President Bush meant it in 2003 when he identified Iran as part of an axis of evil that had to be pacified for America to be secure from more and deadly 9/11s and still means it now. He also still meant it when Iran's Hezbos and Syrian puppet were busy last summer making it clear to the whole world that Iran intended to control the Middle East. President Bush is a patient man and, while he desired that Israel take stronger action at the time including that they bomb Damascus, he knew it served his eventual purposes for Iran and its forward infantry, Hezbollah led by Nosehair Nassrallah, to make clear to all of the states of the Middle East and the whole world that Persian Iran intended to dominate the mostly Arab ME.

Also, for months we have heard Rumsfeld, Rice and Bush allude to Iran's "unhelpful" actions in Iraq (read acts of war) and wondered why the war was not being taken to the source, ie Tehran.

And now, today we read:

USA DETAINING IRANIANS CAUGHT IN IRAQ RAIDS... DEVELOPING... on www.drudgereport.com

BREAKING NEWS - UPDATE ON CAPTURED IRANIANS
(First Update above turns out to be a separate detention of Iranians and was not the major detention anticipated earlier today by the Drudge Report. Rather, the below report from Instapundit is the one)

December 25, 2006
CASUS BELLI?

The American military is holding at least four Iranians in Iraq, including men the Bush administration called senior military officials, who were seized in a pair of raids late last week aimed at people suspected of conducting attacks on Iraqi security forces, according to senior Iraqi and American officials in Baghdad and Washington. . . .

Gordon D. Johndroe, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said two Iranian diplomats were among those initially detained in the raids. The two had papers showing that they were accredited to work in Iraq, and he said they were turned over to the Iraqi authorities and released. He confirmed that a group of other Iranians, including the military officials, remained in custody while an investigation continued, and he said, “We continue to work with the government of Iraq on the status of the detainees.”

posted at 02:14 PM by Glenn Reynolds

http://instapundit.com/archives2/2006/12/post_1267.php

This comes on the heels of a major ongoing buildup of US naval presence in the Persian Gulf over the past several months.

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2454083.1118055554.html

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/21/africa/web.1221navy.php

Bush rejected, out of hand on several occasions, the ISG aka Baker-Hamilton Surrender group's recommendations, especially the one suggesting dialogue with Iran and Syria:

From the NYT

Pres Bush distances himself from two of Iraq Study Group's most fundamental recommendations, as panel begins lobbying Congress to adopt report wholesale; Bush backs away from panel's recommendations to pull back US combat troops from Iraq over next 15 months and to engage in direct talks with Iran and Syria; Bush says he needs to consult his military commanders about troop movements, and he sets conditions for talks with Iran and Syria that are not likely to be met; Bush, with British Prime Min Tony Blair at his side, continues to talk about war in ideological terms, calling war part of broader struggle against good and evil, totalitarianism and democracy

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40A1EFA3C550C7B8CDDAB09...

Bush was clear just before and after the 2006 elections for those willing to listen:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

Transcript

October 25, 2006

INTERVIEW OF THE PRESIDENT WITH COLUMNISTS

The Oval Office

2:27 P.M. EDT

As I said in the press conference today, it is conceivable that 20 or 30 years from now the world will see a Middle East in which violent forms of – extreme forms of Islam compete for power, moderate governments will be toppled, oil will be used to extract concessions, and Iran will have a nuclear weapon, and writers such as yourself would say, what happened to them? How come they couldn't see the great conflict taking place in front of their very eyes? Why did they lose their nerve? Why did they not support moderate people who yearn for something better than the vision of the extremists?

And my answer to it is, I see the threat, and will use American power to protect ourselves...

READ THE WHOLE THING

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/061025/25bushtranscript.htm

Then on in Big Lizards

November 13, 2006
More Evidence Bush HASN'T Changed His Mind About Iraq

But in any event, it does appear that President Bush hasn't changed; he doesn't support withdrawal of U.S. troops; he isn't going to hand Iraq over to Iran and Syria; and even Tony Blair offered an ultimatum, not appeasement, to those two trouble making states.

READ IT ALL

http://biglizards.net/blog/archives/2006/11/more_evidence_b.html

Michael Barone sees Bush Sticking to his guns:

Bush, like Truman and Churchill, seems determined not to concede defeat. And remember that for Truman on Korea and for Churchill after Dunkirk, no promising military courses were immediately apparent. Truman, after firing Gen. Douglas MacArthur, had forsaken the threat -- a nuclear attack -- that his successor Dwight Eisenhower deployed to get the communists to agree to a truce.

