The Negative Benchmark speaks: LTGEN Gard

Almost two years after his entry into the rare list of my Wall of Shame, retired LTGEN Robert Gard has crawled out of his fever-swamp at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation to provide a great service about Iran: as a "Negative Benchmark" you can rest easy that if you are on the opposite side of an argument with him - you are on the right side of the issue.

Seeking to counter the White House's depiction of its Middle East policies as crucial to the prevention of terrorist attacks at home, 21 former generals, diplomats and national security officials will release an open letter tomorrow arguing that the administration's "hard line" has actually undermined U.S. security.
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Retired Army Lt. Gen. Robert G. Gard, one of the letter's signers and a former military assistant to Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara in the 1960s, said the group was particularly concerned about administration policies toward Iran, believing them to be a possible prelude to a military attack on suspected nuclear sites in that country.

Gard said the signatories — who included retired Marine Corps Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, head of U.S. Central Command from 1991 to 1994, and Morton H. Halperin, a senior State Department and National Security Council official during the Clinton administration — did not believe that Iran had the wherewithal to build a nuclear weapon in the immediate future and would push the administration to open negotiations with Tehran on the issue.
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He noted that the Bush administration's unabashedly pro-Israel stance during the recent conflict with Hezbollah was an indication that the White House may accede to such assessments.

"This administration is clearly so beholden to Israel that it raises the concern we might go along" with a military strike, Gard said.

Organizers of the letter said the White House's recent efforts to belittle Democrats for seeking a timetable for withdrawing troops in Iraq may lead the signers to include criticism of the administration's Iraq policy.

Oh, with that braintrust, I bet they are wetting themselves thinking about your letter. I am.

Just like he is bass-ackwards on BMD, now it is disturbing the sanity about Iran ... with the usual subjects.