Joe Lieberman is at it again, this time with the help of Republican wingnut Jon Kyl of Arizona. The two of them have introduced the Lieberman-Kyl amendment to a defense bill which would, if passed, state that the Senate supports military action against Iran, and against anyone considered to be one of Iran’s proxies (such as Hezbollah, or the Shi’ite militias in Iraq). Here’s the relevant text of the amendment:

3) that it should be the policy of the United States to combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies;

(4) to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments, in support of the policy described in paragraph (3) with respect to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies.

I imagine Bush and Cheney would view this resolution as all the authority they need to attack Iran at their discretion, don’t you? Just one more sign, as Chris Floyd reminds us, that the Iran war train express has already left the station and is picking up steam:

The Lieberman-Kyl-Non-Entity Amendment is just one aspect of the acceleration toward war now unfolding before our eyes. Indeed, perhaps the strongest confirmation that our Terror War machine will soon begin devouring the lives of innocent Iranians is not any saber-rattling by Beltway officials, but the astonishing interview that Scott Pelley of the “liberal” network CBS conducted with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on “60 Minutes.” As Glenn Greenwald points out, Pelley trotted out Bush Regime war propaganda as if it were unquestioned Gospel truth. […]

More than the stories about Dick Cheney’s hard-on to kill Persians — by proxy, of course; Cheney never has and never will put the husk of lard that houses his greed-shrivelled brain in harm’s way;other men, and women, and children, must die for his agenda — the Pelley interview is the one of the clearest indications yet that the war is coming and nothing will stop it. Here we see that the “conventional wisdom” of the American Establishment — as always, faithfully reflected by the witless hacks of the “serious” corporate media — has now accepted the sinister narrative that the Bush Regime has concocted to justify another war. Congress, as we’ve seen, is already on board. The major media players — the New York Times, CBS, CNN, etc. — have signed up. And neither Congress nor the corporate media would be pushing, spinning and cajoling for war with such gusto if their owners in the American elite were not also ready to lock and load.

Some believe that, in the end, Bush won’t pull the trigger on Iran, that he will be stopped, or at least dissuaded, by recalcitrant military brass unwilling to see their overstretched, crumbling forces broken completely in a major new conflict. But I think these are false hopes. As we have seen over the years, the Bush Regime ruthlessly purges officers who question the Leader’s maniacal agenda or stand up too strongly for the honor and well-being of their troops. And the planned attack on Iran will be mostly a matter of airpower and naval-based missiles: remote killing by generals and admirals who love their glitzy, high-tech toys and want to give them the kind of unbridled work-out they’ve been denied since the early days of the Iraq invasion. (All that daily, workhorse dumping of a few bombs and missiles on Iraqi civilian areas here and there just doesn’t provide the same kind of thrill.)

Chris has good reasons to be pessimistic. Anyone who saw Mr. Pelley’s performance as a shill for the Bush administration on 60 Minutes Sunday night can only assume that his “questions” (which parroted Bush/Cheney talking points about the evils of Iran and its President almost word for word) had to have been greenlighted by CBS’ management in collaboration with administration officials. It was more than just a sorry spectacle, it was the worst form of propaganda designed to whip up a war fever against Iran by everyone who watched what can only be loosely described as as interview by an objective journalist, and which would be more accurately depicted as the ranting of a warmongering demagogue.

Nonetheless, I am unwilling to surrender to what many are claiming is inevitable: a full scale premeditated and illegal attack against Iran by American forces. So please, call your Senators at these toll free numbers: 800 828-0498, 800 614 2803 or 866 340 9281 and let them know that support for this atrocity (i.e., the Lieberman Kyl amendment) is unwarranted and immoral, and that their vote in favor of it will violate the will of the vast majority of Americans like yourself, who wish to see no more wars by initiated on President Bush’s watch.

While you’re at it, go to this website and sign their petition in opposition to the amendment.