the President's national security team," he continued. "Rather, it presented a number of questions and proposals intended to contribute to an orderly and timely decision making process." Politico