But Truman's perseverance despite his 22 percent job approval -- much lower than Bush's -- was essential in preserving the independence of South Korea, which now has the world's 14th-largest economy. Churchill, facing Hitler alone, could promise only "blood, toil, tears and sweat" until his enemies' mistakes -- Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union, the Japanese strike on Pearl Harbor -- gave him the allies that made victory possible.

Churchill's stubbornness prevented a Nazi victory in midsummer 1940.

We should keep in mind, as well, Bush's repeated vow not to allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. That's in tension with the Iraq Study Group's expected recommendation of direct negotiations with Iran: The obvious quid pro quo for Iranian help in stabilizing Iraq would be dropping our opposition to Iran's nuclear program. In fact, the opposite approach may be what's needed.

READ IT ALL

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MichaelBarone/2006/12/04/sticking_to_...

NOW, Amnerica's greatest expert on and advocate for regime change in Iran, Michael Ledeen, sees a major change:

I’ve been wondering what accounts for the sudden change in tone regarding Iran from London and Washington. Both Bush and Blair had been playing the mullahs’ game, taking military options off the board, talking with feigned optimism about the diplomatic strategy, patiently working for UN sanctions, and so forth. Then, all of a sudden, we started hearing very tough talk about Iran (and Syria) from the two leaders, and over here from Secretary Rice and National Security Adviser Hadley. Blair even delivered a very strong speech in Dubai, which is virtually an Iranian protectorate. How come? Had something happened?

Copley News Service reported a few weeks ago that we and the Jordanians had uncovered an Iranian-backed plot to assassinate Bush when he was in Amman. Copley told me the evidence is very good, even though the plot never came to anything, and nobody tried to kill the president. If the story is true, it would be a virtual replay of Saddam’s efforts to kill W’s father on a trip to the region while Clinton was president. Now, the London Telegraph reports the possible cause of Blair’s ire:

A military aide to the commander of British forces in Afghanistan appeared in court yesterday accused of spying. Cpl Daniel James, 44, is charged under the 1911 Official Secrets Act with “prejudicing the safety of the state” by passing information “calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy”.

It was said he had communicated with a “foreign power” in the incident on Nov 2, believed to be Iran…The Daily Telegraph has learned that he acts as an interpreter for Gen David Richards, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan and one of the most senior officers in the Army.

That might well do it, don’t you think? Here the Brits have been appeasing the mullahs, and all the gratitude they get is–if the story checks out–an Iranian spy getting information that would be used to kill Her Majesty’s soldiers. And notice the suppressed premise in this story: Iran is working with the (Taliban) terrorists in Afghanistan.

Leaders take these things very personally, as well they should.

READ IT ALL

http://pajamasmedia.com/xpress/michaelledeen/2006/12/20/what_does_it_tak...

The Cowboy that still lived in December 2006

http://theminorityreportblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/cowboy-lives.html

and every December since December 2001 and which will still live, God willing, in the Decembers of 2007 and 2008, presently has Iran surrounded on two borders with its Gulf now an America Lake.

Before the US acted against Iraq it had not acted against Iraq, and during all those months of inaction after 9/11 and before Shock and Awe, Bush was criticized in the press and in conservative circles for his inaction.

Then the action came, and The Spider Hole is now history.

Bush knows what time it is, and knows that no amount of teeth gnashing BEFORE he acts can prevent him from acting, and that after he acts, all the teeth gnashing will be deemed either irrelevant or a source for self congratulations for those doing the gnashing to take credit for prodding Bush to act. (In all honesty, it certainly may be a positive good and encouragement for bush to see that many conservatives want him to act and therefore will be strong supporters after he does.)

For all who can see and hear, let them see and hear:

1 - Consistent words
2 - Troop build-up (The troop build-up that preceded the Iraq war in Kuwait. The troop build-up for action in Iran has been mostly accomplished since the troops moved from Kuwait to Iraq.)
3 - Ship movements
4 - UK unveiling of Iranian plots to assassinate UK and US leaders including President Bush
5 - Detentions of Causus Belli Iranian soldiers waging war against America and our Iraqi ally in Iraq (developing story on Drudge)

Be cool fellow warmongers, the Day of Reckoning is coming beacuse, The Spine, aka the Commander in Chief, aka President of the United States, George Walker Bush is

"One man with courage makes a majority."- Andrew Jackson
(especially when the minority are appeasement Democrats and cowardly Republicans)

UPDATE at 5:17 pm EST
RE Spokesman: U.S. Troops Detain 2 Iranians
-
Monday, December 25, 2006
(12-25) 06:52 PST BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) --

READ IT ALL

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/12/25/international...

more later from GC, ie
Gamecock, who is a conservative voice DeVine Columnist for The Charlotte Observer
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/2006/12/20/news/16279108.htm

and blogs at

http://gamecock.townhall.com - www.race42008.com -
http://theminorityreportblog.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas to all!