CHENEY VS. CONDI: GAME ON

The lead story in NPR's 9:00 news summary this morning isn't online in the exact form I heard. The online version reads, in part, as follows:

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq says Iran is giving advanced weaponry to militias in Iraq, Reuters reported Saturday....

Petraeus also said Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad is a member of the Revolutionary Guard's Qods force. U.S. officials accuse the elite unit of inciting bloodshed in Iraq and of training and equipping militias who have attacked U.S. troops....

What I heard focused exclusively on the allegations about the Iranian ambassador -- and pointedly noted that Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, had met with the ambassador.

That's pretty much the focus of this BBC story as well:

The top US military commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, has accused Iran's ambassador of being a member of an elite unit of Iran's Republican Guard.

Gen Petraeus said Hassan Kazemi-Qomi was a member of the Quds Force, which the US believes backs foreign Islamic revolutionary movements....

Mr Kazemi-Qomi has twice met US counterpart Ryan Crocker this year to discuss Iraqi stability....

I don't know what the truth is about the Iranian ambassador -- but I'd say Petraeus is fighting Dick Cheney's war against Condoleezza Rice. Recall this story from a few weeks ago:

...in the administration, some of Bush's top deputies are still wrangling over whether a diplomatic strategy on Iran that is advocated by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her top aides has any hope of reining in Iran's nuclear program or prompting a change in Iranian behavior.

... Rice's decision that the United States would participate in talks with Iranian officials prompted second-guessing from more hawkish officials in Vice President Dick Cheney's office....

... While White House officials and members of the vice president's staff have been pushing to blacklist the entire Revolutionary Guard, the officials said, officials at the State and Treasury departments are pushing for a narrower approach that would list only the Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force....

Well, this abets Cheney and his insane push for war either way -- and is clearly intended as a slap in the face for Condi.