GENERAL BETRAY-US-TO-CHENEY'S-(OR-ROVE'S)-AGENDA?

The British press thinks General Petraeus is going to declare Iran the real enemy. Here's what The Times of London says:

IRANIAN forces were involved in the recent battle for Basra, General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, is expected to tell Congress this week....

Petraeus intends to use the evidence of Iranian involvement to argue against any reductions in US forces....

And the story in The Telegraph is even more alarming:

British officials gave warning yesterday that America's commander in Iraq will declare that Iran is waging war against the US-backed Baghdad government.

A strong statement from General David Petraeus about Iran's intervention in Iraq could set the stage for a US attack on Iranian military facilities, according to a Whitehall assessment. In closely watched testimony in Washington next week, Gen Petraeus will state that the Iranian threat has risen as Tehran has supplied and directed attacks by militia fighters against the Iraqi state and its US allies....

"Petraeus is going to go very hard on Iran as the source of attacks on the American effort in Iraq," a British official said. "Iran is waging a war in Iraq. The idea that America can't fight a war on two fronts is wrong, there can be airstrikes and other moves," he said....

In remarks interpreted as signalling a change in his approach to Iran, Gen Petraeus last week hit out at the Iranian leadership. "The rockets that were launched at the Green Zone were Iranian-provided, Iranian-made rockets," he said. "All of this in complete violation of promises made by President Ahmadinejad and the other most senior Iranian leaders to their Iraqi counterparts." ...

And here's a disturbing paragraph from the Telegraph story:

There are signs that targeting Iran would unite American politicians across the bitter divide on Iraq. "Iran is the bull in the china shop," said Ike Skelton, the Democrat chairman of the Armed Services Committee. "In all of this, they seem to have links to all of the Shi'ite groups, whether they be political or military."

This is obviously, at least in part, about diminishing the political power of the Democrats' call for an end to the Iraq in this election year -- the Bushies want to compel Clinton and Obama to say Iran is unspeakably evil, and to tie that to this war.

The previous round of Petraeus testimony got much more attention, but this round could be more politically motivated, and more politically useful to the GOP.