If you've read the recent coverage of the Bushies' Iran war plans, you'll get the point of this story from last Friday's Washington Post. Apparently the administration was trying to mess with the heads of the Iranians -- and, in the process, scared some Americans:

Pentagon officials apologized to members of Congress yesterday for generating fears about an unusual military experiment to detonate 700 tons of explosives in the Nevada desert in June, and they said the test was not designed to simulate a low-yield nuclear explosion, even though government budget documents had described it that way.

Officials said the test, code-named Divine Strake, is part of research to "determine the potential for future non-nuclear concepts" -- such as high-energy weapons or the simultaneous use of multiple conventional bombs to destroy deeply buried and fortified military targets. They said the budget documents' references to simulating a nuclear explosion were in error.

Last week James Tegnelia, director of the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, described the test to defense reporters as a massive blast that would create a "mushroom cloud" of dust over Nevada. Tegnelia offered his regrets for the remark when he met yesterday on Capitol Hill with Nevada lawmakers, who voiced concern about safety issues, environmental impact and their lack of full knowledge about the test....

This sure looks like psyops: Key documents contained the word "nuclear." A functionary was sent out to say "mushroom cloud." And the loyal minions at NewsMax tried to help out by running a story called "U.S. Bomb Test to Produce 'Huge Mushroom Cloud.'" And whoops! -- it apparently frightened people in the test zone more than people in Iran.

You know what? If all this did manage to get the Iranians to a bargaining table so the nuclear impasse can be resolved, I'd be happy. But these are the Bushies we're talking about. I'm not sure that's even what they have in mind. It seems that the Iranians want to negotiate and the Bushies don't.

The Bushies are eager for war. As an alternative, I think they'd be content if the test takes place in June and the Iranians start talking like characters in a bad sci-fi movie: "Our primitive devices are no match for your Zapaton-IV proton-beam weapon! We surrender!"

Abdication, overthrow of the regime by the populace, or war: Those are the only choices the Bushies will accept, and the first two will never happen. So gird your loins and get ready for war.