Seymour Hersh's latest piece on the Bush Administration and Iran has some good reporting on the Democratic Congressional leadership's clumsy attempt to juggle an agressive executive branch, their own oversight responsibilities, and Obama's vow to negotiate with Iran. There is also some new information on the administration's increasing support for opposition groups within Iran. However, the sexiest anecdote in the article is mentioned almost off-handedly:
The former official said that, a few weeks later, a meeting took place in the Vice-President’s office. “The subject was how to create a casus belli between Tehran and Washington,” he said.
The former official is in fact a "former senior intelligence official," and after the excerpt above, Hersh drops the topic completely. The reader is left to wonder: Why is this buried at the very end of the piece? Why is not followed up on even slightly? The sense is that Hersh (or his editors) did not have too much faith in the story, which then leaves you to wonder why it is included at all. With this type of caveat in mind, read the whole thing.
--Isaac Chotiner