War! What isn't it Good For?

I just got done reading an article in last week's Navy Times about exactly how a war with Iran would go down. It contained info from the top military brass answering the questions about the "contingency plans" that the military is putting together regarding a possible war with Iran. What does their military look like? What does our military look like? How many casualties could we expect? What would our attack look like? According to the article, "the Defense Department has [contingency] plans for an attack on Iran."

"Contingency."

Throughout this article, the reporter was very careful to point out (or rather, "officials" were very careful to point out to the reporter) that these plans are only the preliminary plans for a retaliatory attack on Iran. And then, in the last several paragraphs, we get these two gems, the first from the new Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates:

The President has made clear, the secretary of state has made clear, I've made clear...we are not planning for a war with Iran.

Huh? Not planning? Then what were those 2500 words about the plans for attacking Iran? They aren't planning for a war with Iran, they're merely planning a war with Iran. In other words, they aren't planning to go to war with Iran, they're merely planning what they'd do if they went to war with Iran.

The second quote that caught my attention was from national security advisor Stephen J. Hadley:

We face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran...The doctrine of pre-emption remains sound...we do not rule out the use of force before an attack occurs.

So even though we aren't planning to go to war with Iran, we are making plans for a war with Iran, and we haven't ruled out the possibility to go to war with Iran. Understand?

"The Defense Department has plans for an attack on Iran."

"We are not planning for a war with Iran."

"We do not rule out the use of force before and attack occurs."

I'm glad we cleared that up.